Once there, even our markers of time and space collapse, for this wilderness is not in space or time, but is the boundless territory of the soul.įrom Into the Wilderness, published in 2000 by Apollo Ranch Press. Thoreau, to “live deliberately.” Or we may, like Jesus, be driven there without much choice. We may choose to enter the wilderness like the people of Yahweh, to escape bondage, or like Henry David In the stories and rituals of Eastern as well as Western religions, a journey into the wilderness represents a time when we both pursue and resist the Holy. When you’re a bouncer and you need to remove some cat who doesn’t belong, you’d use ekballo to say you bounced him out on his head. It’s a word that is most typically used by Mark of Jesus driving out a demon. ( Mark 1:12) The word for drove him out is ekballo. In the wilderness, the spirit may descend like a dove and lift us on its wings of hope, then drive us into the depths of despair it may affirm us with a gift of grace, then challenge us to change. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. There is danger and possibility risk and promise. We are neither where we have been nor where we are going. The journey into wilderness reminds us that we are alone and not alone. In Jesus story, Jesus passed through the waters of. In traditional terms, it is a time of purification. In the Exodus story, Moses went through the parted Red Sea, into the wilderness, and up to Mount Sinai. It is also a time of transformation and renewal. Time in the wilderness is always a time of struggle. There was someone who did not want them to go out into the desert to offer sacrifice to their God. Wilderness is a part of every person’s soul-journey, and part of our journey together as human beings who seek to live in community. But think back to the story of Moses and the Israelites. Jesus’ solitary struggles to remain true to his covenant and calling echo those of his ancestors, who spent forty years in the wilderness establishing a religious community. This was no Sierra Club hike through the Qumran National Forest. There he spent forty days of deprivation, self-examination, and confrontation with the devil. The next thing Jesus knew, the nice spirit that had descended like a dove became aggressive and drove him into the wilderness. When Jesus was baptized the spirit descended upon him like a dove and God said, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.” It must have been a great feeling, but it didn’t last long.
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