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. – Mark 1:35-36

You started ministry, O Savior, in retreat.
You rose from Jordan’s cleansing water and
retreated to the wilderness.
I guess temptation’s not precisely a
vacation, is it? Still, forty days
away from obligation sounds,
well, pretty good.

Then just a few days into ministry –
such active days, with teaching in
the synagogue there in Capernaum,
the place where everybody knew your name,
and were surprised to hear you speak with force,
and issue a command a demon must
perforce, obey,

Then healing Simon’s ailing mother-in-law
(where was his wife, I wonder?), and
the others who, with Sabbath ended,
made their way to Simon’s house in search
of respite from their pains, their demons quashed,
their illnesses relieved, their spirits freed,
their futures brightened –

Now you step away from exorcism, healing touch,
and liberating word. Now you seek night’s sheltering cloak,
to hide you from those seeking you. Now you
ask, perhaps, if struggling with the Tempter
might have been the gentlest part of ministry.
Now you seek a rest in God more healing
than a night of sleep.

The fishermen became the hunters, then.
They sought you, tracked you, brought you down
as arrow brings the hart unto its knees.
“They seek you, Jesus.” That was their excuse,
but you, and they, knew well their desperate need
to be with, learn from, follow you
in a new day.

You rise. You slap the clinging dust away
from off your robe. You slip the sandals on
(perhaps you’d shed them so to pray on holy ground).
“Let us go on,” you told them. Yes, they’re welcome
on the road of ministry, as weary as it is.
You’ll make your times of solitude along the Way
and maybe, they will, too.

A poem/prayer based on Mark 1:29-39, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel Reading for Year B, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.

The image is an illustration of Mark 1 by Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18886209.