Here we get an insight into Jesus’ priorities and it provides an
important reminder of essential it is to find that time and space to be just
with God. Jesus does this by getting up very early and going to a place where
he is not likely to be found. Prayer can happen anywhere and anytime, and
communal prayer is valuable and important. However, this is a reminder of those
special, important moments. We can assume that Jesus must have been tired. He
had been inundated with folk looking for healing the previous evening. But
prayer is so important that time for it must be found.
Simon and the other earliest disciples went looking for the missing Jesus. They clearly had not yet got him worked out. If they had, surely they would have left him the space that he needed.
However, Jesus is unbothered by being found. He simply suggests that they get on the road. It is time to move on. This going to other places is important. As Morna Hooker (The Gospel According to Saint Mark) points out – “now it is not simply a rumour which travels through the whole district but Jesus himself …. so that the whole area is evangelized.”
Jesus has come with a message; and it is important for that message to be proclaimed. It is also important that the proclaiming is not just achieved by the medium of words, but also through the actions in which Jesus engages. Interestingly, the place for preaching remains the synagogue. He is rooted in his faith. Alongside that, he casts out demons, thus demonstrating, in a very practical way, the good news about wholeness and healing that he has come to bring. This then becomes a preaching tour across the Galilee region in which, as Hooker puts it – “what Mark describes as having happened in Capernaum is typical of what happens elsewhere.”
So, Jesus’ ministry is well and truly launched.
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