Drawing away to connect

This week's verses are Luke 5:15-16:

But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds were gathering together to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses. Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.

 These verses are right after Jesus instantly healed a leper. We see verses about Jesus going off places to pray, but we don't often stop to think about what that means. Jesus was extremely popular around this time. And his ministry was very effective. He had a good circle of friends, a tribe even, and yet he still made time to pray.

If Jesus were to hire a consultant, he would probably not be told to do that. He would likely be told to spend less time with his disciples, first of all. And he would be told to hire someone to feed everyone and to arrange his travel, so that he could focus on his core strengths: miracles and teaching. And prayer? He would probably be asked to cut out prayer entirely! Every moment he is spending with his disciples or praying is a moment someone is not getting healed or delivered, right? "You'll have plenty of time to talk to God when you're dead," the consultant would probably tell him. But that's not what Jesus did.

So crowds are forming everywhere to hear Jesus speak and to benefit from his miracles. And he's not monetizing that at all. Not even for "a suggested donation." Instead, when he gets a chance, he sneaks off into the wilderness to pray. Who does that? Is that what we do when things are going well, or when there is an overwhelming amount of work to do?

And he sneaks off by himself. He doesn't just round up his disciples and be like "C'mon guys, let's have a prayer meeting. We can take turns listening to each other pray and compete to see who can use the most flowery language or go the longest without stopping or come up with the preachiest preacher voice. It'll be fun!" No, he withdraws. He goes away. He disappears. Is he an alien? Nobody does that!

So Jesus withdrew frequently, went off to where he could be assured of being alone, and prayed. Do any of us do that? One of the things I hear a lot from married couples is that they don't really get a chance to pray by themselves. Their individual life with God suffers. They don't have an intimate place to be alone with God. Do you have a place? A prayer closet? A favorite bench? The top of a mountain? The laundry room?

Jesus made time for prayer. He gave it a priority that may even have been higher than the priority he gave to ministry and community. The relationship with God is more important than anything else. Do we treat it that way? Do we make time for it? Do we frequently disappear to reconnect?

Consider this week what your life would look like if you were withdrawing the way Jesus would withdraw. What would it look like if one on one prayer was a recurring priority?  Where would you go? When would you do it? Would it be on your calendar like Date Night? Would you set an alarm? Would you say no to church or work or hanging out with friends sometime to do it?

How important is it to you to connect with God? Is there anything you would be reluctant to withdraw from in order to make that connection? Settle it now, while there is still time to sort things out.