The 5000 families had been fed, the disciples were refreshed, but Jesus had another appointment.  He needed time with His Father, and that needed to be alone.  Jesus had not come to wow the crowd but to please His Father ... and so the pressing priority was to pray.  There was no protracted celebration of the miraculous feast; instead, the disciples were dispatched across the lake in a boat - immediately!  They also had an appointment - with alone-ness – and after that, with Jesus.

We know only a little about the prayer life of Jesus from those prayers that were overheard and recorded; but we do know that He gave the top priority to being with His Father (Luke 6:12).  Without relating with the Father, the Son was incomplete (John 10:38).  When He taught about prayer, Jesus advised His disciples to get alone with Father God - nobody else in the room, and the door closed (Matthew 6:6).  But that night, the mountainside became the private rendezvous between the Father and Son of God - before the next faith-training session for the disciples.

That busy day had started when the disciples came back, two by two, from their different mission assignments.  They ministered with Jesus' authority but not with Him physically present (Mark 6:7,12,13).  It was a preparation for their work in leading the Early Church.  As night fell, they were once again sent out - away from their Master.  This time they were together in a boat, but the evening wind was already too strong for sailing, so they had to row quite a few miles against the elements to get back to Gennesaret (Mark 6:48).  The crowds had gone away, the disciples had the quiet they craved … but without Jesus they were incomplete.  Once again Jesus was equipping His trainee apostles.  In the future they would often be alone against the physical or spiritual elements.  Their past experience and skill would not be enough to fulfil God's will: but knowing they had Christ’s authority, they also knew He would guide and guard, provide and protect them.

There are two areas of application in this passage.  The first is about prayer: if Jesus needed His secret prayer time, why do we sometimes think that we don't?  Of all the priceless privileges of a child, free access to a loving Father must surely be top of the list.  Without that intimacy we cannot live as loved ones, engage with our Father's heart, or have the confidence that everything about us is known.  The second is about being alone, physically separated from Jesus but related to Him through faith and having His authority to act.  It is like that today.  Fellowship is important, but so is the temporary isolation from fellowship to make us realise how much we need to be in relationship with Him.