the one about the wilderness

Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days and forty nights; he contends with Satan, the adversary, and angels minister to him.  The original Greek text describes this experience using verbs in the perfect tense, giving the entire scene the sense that this is an ongoing action or reality. Its as if Mark is saying here, Jesus was, and is, and continues to be in the wilderness, under attack, comforted by angels.  Why?  Because Mark is suggesting that the entire length of Jesus’ earthly life and mission is a wilderness struggle. 

Now when we think of the wilderness, our 1^st world notion is more or less nostalgic and romantic isn’t it? Like hunting camp or hiking in the woods or a vacation in a beautifully harsh landscape.  We saw some wilderness, some desert on our honeymoon.  But we also stayed at two resorts and at three meals a day.  Wilderness adventure makes for good TV too, from Survivor to Wild Alaska, there are shows that put people artificially in hard conditions to see what happens to them.  And we know there are people who take risks in the wilderness, climbing high peeks or camping in backcountry environments.  Dangerous places that risk our survival attract people.  We admire people who endure, even if we are unable or unwilling to push our own endurance.

But we also know-- from a distance mostly-- that there are many places in the world inhabited by people who must endure harsh conditions every day.  There are places where people live where children must walk many miles every day to fetch a daily supply of water.  We know there are places where crops don’t grow and the expanding desert displaces populations of people who used to subsist there.  We know people live in wilderness environments, not by choice but by circumstances of their birth and placement in the world.  There are places that challenge daily survival for millions of people on the earth today. 

The wilderness is more than a journey into a place where conditions for survival are hard.  The wilderness is also a spiritual reality.  According to the story, the Spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness.  The word to drive out is ekballo, same word for exorcism.  Jesus is exorcized by the Spirit and cast out into the wilderness---a place of danger and adversity, of extreme challenge and discomfort. Why does this happen?  In Matthew and Luke, Jesus undergoes a series of tests to determine his willingness to accept his fate as the Son of God, sent into the world to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world.  But in Mark’s gospel, that identity formation experience is left out.  Jesus is not there to learn, to grow, to prepare.  Jesus is there to wage war. Now, I don’t picture Jesus as an army ranger here.  His warfare is not with conventional weapons.  He is there to wipe out the forces that threatened humankind, God’s precious children.  He is there to destroy the power of sin at work in the human family, causing adversity, struggle, hardship, hatred, fear, mistrust, inequality, prejudice.  Jesus experiences the adversity and challenge of the human community as a wilderness, every bit as harsh and deadly as the desert landscape in which he finds himself.  People will treat him like the desert terrain treats him. And he will be in the fight for the rest of his life.  He will die in the wilderness of public life at the hands of powerful, violent men:  unloving, unkind, unrelenting law-breakers like you and me.  We are the wilderness. We are the wild and the chaos.  Jesus is the calm and the peace. 

What is happening in your life that is like a wilderness experience?  Where are you experiencing adversity and challenge?  Where are you experiencing hardship and risk?  Where do you experience threat to your health, vitality, and peace?  We experience these adverse challenges and risks more often than we think.  Know that Jesus journeys with us into the chaos and uncertainty and worry and despair that is the wildnerness life we live.  And that this wilderness is God’ good creation waiting to be redeemed, set free from its bondage to decay and death.  In Christ, the wilderness is cast out and the Kingdom of God is established, a kingdom of order, peace, compassion, and love.  Amen.