When we read the gospel for today and see that "the Spirit drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness" after his baptism, what image comes to mind? Sit with that for awhile; let it surround you. What does that wilderness look like to you? What does it feel like? What can you hear? Is the wind blowing? Is it hot or dry, dark or light? What else do you notice?

I suspect our individual pictures of wilderness are affected by what we perceive as the wilderness experiences in our lives. These experiences are often times of transition--a time of disturbance, where everything seems to be up in the air until we find ourselves on a new foundation. Richard Rohr describes this process as going from order through disorder to reorder. Life is not the same thereafter. We are able to move forward with strength and courage as we are equipped to meet the needs of whatever is before us.

That is the biblical witness. The Hebrew people journeyed through the wilderness on the way from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. It was an unsettling time, but they experienced the Providence of God every step of the way. In our gospel passage we find Jesus going into the wilderness as his life is in transition from being a carpenter in Nazareth to taking on his call to proclaim the good news of God throughout Israel. While his time in the wilderness is described as being fraught with temptations from Satan and exposure to wild beasts, Jesus too experienced the Providence of God as "the Angels waited on him." That gives us hope in the various transition times in our lives, that God is with us in the wilderness and will bring us safely through them one day at a time.