o the Father. But Luke
emphasizes the _human_ Jesus, a _Man_--with reverence let me use a word in
its old-fashioned meaning--a _fellow_, that is, one of ourselves. And the
Holy Spirit makes it very plain throughout Luke's narrative that the _man_
Christ Jesus _prayed_; prayed _much; needed_ to pray; _loved_ to pray.

Oh! when shall we men down here, sent into the world as He was sent into
the world, with the same mission, the same field, the same Satan to
combat, the same Holy Spirit to empower, find out that power lies in
keeping closest connection with the Sender, and completest insulation from
the power-absorbing world!

<u>Dissolving Views.</u>

Let me rapidily sketch those fifteen mentions of the gospel writers,
attempting to keep their chronological order.

_The first mention_ is by Luke, in chapter three. The first three gospels
all tell of Jesus' double baptism, but it is Luke who adds, "and praying."
It was while waiting in prayer that He received the gift of the Holy
Spirit. He _dared_ not begin His public mission without that anointing. It
had been promised in the prophetic writings. And now, standing in the
Jordan, He waits and prays until the blue above is burst through by the
gleams of glory-light from the upper-side and the dove-like Spirit wings
down and abides upon Him. _Prayer brings power._ Prayer _is_ power. The
time of prayer is the time of power. The place of prayer is the place of
power. Prayer is tightening the connections with the divine dynamo so that
the power may flow freely without loss or interruption.

_The second mention_ is made by Mark in chapter one. Luke, in chapter
four, hints at it, "when it was day He came out and went into a desert
place." But Mark tells us plainly "in the morning a great while before the
day (or a little more literally, 'very early while it was yet very dark')
He arose and went out into the desert or solitary place and there prayed."
The day before, a Sabbath day spent in His adopted home-town Capernaum,
had been a very busy day for Him, teaching in the synagogue service, the
interruption by a demon-possessed man, the casting out amid a painful
scene; afterwards the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, and then at
sun-setting the great crowd of diseased and demonized thronging the
narrow street until far into the night, while He, passing amongst them, by
personal touch, healed and restored every one. It was a long and
exhausting day's work. One of us spend