The overnight, uphill path to glory

This week's verses are Luke 6:12-16:

  Now it was during this time that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. When morning came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

In these verses, Jesus ends a good time of ministry, not by retiring to the champagne lounge for a hot meal and a soft bed, but by leaving his inner circle of people and going to the harshest place he could find, to spend all night in prayer. It seems crazy, right? What about wild animals and thieves, and the energy to preach again? What about self-care?

We see people going to the mountain or the wilderness a lot in the Bible. Abraham leaves the land of his people. Moses goes up on the mountain to get the commandments. The prophets were often there. Many of the church fathers lived there by choice.

 

People go to the mountain because that's where there are no people. No worldly distractions. It is the quiet place where God speaks most clearly.

Nowadays we are reluctant to even turn off our screens to encounter God. In fact, we're more likely to turn our screens on, queue up some music or a Bible app, or maybe invite our friends over and get out the guitar. But in the Bible, time after time we see people leaving everyone and everything familiar to get that quiet time alone.

Why don't we do that anymore? Why is nobody buying vacation getaways in remote caves or inhospitable peaks with an agenda of "nothing?" Why are the deserts not full of hermits? Why does the altar call not end with the priest showing everyone the door, chasing people into the woods with a whip?

We don't know what to do with silence or solitude. We don't like it. We fill our lives with noise the way an animal might fill its stomach with pebbles to stave off its unbearable pangs of hunger. Netflix. Social media. TV. Video games. Outrage. Politics.

Jesus shows us a different path. He seeks out the silence, the hardship, and the difficult terrain. He shows us that an encounter with God is worth all of these things. It's even enhanced by them.

He also skips sleep. The rest his body would get in a soft warm bed is not as restful as the sustaining peace of God. He is sustained by his devotion, not his eight hours in high thread-count unconscious luxury.

So, Jesus went out of his way and endured hardship and sleep deprivation to find the quiet place to reach out to The Father. We can see where his values were in that. If our heart is in the same place, would it be so crazy for us to go and do likewise? Why do we choose to sleep instead? Why do we head for the stadium seating and not the craggy rock?

If you have to go to the difficult and far away place to get to the quiet place, make the journey. If you have to stay up past your bedtime to get a certain answer, go there. Jesus formed our church on the kind of devotion that goes the extra mile and puts everything aside to get there.

Think about the glorious path Jesus blazed for us and ask yourself if you're really willing to make the trek to get to where he is.