During his 40 days in the
wilderness among wild animals and angels, Jesus shows his solidarity with us by being the one who, par
excellence, holds together
these contrary realities. “He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were serving him.” We notice
that in Mark’s account, the two relationships coexist.
Perhaps we have here an
enigmatic summary of the human condition—we are simultaneously beastly and
angelic, never just the one or the other, and so we experience (especially
during Lent) a wavering inconstancy. With
renewed spiritual determination at the beginning of Lent, we nevertheless soon
find ourselves in a wilderness of temptation and weakness. This can be
perplexing, even discouraging. But the Good News is that this is exactly where Christ meets
us, in solidarity with our fallen humanity. Jesus himself was not immune
from the inconstancy of human nature. He was with “wild beasts” and “angels.”
He explored the dizzying weakness of human beings, experienced it in body and
soul, not only in the desert after his Baptism, but right to the end of his
life in Gethsemani and on the cross, in order to become a high priest who
understands and empathizes and is capable of curing our inconstancy. As the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: “He was tempted in all
things like us, but did not sin.” The condition was the same as ours, the
struggle was similar; only the outcome was different.
Perhaps the unexpected grace for us this Lent is that we, too, will be
driven by the Spirit with Jesus into the desert, and during these 40 days find
ourselves with both “wild beasts” and “angels” for companions. It is a season
of temptation, and this should not surprise us. Probably not dramatic temptations:
true to his name, Satan will probably accuse us more than seduce us. (We all know that a little
accusation goes a long way in undoing us.) But let us not lose heart in the
struggle, which at times will shake us to our core. Rather, let us stay at the
Lord’s side, who is ever at our side, and embrace
with him our lives of weakness, and gratefully accept the bread of life
that he alone provides. We can have confidence and do this, because it was
precisely “clothed in our weakness” that Jesus went out to meet the temptations
in the wilderness, the same temptations that also tear up our hearts and strive
to seduce them with false promises. But because the power of God was to grow to
its full point of development in his human weakness, Jesus opened a road by
which each and every one of us can follow him through our own trials and
inconstancy. From here on, every temptation and every human weakness will be
accompanied not just by “wild beasts” and “angels” but by the power of Jesus.
We will all fall flat on our faces along the way, but such moment now bears within itself the grace of the Lord Jesus. We have
only to continue believing in him, as Anthony of the Desert tells us, calling
on his name without ceasing, and allowing ourselves to be mysteriously formed
and led by the gentleness of his Spirit.
Photograph by Brother Anthony Khan. Reflection by Father Dominic
