“…He climbed the hill to pray in solitude. Night came on, and he was there alone…” Matthew 14.23 Weymouth New Testament
Jesus “withdrew by boat to a solitary place” (Matthew 14.13 NIV) when He heard the news that John, His herald, had been beheaded. John’s murder was seeming happenstance brought about by Herod’s lust-driven rash promise to the girl who had danced for him, and Jesus’ response to the news of it—to find a place to grieve in solitude—would in turn occasion the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.
Jesus was ripped apart and needed to withdraw for a time, but the people found Him even in the wilderness. So He taught them. He fed them spiritually. And then He fed them physically.
First of all—Jesus needed? Think about that for a moment. He really did, though.
I love how clearly this demonstrates the difference between God’s perfect man and we the people of His pasture. Jesus, gutted by the death of one of the most important people in His life, nevertheless puts His own need on hold to minister to those with the temerity to seek Him even where He had withdrawn to. There is desperation in the action of the crowds, and I believe desperation is a thing God responds to. He certainly has in my life.
I even think He turned interruption into an opportunity to preach to Himself a little. Fuel for the fire. I would love to have heard what He said. It must have been good; the people stuck with Him until their hunger became an obvious concern to the twelve and they started offering “solutions” to the “problem.” Again, perhaps it was, to Jesus, more of an opportunity than an interruption.
The important thing for this week’s focus is that, when Jesus had fulfilled the requirements occasioned by the interruption of His plan, “He climbed the hill to pray in solitude,” as the WNT states. The need to process, to grieve, was still unfulfilled. God’s perfect Man needed time in the presence of Man’s perfect God.
There will be times like this for us, too, when we need to press in to achieve time in solitude with God. There will be distractions, interruptions that pull us away from this discipline. Jesus fulfilled His mission in love to serve those who had sought Him even where He had withdrawn to, but He never stopped seeking the Father.
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