But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:16)
John’s Gospel opens saying “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Jesus was God. He created the world and everything in it. He is its Sovereign King.
Yet Jesus did not live that way, though He had that right. In fact, He lived totally unlike He was the sovereign king of the universe. One of the clearest examples of this is His prayer life. Everything Jesus did was after prayer. Jesus was, it seems, as dependent on prayer as we are. Not only did He pray, but “he often withdrew to lonely places to pray.”
Jesus being fully man, was as dependent on His Father in heaven as we are, and that meant being with Him in prayer.
By being both the Sovereign King and totally humble and dependent on His Father in prayer, Jesus both models our dependence on God and shows how great and glorious the Father is—because it was His joy to honor His Father in prayer.
Prayer is one of the key ways we build our relationship with God. It is special because prayer is intimate and personal. In the Bible, God speaks to us through His words to the Church in all times and all places. In prayer, God speaks with you one-on-one.
Statistics say that the average Christian prays less than five minutes a week, and that pastors pray less than ten minutes a week. If you are feeling distant from God, are struggling with guilt, or anxiety, ask yourself, “When is the last time I spend quality time with my Father in Prayer?”
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 
I appreciate the spiritual intent of this post very much and would like to share some additional thoughts.
The actual information we have about Jesus’ prayer habits is sketchy, though. There is but one mention of this in but one gospel. And the Greek doesn’t necessarily involve frequency or iteration; it can also be an “ingressive imperfect,” which I understand can be translated ” he began to withdraw” instead of “he often withdrew.”
I don’t think Luke 5:16 makes a real case that Jesus had a “habit.” Not that I don’t think he had the habit; I rather think He probably did have such a habit, at least in some phases of life. Mentions of Jesus’ prayer in one or more gospels seems to indicate greater frequency of prayer immediately prior to significant/watershed events His life. That particular habit is of great interest to me. It is good to look at the overall message(s) of the individual gospel to see what the mention of prayer might be saying on a literary-context level, too.
I don’t question the possibility that Jesus withdrew often, but I do question the writing of books and the preaching of sermons on Jesus’ “prayer life” when that’s a fabricated phrase that has taken on a life of its own, despite minuscule textual evidence.
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Thanks for your comment Brian. I appreciate your concern that we don’t read into the text what is not intended by the text. The Greek also implies a continuing to withdraw and a continuing to pray. Therefore I do not think the NIV is wrong to translate the verse as often withdrew. You could say continued to withdraw to pray, but the former is better English and the same idea. There are 59 instances in the Gospels mentioning Jesus praying and teaching on prayer. The Gospels make it very clear that prayer was a central part of Jesus’ life and practice. While I agree we do not have a lot on particulars we can say that prayer was very important to Him.
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Thanks for the reply to the reply. 🙂 I’ll say one more thing here and leave it to rest. My point was that either Greek reading is possible, and since there are only 1-2 instances in the gospels that might imply a “habit,” so to speak, it’s at least as rational to read this verse the other way — i.e., that it can be “he began to withdraw to pray” rather than “he often withdrew to pray.”
What I question is not the possibility that Jesus withdrew often, but to the writing of books and the preaching of sermons on Jesus’ “prayer life” when that’s a fabricated phrase that has taken on a life of its own, despite minuscule textual evidence. (Sometimes people will conflate Luke 5 with Mark 1:35, as I’m sure you’ve seen.)
In the larger literary context here, a quick search turns up a lot of prayer in Luke-Acts. Moreover, 6:12 is in close proximity to 5:16. Maybe Luke really is suggesting something habitual? (Thinking out loud.) I did note that the antecedent for “withdraw” is different in Luke 22:41, for what it’s worth. Acts 1:14 and 2:42 certainly seem to give tribute to regular, or at least devoted, prayer!
That prayer was significant in Jesus’ life is not in question for me — it certainly was — but I find at least some of the gospel records to suggest that prayer was more of a major-occasion focus rather than a daily habit of “quiet time,” per se.
Any way you slice it, praying is a good thing!
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Very well stated brother.
I bleieve reading the Bible is God talking with us and that prayer is us talking with our beloved.
Reading the Bible and praying at the beginning of every day should be as important to every Christian as breathing.
God bless you with love, peace and joy.
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Thank you so much for your comment. Right on!
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