Praying in Peace
AM Psalm 25 • PM Psalm 9, 15
1 Samuel 18:5-16,27b-30 • Acts 11:19-30 • Mark 1:29-45
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”
This verse in the Gospel reading for today falls between accounts of Jesus’ healing ministry and what the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible headlines as “A Preaching Tour in Galilee.” Jesus has been inundated with people seeking his miraculous cures and he has been busy caring for the sick and those possessed with demons – even healing a mother-in-law and a leper. It seems that he is seeking some much-needed solitude that morning when he leaves his disciples and goes out to pray.
I may not have throngs of followers, as Jesus did (“the whole city was gathered around the door…!”) but I understand what it feels like when you cannot seem to find a moment of peace. Despite all of the demands for his healing touch and his own desire to go out and proclaim his message in the synagogues, Jesus still needed a break.
Much of the time we are in church is spent in communal prayer. The Book of Common Prayer is the touchstone of our Anglican tradition. But very little is written about Jesus praying “with the masses.” Jesus heals the people. Jesus preaches to the people. Did Jesus pray with the people?
There are several accounts of Jesus saying a blessing – over the loaves and fishes or at the Last Supper – and as he held the hand of the sick or lifted up the lame, he may have spoken some intercessory prayers, but most of the biblical references describe his “going away” to pray – to the mountain, to the wilderness, to the garden. He prays on behalf of the people, but rarely is he described as praying with the many people he encountered.
Just as Jesus knew that finding quiet time for meditation and prayer was integral to the success of his earthly ministry, we also need to realize that making time in our busy lives for meditation and prayer is essential to our own spiritual health and growth.
Written by Shannon Dillard Mitchell
...who is grateful to sometimes find quiet time for prayer and meditation in her own life, thanks be to God.