And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed
Jesus praying
What were the special reasons which led our Lord at this time to go away for prayer.
I. THE NEED OF INWARD REFRESHMENT OF WHICH HE MUST HAVE BEEN CONSCIOUS.
1. Christ was full of the truest, tenderest sympathy.
2. His sympathy was invariably practical
3. It was intensely personal; general enough to embrace the multitude; particular enough to fix itself on the individual. We can imagine, therefore, how exhausted He must have been.
II. THE FEELING OF SADNESS WHICH CAME TO HIM IN VIEW OF THE SPIRITUAL APATHY OF THE MULTITUDES WHO WERE SO EAGERLY SEEKING HIM. If we are deeply concerned for the spiritual welfare of men we shall feel something of the same sadness.
III. HIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DANGER TO HIS SPIRITUAL MISSION WHICH WOULD ARISE FROM A PREMATURE POPULARITY. Prayer is the only true preservative against the perils of success. Because of our success we are in danger--
1. Of rushing on too fast.
2. Of becoming self-dependent.
3. Of growing unsympathetic. (B. Wilkinson,F. G. S.)
The Redeemer an example of solitary prayer
I. UPON WHAT PRINCIPLES ARE WE TO ACCOUNT FOR OUR LORD’S FREQUENT RETIREMENT FOR SOLITUDE AND DEVOTION? A man, though in blessed and ineffable union with God. Made in all points like unto His brethren, with the exception of His sinless purity.
1. The Redeemer would be impelled to cultivate solitude and devotion by the fervour of His piety.
2. Solitary communion with God was necessary to preserve His holy mind from the contaminations of the world, incidental to the possession of a material body, and his participation of human nature.
3. In solitude and prayer, the Redeemer was invigorated to pursue and to accomplish His great work.
4. Our Lord, by this habit of retired devotion, afforded an example and an illustration of His own doctrine, and condemned the hypocritical and ostentatious worship of the Jewish elders.
II. WHAT ADVANTAGES MAY WE EXPECT TO DERIVE FROM IMITATING THE EXAMPLE OF THE SAVIOUR IN THIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE. To suppose the disciple in less need of perpetual supplies of grace than his Lord were folly and presumption.
1. Solitude is favourable to that calm, reflecting, and pensive state of the mind which is suitable to the higher duties of religion.
2. In devout seclusion, the realities of religion are brought more closely home to our consciences and our hearts, and we feel more deeply our individual concern in their truth and consequences.
3. A life of faith in opposition to a life regulated by the exclusive interests of the present world, can only be sustained by habits of private devotion.
4. It secures an effectual refuge amidst the sorrows and calamities of life. (W. Hull.)
Christ and prayer
1. In what His prayers for the most part consisted we know not, but we know that one element, which must ever form an important part in our petitions, could have no place in His. He would not say, “Forgive Me My trespasses.”
2. But though Christ prayed without seeking mercy, of which He had no need, He still truly and earnestly prayed. His devotions were not simply thanksgivings, utterances of praise and gladness, or ecstatic contemplations.
3. In the prayers of Christ, if in nothing else, we see abundant reason for our prayers. ( E. Mellor, D. D.)
The exhaustion of pity
The spirit is never so exhausted as when it is exhausted by being pitiful. For weariness of bone and muscle nature is very generous; rest for that may be found anywhere; the tree will do for shelter, and the stone for a pillow. Weariness of brain is harder to lay aside, and weariness of heart harder still. Brain and limb fail when the heart’s power is gone. Jesus needed the day for work and the night for rest. The spirit must rest and be refreshed by spirit; we are revived again, and often brought to a lively hope through the ministry of life’s friendships, and have been created anew by the consciousness of being understood. Christ had been understood neither when He spake nor acted, but had been wholly when He prayed. We, too, have need of a place apart where we may be refreshed from the presence of the Lord. (J. Ogmore Davies.)
Solitude necessary
Life must have its hours of holy solitude if it would be rich and strong. It is true that we can pray in the city; it is also true that the wilderness has charms of its own for meditative purposes. Silence helps speech. Loneliness prepares for society. Nature has special messages to exhausted workers. After the wilderness came the city, with all its activities and temptations. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Prayer the breath of the spiritual man
A celebrated performer upon the piano was continually familiar with his instrument, for he used to say, “If I quit the piano one day I notice it; if I quit it two days my friends notice it; if I quit it three days the public notice it.” No doubt he correctly described his experience; only by perpetual practice could he preserve the ease and delicacy of his touch. Be sure that it is so with prayer. If this holy art be neglected, even for a little time, the personal loss will be great; if the negligence be continued, our nearest spiritual friends will notice a deterioration in tone and life; and if the evil should be long indulged, our character and influence will suffer with a wider circle. To be a master of the mystery of prayer one must pray, pray continually, pray hourly, pray at all times, pray without ceasing. A Christian should no more leave off praying than the musician should leave off playing; in fact, it is the breath of every spiritual man, and woe be to him should he restrain it! (C. H.Spurgeon.)
A great man at prayer
I had once been spending three weeks in the White House with Mr. Lincoln as his guest. One night--it was just after the battle of Bull Run--I was restless and could not sleep. I was repeating the part which I was to take in a public performance. The hour was past midnight. Indeed, it was coming near to the dawn, when I heard low tones proceeding from a private room near where the President slept. The door was partly open. I instinctively walked in, and there I saw a sight which I shall never forget. It was the President kneeling beside an open Bible. The light was turned low in the room. His back was toward me. For a moment I was silent, as I stood looking in amazement and wonder. Then he cried out in tones so pleading and sorrowful, “O thou God that heard Solomon in the night when he prayed for wisdom, hear me: I cannot lead this people, I cannot guide the affairs of this nation without Thy help. I am poor and weak and sinful. O God, who didst hear Solomon when he cried for wisdom, hear me, and save this nation!” (James E. Murdock.)
