…in a certain place.

“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place.” The use of the word “certain” has always seemed a bit odd to me. In other passages in the Gospels, the writers mention the locations where Jesus prayed. They tell us he prayed in the mountains, he prayed in fields, he prayed in a room; but in this passage, we are told that he prayed in a certain place. I’m not a Greek-geek, so I looked up the Greek word and found that the Greek word for certain, tivi, means…well, uh…certain.

“Certain” has a couple of definitions. First, “certain” means that a thing is known for sure or established beyond all doubt. But “certain” can also mean that a thing is specific, but not named explicitly. I’m pretty sure the writer is using the second definition; Jesus went to a specific place, but a place without a name. This certainly (first meaning of the word) seems unimportant. I mean, is it important that we know the name of the place where he went to pray? Probably not. But since the Gospel writers often include the name of the places Jesus went to pray (i.e. on a mountain, in a room, in the garden) I find this vague reference worth investigating.

In my last post, I wrote that the day described by Luke when Jesus was praying was an unremarkable day. My guess is that if you asked the twelve disciples what they did that day, most of them might not be able to remember. But if you asked them if Jesus prayed in a specific place, they would say he did, because, you see, Jesus most likely prayed every day. And when Jesus prayed, he would often go away from people to a place all his own, a very specific place, but also an unremarkable place—a place without a name.

Every day it was probably the same thing. One day Jesus might have prayed on the roof of the house in which they stayed, the next at the edge of the field near a stream. Some days he went up the mountainside away from everyone, and some days he may have found a corner in a house away from other people to pray. The point is, Jesus made a deliberate choice to set apart a time and a place where he would pray.

This is not to say he didn’t pray while walking down the road with the disciples, while at a meal with friends, or while trying to avoid being trampled by the donkey Matthew was riding (I mean, Matthew was a tax collector, so how much could he know about riding donkeys?). While the time and place of Jesus’ prayers probably changed each day, the fact that he deliberately set apart a time and a certain place didn’t change; he made prayer the only focus of his attention at least once a day.

I would like to offer one last comment about the place of prayer. While finding a single specific place, naming it your prayer spot, and keeping a routine is a good idea for our daily time with God, don’t eliminate the possibility of choosing new spots from time to time where you can talk to the Father. You may try the floor in the closet, or sitting on a park bench, walking through the woods, or standing next to a river, sitting in your car, in your favorite chair, or any other place you can think of. A variety of locations can help keep our times with the Father fresh and alive.

It might help if you think of it this way. When you spend time with close friends or your significant other do you always go to the same place? Probably not. My guess is that you want to enjoy the friendship in as many different places as possible. And then later, when walking or driving past a restaurant or park you may remember what you did with those people in those certain places. In a very real way, your friendships now fill those locations with memories. In the same way, by choosing different locations where to pray you may begin to fill those places with his presence making them—making everywhere you go, at some point—sacred and holy.

On an unremarkable day, Jesus was praying in a certain place. As disciples of his, do we find a certain place each day where we can talk to the Father? Do we let our relationship with the Father fill our world with memories of his faithfulness and echoes of his holiness?

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