Lent I

Jesus came up out of the waters after he was baptized in the Rio Grande and he looked around at all of the people on the bank of the river. They all just looked at him and there was silence in the air. It was the kind of silence that is a bit disconcerting. You can hear the wind, you can hear the water, you can hear a bird or two, but the silence of many people all gathered together and not talking is always odd. Even John the Baptizer was silent, which is hard for him.

Jesus sloshed to the shore, fully drenched. He wiped his face off and looked around and smiled, the water coming off of his beard.
“Huh.” He thought.
His eyes meet a woman in the crowd, “What gives?” his eyes seemed to say, and she looked down to avoid his gaze.

A Ford F150 pick up pulled up the edge of the crowd and the silence of the moment was broken by the skid of the tires in the rocks. The silence was also broken by the sound of the radio playing, Jesus could barely make it out, the Gypsy Kings’ cover of “My Way.”

The crowd, still silent, parted as Jesus sloshed over to the truck. The Holy Spirit was sitting in the front seat swaying back and forth to the song. Watching the Holy Spirit sway to music is always interesting. She has a habit of swaying and then clapping and then swaying again with a sincere humming that sounds like creation. When she gets too excited she taps the roof of the cab of the truck and her hands, and then they go through the roof, which is ok to do, if you are the Holy Spirit.

Jesus got into the passenger side and shut the door. The crowds gaze following his every move. The crowd was not sure which was more fantastic a moment. The current one, with the driver of a pick up dancing in herky-jerky movements to a Spanish band’s cover of a Frank Sinatra tune, or the moment when the young man came up out of the water and the line between the human and the divine was broken and a voice came from no where and said, “you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.” Which moment they were witnessing was the more fantastic one, they were not quite sure. The crowd didn’t have much time to think about, as the truck pulled away. They were left there, dumbfounded. Even John the Baptist. Even Ray the Pharisee. Even Carla the widow. All three were usually chatty, but not now.

Inside the truck, Jesus looked around for a towel. The Holy Spirit laughed, and breathed on him and he was dry. “Nice trick” Jesus said. The radio played another Gypsy King tune, and they drove into the wilderness.

“What is in this wild place?” Jesus asked as they bumped along in the truck. “Where are we going?” He wanted to know. “Maybe I should get some food.” He stated. “Maybe I should get some sleep?” The Holy Spirit laughed to herself. “You need to shed it, you have to go out there on your own. I am just dropping you off. This is your deal, not mine.”

After about two hours, the truck stopped. Jesus had fallen asleep. The Holy Spirit, quietly opened the door and then gently nudged the Son of God awake. It was about 3:00PM. Jesus looked around and his look asked more questions than the Holy Spirit could answer. “Over there.” She said. “You are alone on this one. But God’s good. I will see you in about forty days.” “Forty Days?” Jesus asked. “Yeah, forty days.” “Forty Days?” Jesus asked again. “Heal the deaf brother Jesus, yes, Forty days.” “Forty Days.” Jesus said to himself. “Ok, forty days.” “You’ll be fine” She said, as she hoped back into truck. “You’ll be fine.”

As the truck drove away, and the dust from the tires rose into the air, Jesus looked out in the distance and saw someone leaning on a bolder near a dry creek bed. “Oh great” he said. “You.” He said. “Me.” Satan said. “You.” Jesus said.

Satan looked at Jesus, looked him up and down, and after a few minutes said, “I thought you would be taller. They told me you were taller.” “They were wrong.” Jesus said. “Well, no matter. This is a silly exercise. Forty days with me, here in the wilderness. Adam couldn’t do it, and he was the first son. His children couldn’t do it, even after a parting of the Red Sea and being fed in the middle of no where, they still went back to the idols. And who are you? What are you this time?” Satan was such a goof, Jesus thought. Jesus looked at Satan, looked him right in the eye. Looked at him and the silence was again in the air. And in a flash, Satan disappeared, and Jesus was left alone in the wilderness.

