Mark 1:29-39. Message by Charles Postell
Are you familiar to the term “overstimulation?” It’s one of those things you may have experienced even if you aren’t familiar with the term.
It’s something that happens when there’s a lot of things going on around you, and in one moment everything catches up with you and you feel overwhelmed. It’s something you can definitely experience with kids.
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I had it happen to me one time when I was in the kitchen getting ready for the day. I needed to get to the car, adjust the heat, get lunch together. Jenna was in the kitchen with me making coffee and lunch, and we’re trying to navigate this extremely small kitchen at the same time. We were bumping into each other and with all the things going on, I felt like my head was about to explode.
With this kind of overstimulation, there are usually two things that can help you overcome that feeling: silence and time away. When you get those two things, it’s often enough to help get you in a place where you can re-engage.
Those things can help us with overstimulation, but they are also important in practicing the way of Jesus. They are key things in developing our relationship with him. Silence and getting away with God are essential in helping us develop our faith.
How Jesus modeled silence and solitude
We’re looking at Mark 1:29-39. First, we should look at what is happening leading into the text.
Jesus has been on the move. A lot has happened in the first 28 verses of Mark. Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. Then he called his first disciples, and he’s been busy casting out demons. This busyness leads to our text.
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
Mark 1:29-34 NIV
We see Jesus with a busy schedule as he begins his ministry. We can relate with being out and active. It starts with Jesus healing the mother-in-law of one of his disciples, and then he’s beseiged with others who need healilng. There are more demons to cast out.
All of this hustle and bustle brings us to the rest of our passage.
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. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Mark 1:35-39 NIV
In the middle of all the craziness, we see Jesus creating a time of silence and solitude. It’s not just creating some space for himself, but it’s creating space to be with God.
Jesus has this dance of movement and moments. The movement is all the busyness and work of his ministry. And then there are the moments where he takes a break to spend time with the Father.
Developing and stewarding a relationship with God
Jesus isn’t breaking away because of overstimulation, but as part of the practice of developing his relationship with God. He demonstrates the value of doing things to please God.
It’s not just in this time, but it’s throughout his ministry that Jesus balances the movement and hustle of life with moments of silence and solitude with the Father.
We saw it in Luke 6 when Jesus was about to choose the twelve. It happened in Matthew 14 after feeding the five thousand. The Lord’s prayer came after Jesus asked to be taught to pray after seeing him come out of a time of prayer. It happened at the Garden of Gethsemene before his crucifixion. All over the gospels, Jesus creates moments of stillness so he can press into and develop his relationship with the Father.
In the rhythm of Jesus is a balance of movement of activity, and of moments of time alone.
Jesus shows a balance of preaching and healing. He stewards his relationship with God by creating intentional time to grow personally with God. We see a centrality of silence and solitude in the life of Jesus.
We also see the importance for us personally in developing our relationship with God. The pattern of silence and solitude with God was not just something to observe in the life of Jesus, but it is an example for us to follow.
If time with the Father was important for Jesus, how much more important is it for ourselves? If it was central for Jesus, how much more central should it be for us?
I think about when I’ve gone into staff meetings when working in other churches. Everyone would pull out notebooks or laptops, and I’ve got nothing but my thumbs to twiddle. As I watched others, I started thinking maybe I should take notes as well.
This is how it works with Jesus. He’s the example. He’s the authority. If I see a rhythm where Jesus gets busy in the movement of life, and then he has consistent moments where he presses into his relationship with God, then doesn’t it make sense for me to do this?
I should be clear. This isn’t to evoke feelings of guilt. This isn’t about reasons for pride for one person and shame for one who struggles with this. The purpose is to illustrate that this was a holistic need for Jesus, and illustrate the value of it for us.
Balancing abiding with the Father with day to day life
We should abide in Jesus as Jesus abides in the father. This paints a picture of need. Our movement and busyness create a need to step back and take moments with Jesus.
As we follow Jesus and seek to be his disciples, we seek to imitate and adopt his patterns. He invites us to sit with him and deepen our relationship with him. We can sit with the God who gives us a seat at the table, who invites us to go deeper with him.
There’s a lot of value in learning about Him in community. We need to be fed the Word on Sundays. But learning about Him also involves moments where we set aside time to seek God in prayer.
When I personally set aside to seek God in His Word, to sit in prayer and to sit and listen, I’m accepting the invitation to have a seat with God. It allows Him to take me deeper in relationship with Him.
Seeking God in community and in solitude
The healthy Christian life is neither wholly solitary nor wholly communal. We withdraw, like Jesus, to “a desolate place” to commune with God (Mark 1:35), and then return to the bustle of daily tasks and the needs of others. We carve out a season for spiritual respite, in some momentarily sacred space, to feed our souls, enjoying God there in the stillness.”
Dave Mathis, Time Alone for God
There’s a joy that happens when we seek God in community, but there’s an intimacy that happens when we seek Him in solitude. We find edification and a building of our faith when seeking God in community, and a deepening of that faith when we seek Him in solitude.
Bible study together with others can be wonderful. Engaging in church events and services can be empowering and edifying, but they should never be a substitute to the personal pursuit of and time alone with God.
Worshipping together and reading the Word together are never meant to be substitutes for seeking God personally, but are instead additions. We need the things that happen in community but we should pursue those alongside, and not instead of, our personal relationship with God.
This means that we should, like Jesus, find a solitary place that we can dedicate to time with God. That place might be a room or kitchen, maybe it’s in our car.
It means that when we invite God into mundane tasks such as folding laundry, going to the store, etc., these simple things allow us to engage in something impactful. It’s not just something simple, but it becomes something that helps grow our relationship with God.
In these spaces, a new kind of intimacty takes place. It’s in these spaces that our relationship with God becomes more personal and tangible and hopeful. It is here that we can break away from the noise, and busyness, and we can break to the embrace of God. We accept the invitation of him calling us deeper to himself.
When we live as disciples of Jesus, we balance the movement of activity and duty with moments of silence and time alone with the Father. We embrace the depth that God calls us to. God is not just calling to relationship with Him, though he is, but he’s calling us to depth with himself.
There is more. Come deeper. In the busyness of life, may we do like Jesus in balancing the movement and moments in developing our relationship with God.