What Did You Go Out Into the Wilderness to See?

What are our intentions when seeking God?

As a reminder, today I am personally beginning a reading of the gospels in totality over the next four days. I’ll be reading them in The Message, which I’m not sure I’ve done before. Today will be the gospel of Mark. I’m on vacation, which makes this a bit easier. Maybe you’re not on vacation, but you’re invited to join me nonetheless. Why? There’s just so much noise out there, even in the Church, I want to continue to strive to hear, know, and follow Jesus. The gospels are a foundational way to do so.

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What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

Jesus asks a question. Jesus isn’t above asking questions. He does it a lot, actually. This one is about John the Baptist, but at the moment, it feels like a question for me, too.

What do I expect when I seek God? A show of power? A polished answer? A feeling? Am I just hoping for small tweaks for life, tidbits for personal behavior modification?

Maybe it’s all that. But when I consider Jesus, I can’t help but think it’s meant to be so much more.

Jesus says John wasn’t a reed shaken by the wind, nor someone dressed in luxury. He was a prophet—and more than a prophet. But the people still missed it, still complained. Too rigid. Too wild. Then Jesus comes, eating and drinking, and still: complaints. Too indulgent. Too free.

Sometimes it feels like we aren’t really looking to see—we’re looking to confirm. To affirm what we already believe. But the kingdom doesn’t come to confirm us. It comes to transform us.

What did I come out to see? And if it wasn’t what I expected, am I still paying attention?

Matthew 11:7-19

When John’s disciples had gone, Jesus spoke to the crowds about John: “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A stalk blowing in the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in refined clothes? Look, those who wear refined clothes are in royal palaces. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. He is the one of whom it is written: Look, I’m sending my messenger before you, who will prepare your way before you.

“I assure you that no one who has ever been born is greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is violently attacked as violent people seize it. All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John came. If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let the person who has ears, hear.

“To what will I compare this generation? It is like a child sitting in the marketplaces calling out to others, ‘We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance. We sang a funeral song and you didn’t mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ Yet the Human One came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved to be right by her works.”

Psalm 25:4-5

Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth—teach it to me—because you are the God who saves me. I put my hope in you all day long.

Prayer

God,

I just saw a hummingbird go by me. This alone seems like something worthy of praise and gratitude. They are incredible, Lord. The fact that they can flap their wings up to 80 times a second…

Somewhere in that body the size of my thumb is a complete mechanical system - a heart, a stomach, a nervous system, brain, and digestive system. And it all flies in one thing.

I’m told hummingbirds can choose to live in a state of significant hibernation with a metabolic rate dropping to 1/15th its regular mode. This is actually helpful for me to know since I pretty much see them as over-working, hyperactive freaks. But of course…nature would have a way of balancing itself in the other extreme.

I guess that’s what I’m supposed to be doing while on this vacation, Lord. And that’s what I am doing, for the most part. I’m grateful for the opportunity of a vacation. Help me, even at 44 years of age, to dismiss those feelings of guilt that I should be working. Remind me of sabbath, its call, its responsibility, and its gift.

Honestly, I’m looking forward to the work I will return to. Maybe I won’t flit and flight like a hummingbird, but I do hope to play my role in this whole big thing of your creation.

Thank you, God.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.