Matthew 3:1-12
“Notice what you notice.” Maybe I’m caught up on geography a bit. Again, “notice” came to me in today’s first verse: …the wilderness of Judea. I noticed it in part because we had Zacharias and Elizabeth living in the hill country of Judea and I had done some research to understand that region. So I wondered a bit about the wilderness of Judea. But also “wilderness” is a term that catches my eye whenever I see it because it brings back teaching from a Bible study from long ago, in the group where Carol and I first met.
The leader of that Bible study was teaching from the book of Exodus. After escaping from Pharaoh and traveling a bit further, On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai (Exodus 19:1). They spent almost a year in the Sinai region: On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. 12 Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran (Numbers 10:11-12). This time frame occupies the last 22 chapters of Exodus, the entire book of Leviticus, and the first ten chapters of Numbers. That’s an extended time of preparation that the Lord was giving the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land. Think of it as a year-long retreat. So “wilderness” to me is not just a geographical region – it’s more a metaphor for a time of seeking God and learning from Him.
So we have John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and baptizing in the Jordan River (verse 6). Geographically, Jerusalem is about twenty miles from the nearest point of the Jordan River. This narrow ribbon of land north of the Dead Sea from Jerusalem to the river is the region known as the wilderness of Judea.
So “wilderness” for me is both geographical and spiritual. It’s also a “time frame” for me, a time to get outside myself (in wherever location) and seek the Lord more completely. Often it’s been some “down time” in my life when things were not going so well. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that my “wilderness” should be a more regular habit – getting outside myself and seeking Him.
Blessings!
Matthew 3:9 caught my eye this time through. John said, “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father…'” Being a gentile, it’s easy to skip over that verse, thinking it applies only to the Jews, or even more particularly only to the Pharisees and Sadducees that John happened to be directly addressing that day. But I think it’s prudent to broaden the scope and ask, “What presumptions might I be making?” Do I lean on the faith of my parents or grandparents? Do I think I am secure in a particular denomination (in my case, being Anglican) or in my church’s traditions or liturgy or ritual? Or might I expect special treatment as an upstanding citizen of the U.S.A.? Where does my standing with God come from?