Into the Wilderness

1st Sunday in Lent
a reflection on Mark 1:9-14

Desmond had grown unaccustomed to traveling light. But, neither was he prepared to be called away so soon. He only stepped out for a minute, and the answering machine counted off three missed calls. Each from the same person, bearing the same message, in the same words: “My son, come home.”

“Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing…”

Making this trip on such an impulse, with no time to pack, no time to make plans or lay provision, Desmond felt vulnerable and exposed. He was not comfortable entrusting to others what he ought to determine for himself. How long will I be gone? What am I going to eat? Where can I stay?

“Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people…”

Having left so many distractions behind, Desmond became more aware of himself and of what he had brought with him: hunger, loneliness and fear; all those frightful, familiar things beckoning him to turn around, turn away, turn back to the broad and well-worn paths leading nowhere.

“Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” ~Joel 2:12-17

Desmond also found that he had hope. He had heard his father’s voice. Unexpected. Long-awaited. A dream remembered. A way in the wilderness, leading home.