11 December, 2016
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| Photo Credit: Stuart Pike on Flickr.com |
Ours is a fast-paced existence and it seems to only be accelerating.
Our attention-span seems to be ever shorter - stories in movies and on tv need
to change direction every two minutes to retain interest. We skip along from
sound-byte to sound-byte and not a lot actually sinks in anymore. In the weeks
before Christmas, the media hype speeds up the frenetic beat of our lives as we
are warned how many shopping days we have left until Christmas. And underlying
all of this are the mounting expectations which are placed upon us, or which we
place upon ourselves. We must have a perfect holiday - we must find the perfect
gifts for our loved ones, and we must be perfect people. And people do crack
under all of this pressure. The fact is that we are not perfect people and none
of us live perfect lives.
Have you ever thought how good it might feel to leave all this noise
behind? To walk away from our life for a bit - to leave the tv and the
telephone and the six o’clock news and people in general - to hear the sound of
silence again? To breathe in deeply, and to exhale, and then to breathe in
again?
Deep in our souls is the need to experience silence and simplicity.
That is why the wilderness holds such an appeal to many people. That is partly
why we come to church. We want to leave our lives behind and experience depth.
I’m sure that’s why John the Baptist lived in the wilderness. That’s
why the prophets of old often lived in the wilderness and spoke God’s will to
the city. That’s why Jesus, in the midst of his busy life filled with the needs
of so many people, often left and went out in the wilderness to pray.
But what were John’s expectations? It says in the Gospels earlier than
this story that he preached repentance. He also preached a really good fire and
brimstone message. He wanted to see the messiah come and give all the wicked
people what they deserved. He was like the prophet Amos - warning about divine
retribution. He didn’t realize that it was Isaiah’s message which Jesus would
fulfill.
Have any of you been to a desert?
The deserts on National Geographic - the Kalahari.
The desert in Israel - near the Dead Sea.
There is little that looks as lifeless and empty as a desert. It is
precisely this emptiness which can attract people of this age - the silence and
the emptiness can give us the space to listen for God again.
But then it is a whole other story if there is a little rain which
falls in the desert. The return trip from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. The
greening of the desert - the cactus which blooms with the rain. The frogs which
come to life in the Kalahari. Deserts seem to be abundantly blessed with life
when a little rain comes. It might not be what we expect.
We must, indeed go out to the wilderness - to the desert. But then we
must leave our expectations open.
Jesus wasn’t what John the Baptist expected. This is why John sent his
disciples to Jesus to ask him if he was the messiah, or should they look for
another.
Jesus doesn’t directly answer his question. Instead he tells John’s
disciples to report back what they have seen. The sick are healed, the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk. The poor have the good news preached to
them.
It is like the desert has bloomed when Jesus comes forth, and the dry
aridness of John’s wilderness erupts with colour and life.
And Jesus asks the people: what did you go out into the wilderness to
look at? The same question is asked of us: What do we expect when we go out to
our own wilderness? When we find our quiet place - when we go to Church - when
we enter into silence?
I think the answer is that we won’t get what we expect. We won’t get
just the same as the rest of our life gives us. We will get something new - we
will get something which will change our lives - sometimes inconveniently so.
But we will also ultimately get the fullness of colour and life of a desert
which has bloomed, because Jesus has blessed it with his presence. Amen.
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