What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken by the wind?
What did you go into the desert to see?
A stalk swayed by the breeze?
What did you see there? (1)
I leave for the wilderness
Where John, he had been baptizing,
Where I was baptized by him,
Where I heard the holy voice from heaven.
I am going again to where I was full of the Spirit.
It is not to avoid the rulers, the force of leaders.
It is not from fear although they threw out my followers. (2)
I leave the noise of ambition in the city.
I leave the market of desires dressed in fine clothes.
What do you follow me to see in this wilderness?
Not because of cowardice do you leave the city.
You are brave to follow the truth into the wilderness.
You are courageous like Abraham who left his country,
his people and his father’s household
to go to the wilderness which he had never seen. (3)
In this place, you will see the holy light.
You will hear the holy voice from heaven.
What did you follow me to hear in the wilderness?
– Rev. Yong Sub Sim
Poem based on John 10:39-42
(1) Matthew 11:7-9
(2) John 12:42; 9:22
(3) Genesis 12:1-4
Image by Martina Janochová from Pixabay.
