In today’s readings, we hear again about Jesus retreating to a “deserted place” in order to be closer to God the Father. The Letter to Hebrews (Hebrews 3:7-14) addresses Jewish Christians reminding them that they, too, have gone through a desert experience. They, like their ancestors, are going through changes in their lives. They have left behind their slavery to sin and are experiencing their own Exodus, of sorts, into a place of rest. While they are traveling through the dry and barren areas, they are not to lose heart or test God, as their ancient predecessors had done. The reading today challenges the Hebrew Christians to remain faithful to the life they have begun in Jesus and to stick it out until the end when they will enjoy the eternal rest and joy of the heavenly Promised Land.
Perhaps because the First Reading had quoted Psalm 95, it is appropriate that it is used today as the Responsorial. The psalm passage we have today urges the faithful to realize the relationship they have with God. God is their protector and deliverer, just as God had been for the people of the Exodus. The psalm urges believers not to get to the point in their desert experience that they begin to challenge God. They must remain faithful as they journey along the hard, and seemingly lifeless, paths.
In the Gospel (Mark 1:40-45), Jesus, with great compassion, reaches out to a leper. Jesus heals him and asks that he not publicly proclaim his healing but that he should go to the religious authorities so they could, according to the law, pronounce that the leper is now healed. But the former leper cannot contain himself. In his excitement, he spreads the news of his miraculous healing. Jesus, realizing that He could no longer stay in that town, moves out to a deserted place. At first, I am sure, He was alone except for being in the presence of His Father. As word of His deeds spread, however, people come out into the desert to find Him.
What is there about the desert that makes it so special? It was in the desert that Moses encountered God in a burning bush. It was into the desert that the people of the Exodus came after their release from the slavery of Egypt. It was on a mountain in the desert that God gave the Ten Commandments. It was the where the Israelites had to travel for forty years as a result of their lack of trust in God. Some of the prophets escaped to the desert to be alone and prepare themselves for their ministry, including John the Baptist. Jesus Himself spent 40 days in the desert after His baptism and before the beginning of His public ministry. It was there that the devil tempted Jesus, and the devil lost.
Even though the desert is one of my favorite places, all of us experience times of the emptiness of the desert. Saint (Mother) Theresa of Calcutta experienced such an emptiness for many of the last years of her life. We go through times when we are all burned out and seem to be lifeless. I have talked to many people who have experienced this because of the pandemic, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. It is times such as these that we are in the desert or in a seemingly deserted place. The desert can be a place where we can either live or we can die, physically and/or spiritually. It is a place where we need to focus on what is essential in life. It is a place where either we will be renewed and refreshed with the realization of God’s presence in our lives, or we will be tested to a point of giving up on God and selling out to the temptations of evil. Yet it is a place we must go if we want to come back to the life of ministry to which God has called us. It is also a place through which we must travel if we are going to arrive at the Promised Land, the Resting Place of God, that is heaven.
The desert experience for some might be dealing with an aging parent, or seeing a sick or injured child, or having to face a frustrating relationship with a loved one, or a sudden serious illness. It might be a financially trying time as many are experiencing by being out of work or being home with children who are remotely learning. It could be the post-Christmas blues or wondering about our government and worrying about our own safety as the battle continues between the right and the left. The important thing in the desert is that we have to give up all the non-essentials in our lives and focus on keeping alive – with God. If we stay focused, unlike the Israelites of old who tested God, then we can realize the relationship we have with God and join the psalmist today saying, “Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. For the Lord is our God, and we are the people the Lord shepherds, the flock God guides.”
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!