A PDF COMPANION TO THE AUDIOBOOK

APPENDIX

JESUS WALKING
AWAY

These are the biblical accounts I found where Jesus chose to walk
away or let someone else walk away.

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross
to the other side of the lake.
Matthew 8:18

Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they
saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. Jesus
stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town.
Matthew 8:34–9:1

But they laughed at [Jesus]. After the crowd had been put outside,
he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.
Matthew 9:24–25, emphasis added

But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill
Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place.
Matthew 12:14–15

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat

privately to a solitary place.
Matthew 14:13

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 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and
go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the
crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a moun-
tainside by himself to pray.
Matthew 14:22

After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and
went to the vicinity of Magadan.
Matthew 15:39

“A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none

will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them
and went away.
Matthew 16:4

In this passage where Jesus encounters a rich young man (Matthew 19:16–
30), Jesus lets him walk away. Instead of chasing after him, he turns to his
disciples and teaches them.

When the young man heard this [the teaching to sell all that he
owned], he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Matthew 19:22

But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw . . .
they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are say-
ing?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called
forth your praise’?” And he left them and went out of the city
to Bethany, where he spent the night.
Matthew 21:15–17

When [the Pharisees] heard this [Jesus avoiding their trap],

they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Matthew 22:22

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Jesus excoriated the Pharisees with the seven woes (Matthew 23:13–39),
after which he walked away.

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples
came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.
Matthew 24:1

When they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for

you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby
villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
Mark 1:37–38

Jesus sent [the man with leprosy] away at once with a strong
warning.
Mark 1:43

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us

go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took
him along, just as he was, in the boat.
Mark 4:35–36

Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
As Jesus was getting into the boat the man who had been
demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him.
Mark 5:17–19

He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John
the brother of James.
Mark 5:37

But they laughed at him. After [Jesus] put them all out, he took
the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with
him, and went in where the child was.
Mark 5:40

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Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go
on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
Mark 6:45–46

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered
a house and did not want anyone to know it.
Mark 7:24

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him,

they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and
said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you,
no sign will be given to it.” Then he left them, got back into the
boat and crossed to the other side.
Mark 8:11–13

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he
said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the
man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is
for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
Mark 10:21–24

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and

began driving out those who were buying and selling there.
Mark 11:15

But [the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders]
were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
Mark 12:12

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The chief priests accused [Jesus] of many things. So again Pilate
asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things
they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and
Pilate was amazed.
Mark 15:3–5

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until
an opportune time.
Luke 4:13

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard
this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to
the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to
throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd
and went on his way.
Luke 4:28–30

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were

looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried
to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim
the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also,
because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the
synagogues of Judea.
Luke 4:42–44

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of
people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 5:15–16

Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus
to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got
into the boat and left.
Luke 8:37

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 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go
with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and
tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away
and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
Luke 8:38–39

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus

resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on
ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready
for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he
was heading for Jerusalem . . . Then he and his disciples went
to another village.
Luke 9:51–53, 56

In this passage (John 5:1–15), Jesus slips away from the Pharisees before
they can question him about telling a healed man to carry his mat away.

The man who was healed had no idea who it was [that had
healed him], for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that
was there.
John 5:13

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king
by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
John 6:15

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer
followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus
asked the Twelve.
John 6:66–67

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go

about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking
for a way to kill him.
John 7:1

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At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid him-
self, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 8:59

Again [Jesus’ opponents] tried to seize him, but he escaped

their grasp. Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the
place where John had been baptizing in the early days.
John 10:39–40

So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore

Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of
Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness,
to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
John 11:53–54

When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself

from them.
John 12:36

As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So

Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no
one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since
Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling
him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give some-
thing to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he
went out. And it was night. When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now
is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.”
John 13:27–31

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