Wilderness

 Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
February 26, 2023

1 Lent A 

          Some 10 years ago, Slocomb, our eldest child, Don and I went to visit our younger son Caldwell in upstate New York.  Caldwell lived in Saratoga Springs and he had planned a variety of things for us to do while we were there.  One of the activities was a hike in a nearby state park.  This would be great, I thought. I love to walk, the weather was ideal, and this seemed like a perfect family outing. 

          To leap to the end of the story, I refer to this episode of our family life as Caldwell’s quest to be an orphan.  After the first hundred yards or so, which were deceptively flat, the hike was all uphill over a treacherous trail.  The temperature was hot and, while we had brought water bottles, there was nothing that even vaguely resembled indoor plumbing.  We finally got to the top, where there was indeed a magnificent view, but to get to the very top, some steep rocks had to be scaled.  I declined that opportunity and waited for the other three.  Coming down would have been even harder than going up, except that Don found a very sturdy stick for me to use, which made all the difference in the world.  The stick steadied my balance and gave me confidence.  But at every turn, I thought I saw the parking lot and my heart would leap for joy, only to be let down when there was no parking lot in sight.  We finally reached the car and I was hot, tired, maybe a bit cranky, and very relieved.  Three hours in the wilderness was more than enough to tax my body and my spirit. 

          Sometimes Lent seems a bit like that hike, with a clear entry point on Ash Wednesday and a clear exit on Easter, and a lot of challenges along the way.  Hopefully we will have a stick to steady us and give us confidence as we make our way over the wilderness terrain.  But the point is to survive the Lenten wilderness and escape at Easter.

          However, this understanding of Lent is not compatible with our readings this morning.  In the story from Genesis, God has put Adam in the garden to till it and to keep it.  The garden itself might have been a pleasant wilderness, but it was a wilderness.  Then God gives Adam some very clear instructions about what may and may not be eaten.  Adam is to trust God in the garden and learn what it means to be a creature of God.  Obedience is part of that trust.  And we know what happened next.  In short, after God creates Eve, the two eat from the fruit of the one forbidden tree and they realize they are naked.  The lectionary reading stops before we get to God’s response, but obviously God is not going to be happy with this turn of events.  God had said to Adam “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.  For in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.”

          If we read further in chapter 3, we will hear God’s fury as he addresses first the serpent, then Eve, then Adam.  But Adam and Eve do not die that day and God certainly does not kill them.  In fact, after God finishes rebuking them, God makes garments of skin for Adam and Eve to replace the fig leaf clothing they had made for themselves.  And then God sends Adam and Eve forth from the garden to till the ground from which Adam was taken.  The picture of God that we get from the whole story is of a God who deeply loves the creatures God has made, even in the midst of their disobedience.  While God does send Adam and Eve out of the garden and into the deeper wilderness, God gives them what they need to survive there in an act of love and compassion and God never abandons them.

          In the wilderness, Jesus also learns what it means to belong to God.  John the Baptist was baptizing in the wilderness, so Jesus has gone from one wilderness to a deeper wilderness.  The last voice Jesus heard in the wilderness of his baptism was “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  The first voice Jesus hears in the wilderness of his temptation says “If you are the Son of God...” So, my hunch is that Jesus spent some time in that wilderness wrestling with what it means to be the Son of God.  What we learn from Jesus’ response to the three temptations is that whatever it means to be the Son of God, it does not mean using special powers, like the ability to turning stones into bread, or calling on special protection such as safety if he throws himself off the top of the temple, or abusing special privilege such as having all the kingdoms of the world.  When the devil departs, presumably in frustration, angels come and wait on Jesus.  Angels are literally messengers from God. 

          In both of these stories, and whenever God’s people find themselves in the depths of wilderness, they learn more about what it means to belong to God who will never abandon them.  Whether in the Garden this morning, or wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, or exile in Babylon, or in the wilderness of their return to the Promised Land, God is always present with God’s people.  Whether in the wilderness in which he was baptized, or the wilderness in which he was tempted, or throughout Jesus’ ministry, or the wilderness of the cross, God is always present with Jesus even when Jesus felt abandoned.      

We entered the Lenten wilderness on Ash Wednesday, and part of what we learn during Lent through the various disciplines we take on is how to live as people who belong to God who is always present with us.  Lent is not some sort of spiritual escape room, where the purpose is to enter, spend the designated time, and find a way out.  Lent is a wilderness we enter intentionally to discover God’s presence there.    The joy we will find on Easter morning is not the joy of escaping Lent, but the joy of discovering God even in the wilderness of the empty tomb.

                                                        Amen.