* I find Him in alone-ness.

And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

Matt 14:23

The day that Jesus found out that his cousin, John, had been murdered he leaves the crowd and gets in a boat and goes to a quiet place so that he can be alone.  When the crowd hears where Jesus is, they follow him and wait for him on the shore.  When Jesus got back he saw them and had compassion on them and healed the sick.   Evening came and the disciples felt like Jesus should send the crowd away because it was suppertime.  But Jesus tells them “no”.  He feeds 5000+ people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
—Then —
Jesus immediately sends his disciples ahead of him.  Then the Bible says that…

“…after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”

Q: How did he dismiss the crowds?  Not physically but from his mind?

I wonder if this was hard for Jesus.  I mean he was a man of emotion and feeling.  He was a man of compassion, a man who grieved, who felt loss, and gave, and understood their needs.  Dismiss them?  How?  Why?

Why…?
Jesus needed ‘me-time’…alone time.  (That’s what Caius calls it.)
He went away so that he could rest in, get direction from, be empowered by, and glory in his Father.  Returning renewed so that he could continue to give himself away by loving and teaching, praying for and laying himself down for the crowd…all the way to the end.

How…?
Still learning.  Still listening.