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| Last Days in the Desert with Jesus |
Our Friend, the Desert
The word desert in the Scriptures is not necessarily a reference to oceans of dry sand but to any empty or abandoned place or thing.
As Jesus stepped out of the Judean wilderness and into the public eye, He did not avoid such lonely places. On the contrary, He pursued them for the rest of His days. The same word that is translated desert in the temptation appears throughout Jesus' visible years as solitary or lonely places.
When Jesus heard what had happened,
He withdrew by boat privately to
a solitary place.
+ Matthew 4:13
Very early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
Jesus got up,
left the house and went off to
a solitary place,
where He prayed.
+ Mark 1:35
Because so many people
were coming and going
that they did not even have a chance to eat,
Jesus said to them,
"Come with Me by yourselves
to a quiet place and get some rest."
So they went away by themselves in a boat to
a solitary place.
+ Mark 6:31-32
At daybreak,
Jesus went out to
a solitary place.
+ Luke 4:42
Yet the news spread about Him all the more,
so that crowds of people came to hear Him
and to be healed of their sicknesses. But
Jesus often withdrew to
lonely places
and prayed.
+ Luke 5:15-16
Jesus headed for the desert
early in the mornings,
in times of grief and times of joy,
even in the busiest of seasons,
and especially at the height of His popularity.
He frequently withdrew to quiet,
abandoned places
where He could be alone with His Father God.
These still,
empty spaces were soothing for Jesus's soul.
In practice,
Jesus called the desert His Friend.
Throughout Jesus' documented, celebrated years, people still saw only the tip of the iceberg of who He really was and what He had really come to do. So even when His life was no longer hidden, even when His days were painfully public, Jesus still cultivated a holy place of hiddenness within His soul. During His uncelebrated anonymous season, a quiet reserve had been building within Jesus where He savored God's sweet fellowship undistracted by whatever circumstances happened to surround Him. That sacred place is where God sees before man sees, where unfulfilled longings are stored even in visible years. In the holy place of hiddenness, dreams and devotion thrive. That spiritual space is refreshed in lonely places; it is well watered by deserts. May that sacred space always be well watered in us.
Reflections
Exhausted, I had come to the refuge of Canaan in the Desert for a prayer retreat ... For nine days I walked throughout the beautiful desert garden with tears in my eyes, grieving over something I could not name.
More than ten years earlier, Jesus had mercifully interrupted my life. In gratitude I pursued Him, His Word, His people, and His purposes with passion. But somewhere along the way I began giving out to others more than I was building up within myself. ...
I had focused primarily on Jesus' teachings and resurrection. In the desert I found my attention being drawn toward His sufferings and crucifixion. Sitting for hours before each station of the cross, I was taken by Jesus' humility in the face of indescribable pain. He could have shown His power but instead assumed a posture of holy weakness.
This humble posture characterized Jesus' entire life: His patience throughout unapplauded anonymous seasons, His identification with sinners in the waters of baptism, His willingness to be led into the desert temptation, and His ability to deflect praise and embrace rejection in His visible years of ministry.
As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:5-8)
Jesus' true strength was not revealed in His ability to teach and lead the multitudes. It was manifested in His willingness to make Himself nothing, to suffer, and to die. I had enough strength to exhaust myself studying, mentoring, and teaching, but I did not possess sufficient strength to be nothing.
In the desert
I slowly began to realize that such enduring spiritual strength is the fruit,
not of movement, but of rest;
not of activity, but of stillness.
Whatever the context,
Jesus could stand strong in public
because He stood still in private.
He intentionally pursued quiet places
to be alone with His Father God.
Such is the opportunity deserts afford.
Many of us avoid lonely spaces because, by definition, deserts are barren.
But perhaps that is the point.
Growth is very distracting.
Deserts are bare,
but they are also beautiful.
They are empty,
but there is healing in their stillness.
In those beautifully barren, empty, still spaces,
our faith is uncluttered as we rest in God alone.
"He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).
John's longing
is the seed of true spiritual strength.
How surprising to discover that it grows best when planted and tended in deserts.
+ Dr. Alicia Britt Chole
Bonus posts on waiting curiously and blossoming in desert spaces:
Next post: Pressing On (While Still On the Dark Road)
Here are links to other recent City Notes (CN) books:
Seeds of Hope in the Rain & the Dark; Wrestling with God in Doubt; Baptism as the Way of Life; Being with God; Listening Closely & Paying Attention; Living and Loving Curiously with Wonder; Waiting is the Womb; In the Holy Wild with the Lion Who Offers Us the Stream; Yeshua; An Unexpected Story of Discovering Jesus; Only One Thing Is Needed; No Secrets Are Hidden; Be Still Practice; The Gardener of Hidden Moments;
Christ is all,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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