The dearest gift

 This week's verses are Mark 1:9-13:

Now in those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.” The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, enduring temptations from Satan. He was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs.

 One of the great things about reading the Bible is you will occasionally run across things, like the story of Jacob and Esau, and these verses, where what you're reading is outrageous if you think it through.

God the Father tells Jesus (who is also God) that he is uniquely beloved and that he is delighted with him. But then God (as Spirit) drives him immediately into the wilderness where he spends almost a month and a half being tempted by Satan, surrounded by wild animals, and relying on angelic intervention for his needs to be met. It seems almost cruel! 

It's like your lover telling you that you're like nobody they have ever known and that they want to spend the rest of their life with you, and then suddenly they're starting arguments, flirting with strangers, and threatening to break up with you. Is this even the same person? First they're saying sweet things and then the next thing you know they're off on a tirade to try you for everything you've got. Definite red flag warning!

As Christians, we very much want to believe in a God who says that we are his, and that he delights in us. You can buy books of "promises" and hear message after message about the unlimited prosperity that awaits us. We like that stuff and it sells well. But then when we find ourselves in the wilderness, being tempted, and having to live on faith, we get very upset.

When things get difficult, we quickly jump to the conclusion that we are being punished, or that God is some kind of sadist who enjoys watching people suffer, or that the devil has somehow managed to get the upper hand. We doubt the quality of our faith. Sometimes we just doubt, period. Almost never do we think "this is love!"

But we forget that that's how God treats his own son! It's how God treats himself! Do unto others, right? Jesus didn't just decide on his own to go to the wilderness to be tempted. He was driven there. And it wasn't the powers of darkness, or some pitchfork-wielding mob that drove him there either, but the Holy Spirit himself! The same Spirit that immediately beforehand had split the heavens just to touch him ever so gently.

To understand the hidden piece of this, we can look at people who compete in athletics. Imagine the coach telling the gold winning athlete how glad he is to have him on the team, and how good he is, and then immediately sending him out into the cold to train to exhaustion. Now it doesn't seem so far-fetched, right?

People pay to be pampered and protected from hardship, but they also pay to be challenged and experience difficulty. Escape rooms are becoming more and more popular, along with endurance races, and obstacle courses. As horrific as it sounds, there's something in us that also craves that desert temptation experience. We want to face hardship and be proven strong, to be victorious over things which might try to hurt us or keep us locked up.

In that sense, we should look at suffering differently in light of these verses. If we want to be Christlike, we shouldn't be upset if we're treated like a member of the family. We should be proud to train, and delighted to be tested, and flattered that God thinks us worthy of the challenge!

So, next time you have a chance to suffer, or find yourself in circumstances that are not to your liking, think of these verses. Next time there's a sudden change of events "for the worse," think of Jesus being driven to the wilderness by the Spirit for a forty day, low carb, low fat, low protein, low carbon footprint challenge. Will your reaction to the circumstances glorify God? Or will you let the devil run his narrative?

According to the footnotes in my Bible, the word used for "dear" in "dear Son" means a kind of unique and cherished individual, the only of their class, irreplaceable. In this extreme bond, God's love can be validly expressed through a season of temptation, privation, and isolation, surrounded by dangers and discomfort. God isn't a smothering parent who stifles his children with comfort and abundance and never lets them see the limits of their strength. He doesn't deny them the ability to grow and to be victorious in their own right.

So be thankful for the gift of a trying season. It could be God betting that you're a champion. It could be the gift of strength and self-discovery. But at very least, you're not being treated any worse than the Son of God himself.