Praying with His eyes open
| Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, He went up on a mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and He was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. (Mark6:45-48) |
The first is that Jesus dismisses the crowd all by Himself. One can imagine the pressure: "Just one more parable, please Lord?" or "Please just pray for my second cousin's sore toe?" or "Why do bad things happen to good people?" There was always going to be more and more need, but Jesus dismisses the crowd and they go, not because they've all been healed or because every need has been met, but because they've seen enough of God's coming Kingdom that their souls are comforted and they have hope.
The second striking thought is that Jesus, once again, spends time in prayer. Although Mark's gospel is short, punchy and action-packed, Jesus' devotional life is clearly depicted and highlighted. Here, after a very full day, Jesus debriefs and recharges in the solitude of His relationship with His Heavenly Father. Mark later indicates that Jesus prayed until the fourth watch (that's 4AM!) of the night. It is an intimate picture signifying that Jesus depended on His connection to the Father and the Spirit. We too should learn to depend on intimacy with our Heavenly Father.
The last beautiful thought is that the disciples were never far from Jesus' mind... When we were kids we got into trouble when we peeped while praying, but Jesus prayed with His eyes open - vigilantly watching over His disciples and tracking their progress from the mountain where He prayed. He could see they were struggling. He could see the wind against them. He was praying with His eyes open and fixed on the disciples. (Tomorrow we will see that He goes to them.)
He still prays like that for us.
