“Where have you been? Everyone has been looking for you!” I have heard these very words on more than one occasion in my life. At times I would get caught up in looking at toys in the department store or being engrossed in a sporting event. The issue of “Where have you been?” has been as much about the location of my physical body as it is with the mind and attention.
When Jesus was twelve years old, he and his family went to the Temple for the festival of the Passover. When the time came for them to leave, there was confusion as about who Jesus was walking with. After a day’s walk, no one seemed to know where Jesus was. They started to look for him and decided to retrace their steps. After three days, they found Jesus at the Temple among the teachers. Mary said to Jesus, “Your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety” (Luke 2:48). Basically she said, “Where have you been?” Jesus’ response, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (2:49).
In Mark 1:35-37 we read, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’”
Jesus had a habit of disappearing for a time for spiritual relationship and renewal. There are numerous times when he went away with his disciples or with a few of his disciples for deeper relationship and teaching. There are other places, like here in Mark, when Jesus began his morning with His Father in prayer. Consider the importance of these times of preparation prior to beginning the day or beginning a new endeavor or preparing for a large project.
We are about one-week from Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. This 40-day adventure is a time for reflection, remembrance, and growth. We are reminded of the time when the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness for 40-days of fasting. It is after these forty days that Jesus begins his earthly ministry. The core of the ministry is summarized well in Mark 1:38, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” Out of the time of intimate prayer and fasting, Jesus was prepared to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
As you consider the Lenten Adventure we are preparing to begin, how is God calling you to disappear for a time for spiritual relationship and renewal? A place where you can be alone with Jesus in prayer. What do you need to fast or “give up” for time away to become part of your life during Lent? How wonderful it would be when people were looking for us or when we arrive to meet with someone and they say, “Where have you been?” that we could say, “I have been with Jesus.”
Prayer: Lord, the season of Lent is fast-approaching, and I know there are things in my life I need to surrender and fast. Show me what you would have me “give up” or fast during this Lenten Adventure. In Jesus’ name, Amen.