Public prayer not always the measure of private prayer
My brethren, do we pray? There is many a minister--pardon me for saying so--who spends more time in public prayer than in private prayer, and not a few spend more time in preaching than in praying. Is this as it ought to be? A faithful pastor went once to see a young man who was a member of his Church, and he said to him, “I have come to ask you if you are on good terms with your Father?” meaning his heavenly Father. The young man seemed very much taken aback, and said to him, “Who told you about me and my father? We have not been on speaking terms for years.” “Oh,” said the minister, “I mean your heavenly Father; but this is very sad.” “Oh, it is sad, and it grieves me in my heart,” said the young man. “Oh,” said the minister, “I have often spent an evening in your house, and I never noticed there was any estrangement between you and your father.” “Ah, no,” says the young man, “we have an arrangement, when we come together in company to act as if nothing had happened; but when we are alone there is no intercourse between us.” (C. Lockhart.)
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.--
The gospel’s healing power
I. THE POWER OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL IS MAINLY A POWER TO HEAL,.
1. It is a Divine power which comes from our Lord Jesus, because He is most surely God. It is the sole prerogative of God to heal spiritual disease.
2. Although our Lord Jesus healed as Divine, remember that He also possessed power to heal because of His being human. He used no other remedy in healing our sin-sickness but that of taking our sicknesses and infirmities upon Himself. This is the one great cure-all.
3. The power which dwelt in Christ to heal, coming from Him as Divine and human, was applicable, most eminently, to the removal of the guilt of sin. Reading this chapter through, one pauses with joy over that twenty-fourth verse, “The Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sin.” Here, then, is one of the great Physician’s mightiest arts: He has power to forgive sin.
4. This is not the only form of the healing power which dwells without measure in our glorious Lord. He heals the sorrow of sin. It is written, “He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds.” When sin is really manifest to the conscience it is a most painful thing, and for the conscience to be effectually pacified is an unspeakable blessing. Sharper than a dagger in the heart, or an arrow piercing through the loins, is conviction of sin. When Jesus is received by faith, He lifts all our sorrow from us in a moment.
5. Christ also heals the power of sin.
6. And He is able to heal us of our relapses.
II. A second remark arises from the text: THERE ARE SPECIAL PERIODS WHEN THE POWER TO HEAL IS MOST MANIFESTLY DISPLAYED. The verse before us says that on a certain day the power of the Lord was present to heal, by which I understand, not that Christ is not always God, not that He was ever unable to heal, but this--that there were certain periods when He pleased to put forth His Divine energy in the way of healing to an unusual degree. The sea is never empty; it is indeed always as full at one time as at another, put yet it is not always at flood. The sun is never dim, he shines with equal force at all hours, and yet it is not always day with us, nor do we always bask in the warmth of summer. Christ is fulness itself, but that fulness does not always overflow; He is able to heal, but He is not always engaged in healing.
1. On this occasion there was a great desire among the multitude to hear the Word.
2. The healing power was conspicuously present when Christ was teaching.
3. A further sign of present power is found most clearly in the sick folk who were healed by Jesus.
4. The particular time mentioned in the text was prefaced by special season of prayer on the part of the principal actor in it.
III. WHEN THE POWER OF THE LORD IS PRESENT TO HEAL, IT MAY NOT BE SEEN IN ALL, BUT MAY BE SHOWN IN SPECIAL CASES AND NOT IN OTHERS. We do not find that this power was wanting among the publicans; we have an instance here of one of them who made a great feast in his house for Christ. Where, then, was the power lacking? Where was it unsought and unfelt?
1. It was, in the first place, among the knowing people, the doctors of the law. These teachers knew too much to submit to be taught by the Great Rabbi. There is such a thing as knowing too much to know anything, and being too wise to be anything but a fool. Beware of saying, “Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, that is very applicable to So-and-so, and very well put.” Do not criticise, but feel.
2. Those, moreover, who had a good opinion of themselves were left unblest. The Pharisees I no better people anywhere, from Dan to Beersheba, than the Pharisees, if you would take them upon their own reckoning.
3. The people who stood by, as one observes, they did not come to be preached at, they came for Christ to preach before them. They did not come for Christ to operate upon them; they were not patients, they were visitors in the hospitals.
4. Those who felt not the healing power sneered and cavilled. When a man gets no good out of the ministry, he is pretty sure to think there is no good in the ministry; and when he himself, for want of stooping down, finds no water in the river, he concludes it is dry, whereas it is his own stubborn knee that will not bend, and his own wilful mouth that will not open to receive the gospel.
IV. In the last place, I want Christian people here to observe that WHEN THE POWER OF CHRIST WAS PRESENT, IT CALLED FORTH THE ENERGY OF THOSE WHO WERE HIS FRIENDS TO WORK WHILE THAT POWER WAS MANIFEST. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ healing the sick
1. The infinitude of Christ’s power.
2. The tenderness of Christ’s power.
3. The beneficence of Christ’s power.
4. The availableness of Christ’s power.
The conditions on which is secured the outflow of Christ’s beneficent power.
1. Helplessness. Leper and paralytic men were unable to relieve themselves.
2. Humility.
3. Faith. (P. P. Davies.)