"Sacred Reading", excerpt from Chapter 6

And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsada, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. (vs. 45-47)

It seems to me that the most important thing about these three verses is the movement away from the crowd into solitude. Jesus sends His disciples away to give them space to think upon what just occured in this miracle and also to give Himself some time for private prayer and rest.

If what we learn in the Bible and profess in the Creeds is true (and I firmly believe that it is), then Jesus is here not just setting a good example, but is genuinely in need of some rest. And that is a comforting thing, for as we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews:

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4: 15-16)

What a marvelous statement of continuity and faith this is. When I am depressed and discouraged, when I feel like there is no hope, that no one really understands me or my concerns, that everything I have done or believed is all in vain, then I have only to turn to this passage to be reminded of why it is that I choose to follow Jesus.

I particularly love that part about coming "boldly unto the throne of grace". Not just weakly or incidentally, we are called to proclaim and confess our insurmountable needs, to cry out for mercy and assistance from the only truly effectual source of such things, the throne of grace. Not unlike the sick man in Chapter 2 whose friends were kind enough to respond to his needs and lower him through the roof of the house where Jesus was in order to draw near to Him, that is the kind of boldness that we too ought to embrace.