13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
When Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been killed by Herod the King, he pulls away from the crowds. He finds a place by himself. He needs time alone. I see two things happening. The first thing is his own grief. He needs time and space to grieve the loss of his forerunner. John’s job was to announce Jesus’ coming and ministry. He was the billboard of the day. He was always pointing people toward Jesus. John was also a cousin of Jesus. He was just a few months older than Jesus. I am sure when they were small they visited each other, after Jesus returned from Egypt. They might have played games together during those visits. John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River as an outward sign of repentance. The Spirit descended on Jesus at that moment. John had a very critical role to play in Jesus’ life and ministry. And now he was dead. Grief requires some “alone” time. The second thing happening is the need for rest. Jesus has been busy helping people. He needs some time away to refresh. His physical body probably needed some good down time. We can’t continue to give and give without it taking a toll on our physical bodies. We need to give ourselves permission to grieve and we have to let our bodies rest. These two are often neglected and often lead to many of our difficulties in life.
The Arnold Journey 