Where Have You Never Been Before?

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 1:36–39

It was early Sunday morning in Capernaum. The previous day (on the Sabbath), Jesus had preached in the synagogue and delivered a demoniac, raised Peter’s mother-in-law from a bed of sickness, and after sundown He had stood in the street for hours while the sick and demon-possessed came to Him for healing and deliverance.

After only a few hours’ sleep, Jesus got up while it was still dark and went to a solitary place to pray. The disciples had slept in. When they awakened, people were already gathering again out in the street—so many, in fact, that when Simon found Jesus he declared, “Everyone is looking for you!”

At first it appeared that Jesus had vanished. They looked for Him in the home, but He wasn’t there. He certainly wasn’t in the crowd that waited for Him. Normally, when a group of people look for a lost person, they split up; but these disciples hung together for the search. They found Him in a solitary place.

Three years later, Judas knew exactly where to look when he led soldiers to Jesus in Gethsemane. Here, early in Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, they had not known where to look and it had taken them some time to locate Him.

In both Galilee and Gethsemane Jesus sought out solitary places to pray. If Jesus knew He couldn’t be effective without spending time alone in prayer with His Father, how much more do we need to follow His example? If others went looking for us, would they ever find us praying? Or would they always find us busy?

When they found Jesus, the disciples’ solution was for Him to remain in Capernaum and have a ministry that paralleled John the baptizer’s. John stayed in one place and people came out to him. Jesus wanted to model the lifetime vocation He would call Simon and the others to—a vocation that required the word “Go!”

No doubt Jesus could have had a vast ministry by staying in one place. Indeed, He may have reached as many people by being stationary as He did by being itinerant. When people are desperate for healing, they will go any distance. So long as Jesus healed and exorcised, the crowds would have remained undiminished. As a side bonus, Capernaum could have developed a nice tourism industry off the business of hotel and dining accommodations, the sale of religious trinkets, and travel packages.

But Jesus held the long view. What was needed in each community was His presence. Each village did not need to be vacated in order for people to go and find Him in a fixed spot at Capernaum. No, He would go to them. He would be in their midst.

There is always a temptation in our lives to get stuck, to not venture out beyond the confines of what we know. But is the Lord nudging you to get out of your familiar or comfortable routines and go with Him to some person, some place, some ministry where you have never been before?

We follow the example of Jesus when we go.

A Prayer: Lord Jesus, somewhere today there is a person to whom You are sending me. It would be easier for me to stay in my safe place, but You ask me to go in Your name. And I will.

Excerpted from Dr. Wood’s forthcoming book, Fearless: How Jesus Changes Everything, available in September from Vital Resources.