Jesus Teaches Throughout Galilee

17. Jesus Teaches Throughout Galilee

There are several times in Jesus’ short ministry where he goes off alone to pray. One can imagine he is asking for God’s guidance and direction as to what he should do next. Clearly he is gaining popularity. But is it for the right reasons? Are people hearing his message? Or is the expectation of a messiah so great that it is clouding people’s ability to understand his teachings? If so, might there be a better approach? All of these things and more are possible, and may have motivated him to undertake a prayerful contemplation of whether or not teaching is the right mission, or whether some other course of action is called for.

Whatever his motivation, at the end of his time in prayer, Jesus seems to have received some sort of confirmation of his method, for in reconnecting with his disciples he says: “Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for to this end came I forth.”