Imagine you have had a Christening service of your child at your local church, and right after the service at the church, you were immediately taken by an unknown person to a forest to spend the next forty days there, without celebrating the party of your child’s christening with your family and friends. What would be your immediate response? Angry, upset, annoyed, disturbed, and shattered. There can be many more negative reactions to such an incident.
The text for this first Sunday in Lent is from Mark 1:9-15, which is a recording of Mark where Jesus right after of his baptism at river Jordan and having heard the heavenly voice affirming that he was the beloved Son of God, was taken immediately by the Spirit into the wilderness, without allowing any time for Jesus to celebrate his baptism and his confirmation of the Son of God. Mark did not record the reactions of Jesus to such a swift movement from that site of Jordan to the sites of wilderness. Mark explains in these 6 verses about Jesus’ baptism, the heavens opening up to affirm in Jesus as the Son of God, his forty-day temptations in the wilderness where he waited on the wild animals with angels serving him, and also on his return proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God. There is a sense of urgency for Mark that is visible throughout his gospel, and particularly his usage of the word ‘immediately’ speaks about it. Forty-two times Mark uses the word ‘immediately’ in his gospel and at least twice it is mentioned here in these verses, in verse 10 and 12. Why did the Spirit immediately drove him into wilderness?
The Spirit should have given sufficient time at the site of Jordan for Jesus after his baptism, so that he could have engaged in conversations with people that came to John the Baptist on that day. The Spirit should have given some quality time for people to discuss and clarify with Jesus about his being affirmed as the beloved Son of God from the heavenly voice that day. Rather, the Spirit with a sense of urgency drove Jesus into the site of wilderness, forgoing all those conversations and engagements at the river Jordan. When we think of wilderness, what comes to our mind is a place with no habitation, or a desert place. In my Telugu language Bible, the word for ‘wilderness’ is ‘aranyapradesam,’ which is translate as a jungle or a forest place. Why was wilderness the first stop for Jesus, right after his public appearance at river Jordan? Allow me to share the significance of wilderness, and to recognise a spirituality of wilderness, from this given text. Here is an interesting drawing of Stanley Spencer, the British artist who has done this painting in 1930's on the wilderness experience of Jesus Christ. Let me share four dimensions about the spirituality of wilderness.
1. Wilderness as a site of subversion:
In the context of the Roman empire, wilderness was seen as a place where savage people, the barbarians and the wild animals live. Emperor Augustus who claimed to be the Son of God, who also preached that he was ‘the beginning of the gospel’ was to bring peace by conquest and subduing them. Therefore, wilderness was perceived in the first century Palestine as a place of subversion and as a site of counter-empire. Mark begins the gospel of Jesus Christ with the scenes of the anti-empire led by John the Baptist in the wilderness, with Jesus taking his first public appearance and his forty-day stop at wilderness explaining that the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about anti-empire, contesting the colonial powers. That is the reason I think that the Spirit was rushing Jesus Christ to move into wilderness right after of his baptism to convey the message that Jesus, the beloved Son of God has come into this world the kingdom of God over against the kingdom of Rome, where peace, justice, love and life will flourish and sustain. The Spirit’s sense of urgency in driving Jesus to the wilderness is to communicate that Jesus has come to establish an alternative kingdom, the kingdom of God, immediately, without any delay. Jesus movement gained momentum from those sites of wilderness.
2. Wilderness as a site of Testing:
When the Spirit drove Jesus immediately into wilderness, she did not drive him into some jubilation or fanfare, rather was driving him into temptations. Mark does not record the kinds of temptations that Jesus faced unlike other gospel writers. For him all that mattered was to inform his readers that Jesus stayed for forty days in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan or evil (12-13v). From the other gospel writers, we gather that Jesus did not give-in to the temptations, but boldly faced them with courage and strength. Wilderness served for Jesus as a site of testing for a period of forty-days. Right after his baptism and affirmation as Son of God, Jesus deserves a better place to retreat, but was taken into wilderness to be tested. Such a testing served as a kind of preparation for Jesus to face any test and trial in his public ministry.
