Episode Details

The Pattern in Christ’s LifeIt interests me that the devotional life of Christ is not described in much detail in the Gospels. What did He do when He was out praying? What was He doing in His devotions? Yet we can see a clear pattern in the Gospels, and I want to suggest that this pattern is an encouragement to us.After the Feeding of the Five ThousandIn Matthew chapter 14, the Gospel reading we have just heard, Jesus has performed a significant miracle: the feeding of the five thousand. Before that miracle, Jesus had been trying to get away for some peace, rest, and prayer, but the crowds followed him even into the desolate place—or the wilderness—that he sought.After the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus dismissed both his disciples and the crowds and went up on a mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. It was in the fourth watch of the night—between three and six in the morning—that he came down from that mountain. Jesus was there on the mountaintop for a long time, alone, praying.Jesus as Our ExampleJesus was fully God, but he was also fully a man. Being a man, his life can be seen as a pattern laid down for us to follow in our own way and in our own time. It is right to say that Christ suffered and was worn out, just as we suffer and are sometimes worn out. By this point in Matthew 14, Jesus was extremely tired. Feeding five thousand people takes a great deal of energy, even when it is a miracle.This is the sort of tiredness we have all known: the kind that tells us we simply cannot go on until we have had rest. Jesus had given himself, body and soul, to the people who followed him and to his disciples, and he was spent. Yet observe what he does. He goes up on a mountainside by himself to pray. He sought the emptiness of a desolate place so that he could have quiet and dedicate himself to prayer.This is not an isolated incident. It happens time and again in the Gospels. We see the pattern: after a period of activity, solitude, silence, and prayer. He did this because it was through prayer that he renewed his communion with the Father, and in that quiet place he could hear the Father’s voice once again. We might even say that all of Christ’s actions in this world began and ended with prayer—often the prayer of solitude and silence.Different Gifts of PrayerWe do not know exactly what Christ was doing during those times—what prayers he was praying or what scriptures he was reading. God, in His wisdom, has made us all different; there is no single blueprint we are all to follow. If we knew precisely what Jesus was doing, we would probably all try to copy Him. We have different gifts of prayer, some still waiting to be discovered.What we do learn is the importance of withdrawing from the world of activity to pray, so that we might be strengthened to fulfil our callings before God and keep our focus on Him. Life has a habit of taking our focus off God. We lose sight of Him. He no longer seems as real, as near, or as relevant. Christ’s example challenges us to return often to Him in the silence of our hearts, in a quiet place, so that we might discover His presence once again.Pray Without CeasingWe might think of the well-known words of the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.” This phrase has been interpreted in different ways. It can mean pray very frequently, at intervals, and make a habit of it. It can also mean pray constantly—pray all the time in whatever you are doing.The Eastern Orthodox, in particular, promote the Jesus Prayer for this reason: the repeated phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” Used so often, it becomes the self-acting prayer of the heart, so that prayer is a constant companion even in the busyness of ordinary life.I offer this not to prescribe any particular method, but to invite you to consider what it would mean to imitate the example of Christ in your own life and how it might help you.Carrying Everything to God in