His first thought was that it was getting late. His second thought was that the dessert teaches everyone, and even the beloved son has something to learn from her. “What have I got to shed in order to survive in nothingness?” Jesus thought. Strip it down to its bare bones, and the wilderness teaches you that you are very small, very insignificant, very fragile. The wilderness can eat you. The heat can melt you. The cold can freeze you. There is nothing between you and the creation except your skin. You are a part of the very creation that will kill you. “This place can be the end of me.” Jesus thought. “I die.” Jesus thought. And ten days passed.

The wilderness also teaches you that you are a part of it. A created part of it. Inside your DNA is a piece of wilderness commingled with divinity. You came up out of it. The water, the air, the blood, the bone, all of it is joined in some odd way. Earth and spirit, finely tuned, tuned so finely that sound comes out, and singing can occur and laughter happens and tears fall and love occurs. Inside each person there is a faculty for understanding and thinking and then creating something else. Ideas, calculations, rocket ships, surgery techniques, jokes, all of this is in the wilderness too. Love is in the wild. Shed of things, in the emptiness, underneath the stars in the silence love is there. As is if we thought it had ever left. Love is there, sitting there, waiting there. “I love.” Jesus thought. And then more days passed.

Thirty days in, thirty days without. Thirty days of fasting and prayer, Jesus looked around. He was a bit dirty. He had lost some weight. He could use a bath, any bath. That wild baptism bath with wacky John the Baptist looked better all the time. “Man, John is wacky.” Jesus thought. Jesus forgot how long he had been sitting slumped up against the rock. The days seemed to pass slowly and with purpose. Jesus just couldn’t figure out what the purpose of the days was for. Just sitting there. “What do I need?” He thought. “What do I really need? I need that Holy Spirit to come back with that truck and pick me up. That is what I need. What do I need? Do I need? Do I want? Do I go? Do I hide? Do I make? What is this time for? No food. No stuff. Just me and this dessert and this rock and this time. I need that Holy Spirit to come back in that truck. Look at me, the beloved Son of God babbling to the air in the middle of nowhere. I need nothing.” And ten more days passed.

On the fortieth day, Jesus was lying on the ground and Satan was standing over him. Satan moved Jesus’ arm with his foot. With his walking staff he poked at him. Satan stood over Jesus and looked at him for a long while. After a some time, after just looking at him an old women came running up saying “shoo, shoo you devil, shoo away from him. You get away you nasty thing. Shoo. Go on get. Get away from him.” Satan looked over at her. She looked deep into the devil’s eyes and in a loud voice, louder than anything Satan had every heard, louder than the noise of creation, in a loud piercing voice she yelled, “Get away from the Son of the living God you nasty terrible awful deadly, rotten cursed thing of all creation.” And in a blink Satan was gone. And the women lifted Jesus up with a strength that did not match her appearance. “You’ll be fine.” She said. “You’ll be just fine.” And she carried him out of the wilderness. In her arms she carried him, just like she had done when he was born, and sadly, just like she knew she would do in a very short time when he would die. But for now she carried him in such a tender way, as only an angel of the Lord can do.

When Jesus woke up, the Holy Spirit was standing next to her truck with an obnoxiously large sombrero and a very silly looking serape. “What are you wearing?” Jesus asked. “Leave me alone.” the Holy Spirit said. “What are you wearing?” she said in return. “Leave me alone.” Jesus said. The Holy Spirit helped lift him up. “Whew, you need a bath.” she said. “You stink. John the Baptist has been arrested, otherwise I would drive you back over there to get re-baptized you stinky Son of God you.” “Just drive the truck.” Jesus said. “Where to?” The Holy Spirit asked. “We have so much to do,” Jesus said. “Don’t you know it.” The Spirit replied.

As they drove back towards civilization, Jesus saw a man walking down the road. It was a hot day. They stopped the truck. “Hey.” Jesus said. “Hey.” the man said. “My name is Jesus, what’s yours?” “Patrick.” I replied. “So, Patrick, do you want to tell the world that the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; to repent, and believe in the good news?” “Yes I do.” “Then get in.”