Three of the four Gospels give an account of Jesus spending time in the wilderness prior to beginning his ministry. The links below will take you to the story as told by Mark, Matthew and Luke Mark's account of Wilderness
Matthew's account of Wilderness
Luke's account of Wilderness
At my home church, First Christian Church of Omaha (where I was baptized and ordained) a Lenten event was held last week inviting various artists to create an original work interpreting the wilderness experience of Jesus. My mother, Nancy Light Johnson, painted the image above to reflect Mark's version -- where the angel "waited" on Jesus. That same night the poet Ian Barker read two poems he wrote in response to the passages. You will find them at the following link to OmahaPoet.com:
I appreciated Ian's conclusion to the first poem, as it seems apt counsel for all of us looking for the kind ministrations of angels who will take us in their arms:
...tough it out in the present desert,
leave the sand to dust your feet
and let the branches sing Spring
from solid trees which sprang from seeds
who rooted in deeper, slower ground
which has no need for angels to catch them,
to demonstrate their faith
that they will, undeserved,
be saved from dashing on the rocks.
2 comments:
I'm glad you enjoyed the poems - I found it quite challenging to write something appropriate (spontaneous inspiration is a lot easier) but I think it worked out in the end!
When I wrote "Wilderness" I had in mind the idea that we could view a 'wilderness' itself as being something other than an actual barren 'wild place' but perhaps could use the term to mean not just physical but also a time or epoch where things were not what we were used to or where things were uncomfortable, unpredictable and a threat to our safety and well-being. A wilderness of morals, financial turpitude or maybe even a starvation desert of humanity to one's fellow man might qualify.
The particular section you've quoted from my poem draws on some very heavy metaphors to join together the biblical times with our own time of wilderness of record debts and besieging of cities. In my mind I used the term "branches" to mean the branches of a family tree, our offspring and how they will rise from the current Winter wilderness in eventual Springtime if the tree or foundation is solid. The "rooting in deeper, slower ground" might hark back to earlier times where folk relied on less hurry-hurry-hurry, profit before sanity and instead more on plan for the long-term with very few angelic safety-nets to rescue them other than their beliefs and moral compass. "Doing the right thing" was how people, on the whole, chose to live because they believed that to yield to devilish temptations were sure to end in being dashed on the rocks. Not everyone was like that, but it was the prevailing attitude.
Very interesting that Mark, Matthew and Luke all said as much two thousand years ago. :-)
Ian, I appreciate your willingness to share your work and these additional thoughts. What you have been thinking dovetails well with many of the thoughts I have been piecing together for this Sunday's sermon on promises, covenant and faith. On the hopeful side of these questions, I paired our church's scripture readings for this week on "promise" with Wendell Berry's poem "The Wild Geese" I will post it here later. Blessings to you in Omaha!
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