A Quiet Place

Mark 1:35-39 (New International Version, ©2011)

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place

 35 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. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"

 38 Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

 
 

Pasted from <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mar%201:35-39&version=NIV>

 
 

• Discuss your first impressions of this passage.
  

   
   

• Do you recall the flurry of activity Jesus had just encountered? Why do you think that Jesus prayed in solitude?
  

   
   

• Jesus is God in flesh - yet He prayed - why do you feel that is?
  

   
   

• Is time spent, alone, in solitude simply praying, time well spent?
  

   
   

• Do the disciples feel that Jesus is spending His time wisely?
  

   
   

• What do you think the disciples feel that Jesus ought to be doing?
  

   
   

• A professor of mine used to tell us to "not get so caught up in the work of the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work." What do you think of this statement?
  

   
   

• How have you experience the exhaustion that Jesus is experiencing? Did you deal with it in the same way that He did? How are some other ways that we deal with exhaustion?
  

   
   

• How do you pursue solitude in your daily life?
  

   
   

• How does Jesus respond to the disciples?
  

   
   

• Why did Jesus come? In His words…
  

   
   

• What else did He do when He was in the villages? What do you find significant about that?
  

   
   

• When Jesus came into contact with someone the encounter changed them, talk about the kind of changes that happened to them.