Luke 5:12-16
Jesus Often Withdrew to Lonely Places
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.[b] When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 10:1-24
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy Two
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed....I find this an interesting statement about Jesus...When He went to these lonely places, He went to pray and listen for His Father...
Time management, daily routines, goals, how much do I need to get done today, daily lists and priorities are often something that we do and think about each and everyday...As I read through the gospels, I do not get that Jesus spent too much time thinking about these things...I am not sure that Jesus even set down with His disciples and said let us accomplish this today in any of the villages that He went and taught in. ..
The time I do give this thought is when Jesus sent out the seventy two...I think He describes to them what He wants done in going out and teaching others...But in all that He specifically did, I do not see to much of a focus for the Traveling Rabbi for lists and getting a specific number of things done...Now He was completely focused on God and doing God’s Will and God's Work, and teaching us about the Absolute Truth of things...But His traveling from village to village was to me, more of a wandering of sorts...But in His wanderings was different and something very crucial and important, in the sense that He knows the human element of things...And yet He is also Divine...He wandered and taught in the different villages at the speed of life, human life...He taught us in parables and proverb-like teachings and stories...He understands that after all that wandering and teaching there is a time to go off and be with His Father and to listen for Him and to Him to be with Him...So Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray to our Father in Heaven...It would be good for us to do the same after a day of work, each day...