“…He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.” John 6.15 NKJV
It can be difficult to convince people of the truth, but when you are the truth and they still don’t get it, to the point of actively working against you, where do you run?
Jesus ran to the Father.
He had just been preaching all day to a multitude of thousands in the wilderness, then when they were hungry, He fed them. All of them. With five barley loaves and two small fish. They filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. This is the story every Christian knows by heart.
But then the people came and tried to take Him by force to be their king. Jesus’ response was telling.
He departed means He went away from them, from the place they were gathered. Even the disciples didn’t know where He was; they would leave for Capernaum without Him later that evening.
He departed again means that this wasn’t the first time He had had to resort to this action. And it wouldn’t be the last.
To the mountain means that He went away from the open, flat, easy ground, away from civilization and into the wild, up, away, into solitude, where the clamor and the distractions would cease.
By Himself alone says twice what we didn’t even need to hear once to get the point. That the text doubles down on this detail means it’s important for us to understand that Jesus was on His own.
He lived the same life in public that He lived in private. He didn’t hold back from speaking truth to power or shining light in darkness, especially whenever opportunity presented itself. It seems like every time He challenged the status quo, the people either stood in amazement, tried to do something rash, or wanted to kill Him. John 8.59 is a great example of how, when Jesus held nothing back, He was forced to hide Himself.
I believe that for Jesus it wasn’t a huge burden to do this, not when solitude was the vehicle by which He enjoyed fellowship with the Father. He ran to Him often.
We too can engage this discipline as His disciples. Indeed if we call ourselves by His name, we ought to be like Him. Are you ever by yourself, alone? In a good way? So that you can hear the voice of the One who made you and sustains you? It can only be a good thing to shut out the shouting whenever possible in a world like this one, especially when we make an effort to hear the still, small voice of humble love that is strong enough to save even us.
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