And that is what is
important about the Gospel reading (Mark 1: 29-39) this Sunday. As we saw last
week, Jesus has just healed the man with ‘an unclean spirit’. He goes to the
home of Simon and Andrew. Perhaps he was expecting some quiet time with his disciples;
or at least a nice dinner with friends. Instead, “Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a
fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand
and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” (Mark 1:30-31) Rather than having the chance to
rest, the family asks Jesus to heal this woman. He does, and then “at sunset, they
brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city
was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various
diseases, and cast out many demons.”
(Mark 1:32-34)
Jesus
knew that he needed to take time for the important things. Healing Simon’s
mother-in-law, and the others who came to the door was important. However, note
that he took time to go ‘to a deserted place…and pray’ before saying ‘let us go
on to the neighboring towns’.
Speaking
for myself, I tend to get way too busy ‘doing’ things and neglect the
wilderness prayer time. Bonnie Gray in her book Finding Spiritual White Space states “desolate places…are the last places on earth you’d look to find soulful
rest… [but] desolation is where Jesus went to meet God…where Jesus chose to
retreat.” She goes on to say “The
wilderness. Where I’m exposed, unsure, undecided…is where Jesus found me.” Maybe
that’s why we avoid taking time to go to the wilderness. We want to avoid
facing the wild-ness-of our untamed hearts. We don’t like being ‘exposed,
unsure, undecided’. We are afraid of what we might find in the wilderness. In
truth, we will find and be found by Jesus in the desolate places of our lives. We
will experience our own ‘epiphanies’ of God breaking into our lives.
As
we approach the beginning of Lent, we may want to consider some intentional ‘wilderness
time’ to allow God to speak to our hearts, perhaps heal something long hidden.
God wants to open our hearts so we can savor and rejoice in ALL of life (not
just the easy parts).
What
can you do in your life to make some space for God to speak to you, now and in
Lent and beyond? How can you savor more of life, both the joys and pains, more
fully?
Next
week we will come to the last Sunday in Epiphany and look at the story of Jesus
healing a leper.
