Nine Times Jesus Retreated to Be Alone with God

"What would Jesus do?" Maybe stop. Retreat. And get away to be still and alone with Abba.

Credit: Thanks to Greg Olsen for creating such a beautiful image, “Worlds Without End” (click here to order a print)

Some people think mindfulness is a Buddhist, Eastern thing. They don’t realize how often Jesus Christ himself prioritized contemplation. Check this out:

1. Preparatory desert retreat. “At once the Spirit sent [Jesus] out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” (Mark 1:12)

2. After an exhausting day of ministry to the sick. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35) [Everyone was looking for Jesus, but after his time in prayer he told his disciples that it was time for them to move on to another village.]

3. A place of frequent retreat amidst the busy crowds seeking him. “[Despite Jesus’ plea that his miracles be kept secret] the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:15-16; see also Mark 1:45)

4. Preparatory for more healing and the sermon on the mount. “Jesus went out to a mountain side to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him.” (Luke 6:12-13. See also Mark 3:13)

5. After hearing that John the Baptist had been beheaded. “When Jesus heard, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” (Matthew 14:13)

6. After the Twelve returned, and before he fed the 5000. “Because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, [Jesus] said to [his disciples], ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” (Mark 6:31-32)

7. After he fed the 5000, and before Peter walked to him on the water. “After [Jesus] had dismissed [the crowds], he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was [still] there alone.” (Matthew 14:23; see also Mark 6:46)

8. After healing many, and before feeding the 4000. “Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.” (Matthew 15:29)

9. Initiating the agonizing ending. “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.'” (Mark 14:32)

As you can see, this kind of time mattered to Jesus - with one translation of Luke confirming that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

This is how he began (1) and ended (9) his ministry. The Lord found time to be alone with God “very early in the morning” (2) and in the “evening” (7) and even all night (4).

Jesus sought this wherever he could find it, including in gardens (9), in the wilderness (1), in the “mountainside by himself” (4/7) and often on the sea (5/6). It’s how he prepared for wonderful things like the Sermon on the Mount, and for awful things like the Cross.

As Pastor Bill Gaultiere says, “The priority of Jesus’ solitude and silence is everywhere in the Gospels. It’s how he began his ministry. It’s how he made important decisions. It’s how he dealt with troubling emotions like grief. It’s how he dealt with the constant demands of his ministry and cared for his soul. It’s how he prepared for his death on the cross.”

To paraphrase the ancient prophet Nephi, “And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be still and alone with God, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to seek the same in our own lives!”

So, ask yourself honestly: When was the last time you spent time - real time - alone with God? Is that a habit you have in your life?

There’s a reason President Russell Nelson has plead with modern minds to “make time for the Lord” in our lives “each and every day.”

Could this good man be speaking to the whole world what God would have us know?

In one moment in the New Testament, so “many people were coming and going” that Jesus’ disciples didn’t even have a “chance to eat.” The rush of things was all-consuming. Can you relate?

That’s when Jesus said to his disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31-32)

Can you imagine him saying that to you, right now?

Take Him up on it. You won’t regret it.