Mark 1:35-39--Jesus Preaches in Galilee

Mark 1:35-39
English Standard Version
​
Jesus Preaches in Galilee
35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

---

We should not miss that Jesus, the Son of God, found it necessary to wake up before everyone else when it was still quiet, go to a desolate places where He could talk to the Father alone, and spend time in prayer.  We get a feeling from the gospels that He desired to do this as much as possible, but the fact that He always had the crowds and the disciples around Him made this hard, so we'll see times where He will even send the disciples on ahead of Him to the next place so that he can get a few moments alone in prayer with the Father.

Now Simon and the other disciples began searching for Jesus when they woke up and He was nowhere to be found.  I'm not sure if they are concerned that something happened to Him or if they are concerned that He left them behind.  Either way, they looked for Him until they found Him and then they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for you."  This reminds me of the scene when Mary and Joseph were looking for Jesus in Jerusalem and He replied, "Didn't you know I would be in My Father's house about My Father's business?"  I feel like much the same conversation could have happened with the disciples here.  "Didn't you know that I would be praying to my Father and that is more important than signs, healings, preaching or teaching?"

Jesus does not seem to chastise them though.  He simply says that it's time to pack up and head onto the next towns so that they too will hear the gospel.  Jesus' goal was not for Him alone to make sure that everyone in a particular town heard and understood the gospel before He left that town, but instead to bring the message to them, call them to follow after Him if they desired to hear His teaching and preaching (which required them to leave everything else behind) and then He would move onto the next place.  If people did not listen or respond to the call, they would not prevent Him from reaching others that would listen and respond.  Jesus even tells them that this is the reason that He came--for everyone to hear the good news of the gospel so they might repent and believe.

Then Jesus went throughout all Galilee preaching and teaching and healing and casting out demons, but the purpose in all of that is that He wanted to make the good news known to everyone in Israel--including these places that were spiritually dark.