Mark's gospel begins with John the Baptist in the wilderness and then Jesus appears on the scene to be baptized. After that great moment where the clouds are parted, a booming voice affirms Jesus' identity as God's beloved son and the Spirit drives him into the wilderness.
That seems to be the legacy with God and God's people. Adam and Eve were exiled
from the Garden of Eden. Noah
survived the flood but his new life was an exile from the old. He was cut off
from everything he knew before the flood. It seems that exile and wandering in the wilderness is a
rite of passage for biblical greatness yet we dread it like a plague. We fight it, avoid it, or at best hope to control it.
Abraham was an exile in
Canaan. Hagar was exiled from Abraham and
Sarah. Jacob lived in exile under Laban’s rule waiting to receive Rebecca as
his wife. Joseph was in exile in the well and in prison, while Moses was in
exile many times: in the basket at birth, in the palace growing up, in the
wilderness after killing a man, in the Sinai Wilderness, and in his lonely
place of leadership.
David was in exile as he
ran from King Saul. Jonah was in exile in the belly of the whale. God’s
people were in exile in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. Jesus was in exile as he
hung on the cross. And Paul was in exile from the Jews (once his greatest
supporters) as well as by enduring the “thorn in his flesh.”
It’s a wonder we are so
ignorant of exile and God’s purpose for it when exile is so prevalent in the
Bible. How can we be so blind? If we fully
understood how God uses exile to benefit us we would stand in line all night to
be included in this legacy But we don’t have to stand in line, do we? We all
get a free pass; it’s called “life.”
Why do we think exile is
just for ancient times? If God used it then to prove his people, why wouldn’t
he use it now? We have a tendency to think we are too sophisticated to wander in the wilderness. I pray that humility and willingness will open our hearts to be moved, driven, purified and healed of our illusions and wandering hearts.
I'm thinking about "exile", about "wandering in the wilderness". Sometimes we (humans) find ourselves there because of something we ourselves have caused, have done wrong, as Adam and Eve, Jonah, Jacob, and their ilk; or because of something someone else around us has caused, or done wrong, as in the case of Noah where he and his family found themselves in a wilderness of water due to the wickedness of the people among whom he lived; or both, as in the case of God's people exiled by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. In that case, it was because of their own misdeeds as well as the misdeeds of their enemies. However it is that we find ourselves in the wilderness, in exile, because of our own doings or because of the doings of others, there are things to be sorted out, things to be contemplated, all the while leaving the gate, or door, open for God to show us the way out.....
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