Today is the first Sunday of Lent. The lectionary reading is
the account of Jesus meeting with John the baptizer. Afterwards, we are told,
“the spirit drove him out into the wilderness”.
It has become common parlance for people to talk about “the
wilderness experience”. Yet I wonder
what does that really mean? It has become another catch phrase . . . a sort of
Christian-speak for any perceived bad time.
At this point I have to admit that I dislike
“Christian-speak”. In certain circles it can become like a secret language,
like a sign that a person is in the “Christian” club. Even then, there are many
shades to the “club” that can be recognized through a particular phrase or turn
of speech. Always there are insiders and outsiders. That is such a horrible concept,
yet it is so easy to fall into. It is always something to watch oneself for, to
guard against.
This week I was on vacation from school. Yet, it has not
been a fun vacation time to do nice holiday-type things and relax. I have had
to work every day in a fairly disciplined fashion at writing. This week has
been all about hermeneutics (the art of interpretation). I have been consumed
by thinking about and writing about how the Bible is (has been) understood and
how that effects contemporary practice, not in a general sense, but in my tiny
area of study, corporal punishment of children. One of the things it has been
quite exciting to discover is how practices claimed as Biblical simply are not.
Depending on one’s viewpoint they may be good or bad practices but they simply
can’t be claimed as Biblical and, therefore, guiding one’s life.
I wondered if that is what we have in this phrase “the
wilderness experience” which is derived mainly from Jesus’ experience in the
desert for 40 days (although a glance is sometimes cast at the Israelites
wandering in the desert for 40 years). In fact, one has to wonder if the
authors of the synoptic gospels used 40 days to mimic the 40 years . . . but
that’s not a thought I want to pursue today.
There are a multitude of books written about the wilderness
experience. Many claim it is a Biblical experience, thus having an authority in
their lives. Yet, I wonder if this is really Biblical or does it owe more to
popular thinking.
The “desert experience” is generally deemed to be a time
when one withdraws to a place to be alone. It is a time to seek God and a spiritual
experience. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking time alone. Many
people (and not just those who identify as Christian) recognize the necessity
of time alone to recharge one’s batteries. It often is a very spiritual
experience however one understands that term.
I randomly looked at a few articles on “The Desert
Experience”. I quote from three which offer very different perspectives on how
they interpret the concept.
The first article I read said that the desert was “a place
inhabited by monsters and demonic forces; a scary place; a place of chaos . .
.”, (Dr. D. W. Ekstrand)
The second said, “You may be just surviving from day to day financially or
materially. You may be waiting for your healing to manifest. It is all totally
unpleasant for your flesh. Instead of prosperity there will be trials and
pressure. Your peace will be assaulted by all kinds of negative emotions and
thoughts, which you will need to resist” (Michael Fackerell)
The
third described the experience as “[People] feel alone, spiritually isolated, and
they don’t have too many Christian friends that they are experiencing a rich
and full fellowship in Christ with.” (Frank Viola)
I don’t want to say any of the people writing these quotes are
wrong or what they say is necessarily bad. Some people will disagree with them
whilst others will agree. I merely want to point out that there is nothing to
say that these experiences are Biblical!
Personally, I don’t think that being ill, or being financially
challenged or being lonely or facing a crisis can be attributed to the passage
today. They are indeed situations which many of us will have experienced.
However, if we equate such things to this so-called “desert experience” then we
would have to say that all the poor, all the chronically sick people, all the people
who have been lonely for years are spending their whole lives the desert. People experiencing this sort of hardship may
feel they are struggling constantly, but it cannot necessarily be claimed as a
Biblical, God-ordained spiritual experience.
So back to the text . . . what we have is Jesus on the brink of
a change of career. He is about to start of ministry and feels compelled to
take some time to prepare. It was a few
days of time to be alone. It is so often the negative aspects of this passage
and this season that are focused on. Yet, the texts in the various gospels tell
us that Jesus was tended by angels, and by non-human friends. In the past, I
have talked about the possibility that when the gospel tell us that John the
Baptizer came from the wilderness he had been being educated by the Essene
community there. Maybe an Essene community looked after Jesus when he was in
the wilderness. But that, too, is supposition. Regardless, when we read about
Jesus in the wilderness the richness of the experience often passes us by.
Last week at the support group for foster and adoptive parents
in our county we talked about the necessity of taking time alone for ourselves.
The task is a hard one, the children have suffered the trauma of being removed
from home to say nothing of the possible traumas caused by the reasons they had
to leave their homes. To do the task well, it is necessary to take time to prepare
oneself.
Jesus time in the desert was just that, he was cared for and tended
to as he prepared for the next phase of his life. I think it would be good to
remain with that thought and ponder all the positives of time alone being
ministered to by others this week.
