Jesus restores harmony in the desert

March 5, 2006 -- First Sunday of Lent

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

Nearby our church I occasionally notice a flock of wild turkey. They are attracted by the soybean field, the creek which runs alongside, and the wooded area on the banks of the creek. There they find food, water and shelter. What more could they ask?

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However, development is encroaching upon their territory. New houses are popping up all over. One day that soybean field may disappear. Human beings are replacing the wild animals.

This is a pattern repeating itself all over the nation. Suburbs are creeping out into the countryside. Deer are wandering into shopping malls. There is a clash between civilization and the wild.

In Sunday's gospel reading, Mark 1:12-15, Jesus ventures into the wild. "He remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan." The word translated here as "desert" designates an isolated place where few people live. It is not a description of the physical terrain. For us, the word "desert" connotes a dry, hot, sandy space. But that is not necessarily the case here. For example, the same word later in Mark's gospel will indicate the spot in Galilee, a relatively lush area, where Jesus works the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. "This is a deserted place and it is very late." (Mark 6:35) The emphasis is upon Jesus' isolation from human contact.

Jesus spends 40 days in a place where there are no other people. But he is not completely alone. "He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him."

The biblical mind often associated wild animals with demons. Both were mysterious and potentially dangerous. The following passage describing a desert reflects that association: "She shall never be inhabited nor dwelt in, from age to age; The Arab shall not pitch his tent there, nor shepherds couch their flocks. But wildcats shall rest there and owls shall fill the houses; There ostriches shall dwell, and satyrs shall dance. [Satyrs are demons in animal form.] Desert beasts shall howl in her castles, and jackals in her luxurious palaces. (Isaiah 13:20-22)

What do the wild beasts that Jesus encounters in the desert represent? It is possible to interpret them as visible manifestations of demons, minions of the Satan who tempts Jesus during his forty days there. That interpretation fits the Biblical mind set.

But there is another possibility. We can look upon this episode in Jesus' life as a new creation of the world. Just as the newly created man, Adam, underwent temptation in the garden, so also Jesus encounters temptation by Satan. Just as Adam was surrounded by the wild animals, so also was Jesus at this point in his life. In that case, the wild animals in the desert suggest an original harmony between humanity and nature that has been lost through sin. Jesus has come to restore that harmony. "Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair." (Isaiah 11:6-9)

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)