Jesus "withdrew to a deserted place." Though Matthew does not explicitly say so, on the basis of other similar scriptural passages such as Lk 5:16 and Mk 1:35, we may presume that Jesus went off alone to pray. Sensitive to the underlying presumption of Scripture, we may see here a hint of the real humanity of Jesus, a man like us in all things, including the emotions of friendship, sorrow, and sense of loss which are part of our very human existence. There is much implicit in the Gospel to show Jesus' affection for John and so, on hearing of John's death at the hands of Herod, it would have been most natural for him to go away by himself to pray for John and to pray over the senseless cruelty, cowardice and selfishness that had brought about John's death. Jesus did not just nonchalantly go off in a boat to a deserted place: Like us all in times of grief he needed to turn in prayer to God the Father and deal with his emotions. Let us learn to appreciate Jesus' humanity more deeply and come to a greater insight into his divinity and incarnation.