The Biblical
authors knew all about the desert, for they were desert people.
How often the
great heroes of the Biblical revelation have to spend time in the desert: Abraham has to cross it to get to the
promised land; Moses and the Israelite people have to go through it to get
home; Joseph is sent into Egypt and prison before he is ready for his mission;
John the Baptist is a voice crying in the desert; Paul goes into the desert of
Arabia after receiving the revelation on the road to Damascus. Even Jesus himself spends forty days and
nights in the desert before commencing his ministry.
What does the
desert symbolize? A number of
things: confrontation with one’s own
sin, seeing one’s dark side; a deep realization of one’s dependency upon God;
an ordering of the priorities of one’s life; a simplification; a getting back
to basics. It means any and all of these
things.
But the bottom
line is that all of them had to wait through a painful time, living a stripped
down life, before they were ready for mission.
They were compelled to wait, during a time and in a place where very
little life seems to be on offer.
But it is
precisely in such deserts that the flowers bloom. Moses becomes a great leader; Abraham is the
father of many nations; Joseph becomes the savior of his people; John the
Baptist is the forerunner of the Messiah; Paul is the apostle to the
Gentiles. And of course, Jesus becomes
our Savior.
This Lent, perhaps
God is calling you into the desert – not to punish you, but to prepare you.
--Bishop Robert
Barron, Lent Day 35 (March 15, 2016)
Image source: Stanley Spencer, Christ in the Wilderness: The
Scorpion
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