What Did You Expect?

Gospel: Luke 7: 24-30

What did you go out into the desert to see?

The desert is not a place for tourism.  The rich and powerful will not be found there.  Wealth and worldly success is not attained in the desert.  No one organizes popular excursions to the desert in order to experience pleasures and a good time.  

The desert is a severe and harsh place.  The elements humble a person very quickly and lead to a posture of dependence on God and others.  The desert has no place or time for power struggles and the amassing of wealth; these things have no use or value in the desert.  To survive in the desert a person must be humble and cooperative, supporting one another along the way.

The desert is the way of the Lord.  It was - and is - the way to the Promised Land.  In the desert we are brought to humility through the elements and the ministry of John the Baptist.  But there we find the waters of baptism that move us into the ministry of Jesus who invites us to a life of mercy in word and deed extended outward to others.  The way of the desert - the way of repentance and humility - are a necessary precondition for a life of mercy toward others and entrance to the Promised Land.