3. Wilderness as a site of Friendship:
Who were the companions to Jesus in the wilderness when he was tempted for forty days? In verse 13b, Mark records that “he was with the wild beasts.” Many have associated Satan and the wild beasts together as they read this temptation narratives. However, as I read this text, I find that in all those tests and temptations that Jesus was enduring, it was the wild beasts/animals that served as his friends. May be the audience of Mark, would have thought of Jesus as a person like Daniel, who in the Old Testament was in the lion’s den, fearless and courageous. I am reminded of the film “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle,” where Mowgli lives and befriends all the wild animals, and they all live in harmony. Jesus being with the wild beasts explains that Jesus came to make friendships with anyone and everyone, including wild beasts, for his coming into this world is to restore and renew the entire creation, which includes the flora, the fauna, the animals, all the creatures and the humans. To the early Christians who were living under Roman empire, one of the ways they were persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ was to be torn and eaten by wild animals, and when they heard from Mark’s gospel that Jesus was with the wild beasts, it was a message to say that Jesus befriends these wild beasts and with Jesus peaceful kingdom was a possibility. Wilderness served as a site of friendship, when there is none in the world to be with, God brings wild animals to befriend.
4. Wilderness as a site of Diaconate:
Mark also mentions in verse 13c, that “the angels waited on him.” The word “waited” in Greek happens to be “Deikonoun” from where we have the word ‘Deacon’ coming into existence. In other words, wilderness served for Jesus as a site where the angels served as his ‘deacons.’ When there is none to serve him, the angels, the unknown angels served on him and offered some support and strength. As I read this verse again and again, I find that all those who are in the mission of ‘diaconate’ are angels, for they serve people known and unknown, for all it matters is love in action through service. Wilderness served as a site of service, offering support, care and strength to Jesus in his lonely stay in the wilderness. Mark was in a way communicating the gospel to his audience that, even in sites of wilderness, God doesn’t leave people, for God comes through angels, offering hope and support. No matter whatever the site is, ‘God is always with us’ is the message that Mark was explaining to his readers, and in this case, it was the angels who were waiting, serving on him.
What is the relevance of this text today in 2021? In the context of the current lockdown due to the pandemic, many people have explained lockdown as ‘exile,’ as ‘isolation,’ as ‘home alone,’ and some have called it ‘wilderness.’ When they have called this lockdown as ‘wilderness’ they have been anticipating a sense of ‘promised land’ after the ‘wilderness.’ But today’s text where Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness reminds us that even the site of wilderness is in God’s geography and in God’s location, for God’s presence is present everywhere and in every site. Lockdown creates opportunities to recognise God’s presence in our midst, and it is God who will strengthen us to bounce back from this lockdown to go and live out the kingdom of God that we have in Jesus today. There is a sense of urgency when the Spirit is driving us towards the unknown and the uncertain. The urgency is to recognise that our contexts and locations as sites where ‘God is with us,’ and look out for creative opportunities in turning our contexts as sites and signs offering hope to all of the creation.
The call from this text is to make our neighbourhoods, out churches, our localities, our contexts, our families, our fellowships as sites of subversion, as sites of offering strength, as sites of building friendships and as sites of service for all. As a community we are called to subvert the logic of the empire by being with the struggling communities. Today, the 21st February 2021, is Church Action and Poverty Sunday, and it is an opportunity for us to express our solidarity with their efforts in tackling poverty in the UK. We are also called to nurture and celebrate the friendships that exist out of our boxes, beyond the walls, for after all friendships don’t look to tick all the boxes and then form, rather they are formed naturally. We are also called to serve people in need, people who are under tremendous pressure of temptations in life, offering care, support and love. Each of us are called into this ministry of diaconate in our localities, where we are there to nurse and care for the vulnerable people. May we inculcate the spirituality of wilderness in our lives and recognise that God is walking with us both in the sites of wilderness, in our lockdown, in our communities and in our post-lockdown sites and situations.
In the context of the vaccines now being rolled out, we are developing this idea of ‘Twinning your Vaccine,’ where those of us who have received the vaccine can twin our vaccine with people who cannot afford a vaccine in the poorer countries by paying for the two jabs, we receive through the Covax programme of the Unicef. By joining in this ‘Twinning your vaccine’ programme, we can show our care, our service, our friendship and our support to people living in the Global south, and we can strive in ensuring towards making the vaccine available and accessible to all people in all countries.
May God grant God’s strength so that we can be led by the Spirit in making our localities places for care, friendship, love and service to all and make our world a better place to live with. Amen.
Raj Bharat Patta,
19th February 2021
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