And the Spirit
immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
–Mark 1:12
Twice in the frenetic first chapter of the Gospel of Mark,
Jesus goes to the wilderness. After his
baptism and before the beginning of his ministry in Galilee, the Spirit drives
him there. Later, after a busy time of
teaching and healing, he goes out to the wilderness to pray (1:35. The same Greek word is translated
“wilderness” in 1:12 and as “deserted place” in 1:35 in the NRSV Bible). Jesus’ first visit to the wild is a time of
temptation and struggle (you have to go to Matthew and Luke to get the details,
Mark’s version is typically sparse).
Jesus’ second visit always feels much quieter to me.
I have always loved the wilderness. From wandering in the woods near my house as
a youth, to backpacking and day hiking as an adult, to the wild acreage I lived
on during my time in Norman, OK, the wilderness has always been a place of
solitude, reflection, and peace for me.
But, three times in my life I have also been lost in the
wilderness. Twice in the woods, once in
the desert. On those adventures, the
wilderness was anything but solitude, reflection and peace. Instead, I experienced it as terrifying,
confusing and dangerous.
The wilderness is complicated. It is a place filled with beasts and
angels. It is a place where we can
encounter Satan and God. It is a place
where we can experience temptation and insight, destruction and innovation,
threat and salvation. It is a powerful
metaphor for life itself.
These days, it often seems like all the world around us is
wilderness. Another mass shooting, this
time in a school in Florida, has ripped our hearts out again this week. I have spent a lot of time recently with
congregations struggling with deep and difficult questions about their own
survival. I encounter people every day
who are in the midst of their own personal wildernesses. To many, including me, life can seem
completely out of control and solutions way beyond our grasp.
In Matthew and Luke’s telling of the “Temptation of Jesus,”
Jesus turns to scripture for strength and guidance during his sojourn in the
wilderness. It’s in the stories of God’s
steadfast love and faithfulness, even in some pretty wild times, that Jesus
rests his faith and enduring faithfulness.
We can do the same. The
consistent and clear witness of scripture is that God stands with us in the
wilderness. That’s at the heart of the
whole story of Jesus, who is the very embodiment of God. That’s the story of the cross and the
resurrection. That’s the story of a God
who is constantly bringing hope and healing and new life from suffering and
death… even in the wildest of places where
we find ourselves.
And so, confident that God is with us, we persevere here in
the wilderness. But even more, like the
People of Israel and Jesus and many others before us, we continue on. We continue on, proclaiming the Reign of
God’s love in word and deed and in acts of compassion and mercy. Angels for one another in the midst of the
beasts.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
Please pray for all those effected by violence, and
especially those impacted by the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School this past week.
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