Jesus Preaches in Galilee
Mark 1:35 “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
rising up a... A divine supplement to Mat. 8:17. This was no doubt a habit with Him (Mat. 14:23; Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 6:12; 9:28; 11:1).
Mark emphasizes that it was a great while before day. Showing that Jesus began each day of His earthly ministry with prayer is only the secondary intention of this verse. The primary aim is to show how Jesus made important decisions: by earnest, persistent prayer.
A great while before day (ἔννυχα)
Lit., while it was in the night. The word is peculiar to Mark.
Here Jesus stands at the crossroads of decision: His first year of public preaching (verses 9-20), has borne little visible fruit. But His miracles of healing are drawing huge crowds (verses 31-32) and bringing Him recognition (verse 28).
So, the question is whether He should continue to put the stress of His ministry on the preaching of the gospel for the healing of man’s diseased soul or place the stress of His work on the more popular performing of miracles for the healing of man’s body. To make the proper choice, He seeks by prayer the Father’s wisdom.
This should be a very good message to us. In the quiet of the very early morning, Jesus went to pray, not with others, but alone. We read, be still and know that I am God (Psalms 46:10).
The most precious times with God is in the privacy of just you and God. Praying is fellow shipping with Him. Even Jesus prayed. We should see even more necessity to pray ourselves.
ST. Mark is pre-eminently the historian of Christ’s activities. From him chiefly we learn to add to our thought of perfect love and gentleness that of One whom the zeal of God’s house ate up. But this evangelist does not omit to tell us by what secret fountains this river of life was fed; how the active labors of Jesus were inspired in secret prayers. Too often we allow to one side of religion a development which is not excessive, but disproportionate, and we are punished when contemplation becomes nerveless, or energy burns itself away.
After feeding the five thousand, St. Mark tells us that Jesus, while the storm gathered over His disciples on the lake, went up into a mountain to pray. And St. Luke tells of a whole night of prayer before choosing His disciples, and how it was to pray that He climbed the mountain of transfiguration.
A Withdrawal for Prayer and A Preaching Tour in Galilee
Despite a full day of ministry (Mark 1:21-34), Jesus got up the next morning very early, before daybreak about 4 a.m. and went out to a solitary erēmon, uninhabited, remote place (cf. Mark 1:4) where He spent time praying. He withdrew from the acclaim of the Capernaum crowds to a wilderness place - the kind of place where He initially confronted Satan and withstood his temptations (cf. Mark 1:12-13).
Mark selectively portrayed Jesus at prayer on three crucial occasions, each in a setting of darkness and aloneness: near the beginning of his account (Mark 1:35), near the middle (Mark 6:46), and near the end (Mark 14:32-42). All three were occasions when He was faced with the possibility of achieving His messianic mission in a more attractive, less costly way. But in each case, He gained strength through prayer.
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