Man in the Wilderness

Long before Richard Harris played Dumbledore in the first Harry Potter movies, he was in a small film called “Man in the Wilderness.” His character is the scout for a group of fur trappers in the early 1800’s. When he is badly wounded in a bear attack, the trappers decide to leave him behind, assuming he’ll die of his wounds.

The movie is a tale of redemption for the “man in the wilderness.” Terribly injured, his will to survive comes first from a desire for revenge. He’s determined to recover, find the men who abandoned him, and wreak havoc upon them.

But he discovers one of the men has left a small Bible in his pocket. As he reads it, the message of the Scriptures transforms him, so that when he finally confronts the trappers, he forgives them.

I thought of the movie as I read these verses:

And a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."  The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Mark 1:11-13

 Jesus was the original Man in the Wilderness.

The Judean wilderness was a dark place of struggle, strain, loneliness, deprivation, and spiritual warfare. It is striking, almost paradoxical, that the Father’s testament of love and approval for His Son is immediately followed by the Spirit’s “driving” Jesus into that wilderness.

We might picture Christ's temptations as three single encounters, but that’s just the summary. In reality He was continually confronted by Satan—for nearly six weeks straight. For 40 days Jesus faced down the Adversary, all the while growing physically weaker as He neared starvation.

Lessons?

Just because God loves you doesn’t mean He won’t send you into the wilderness. No one could be more beloved to the Father than Jesus, but the wilderness of temptation was the trailhead for Jesus’ long trek to Golgotha.

Yet even in the wilderness, God provides. Jesus was “with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering him.” Maybe wild animals were part of His ordeal, but I wonder if the beasts weren't part of His comfort. Perhaps the lions and bears of the region were like big, sloppy pets to the Savior. It’s possible. But certainly the angels were there to comfort and strengthen Him.

And of course the most admirable truth: Jesus was in that wilderness for you and me. The old hymn says

Out of the ivory palaces,

Into a world of woe,

Only His great, eternal love

Made my Savior go.

 He walked away from the palace and the throne to endure the ravages of the wilderness. And from there came the cross and the empty tomb. That’s the kind of Savior we have.