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The gospels tell us surprisingly little about Jesus’ routine or regular practice of prayer. In what seems to have been the earliest gospel, Mark notes that after Jesus’ initial successes in calling disciples, casting out a demon, and healing Peter’s mother-in-law and many other sick people, Jesus got up early in the morning and went to pray at a deserted place (1:35).
He prayed there until he was summoned by Simon Peter and his companions to resume his public ministry of proclaiming God’s kingdom. According to Mark 6:46, Jesus withdrew to a mountain to pray in between the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and his walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. In the Old Testament, both the desert and the mountain sometimes serve as special places for encountering God. One gets the impression from Mark’s very few notices about Jesus’ prayer life that he had developed a rhythm between his communion with the Father and his teaching and other public activities.
In the teaching material in Mark 11:25, Jesus advises a willingness to forgive others if we wish to be forgiven by God: “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your…
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