Lectio Divina for the 1st Sunday of Lent, Feb. 21, 2021
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert
Depend on the Lord. He will provide. When God led the Israelites out into the desert, they complained about the lack of water and food. God drove them out to the desert so that they could learn how to depend on him. He thus provided them with sweet water and manna. Jesus begins his ministry with a similar exodus. Like John the Baptist, he brings nothing with him but the clothes he wears. His dependence on God is absolute. Jesus would later call his disciples to a similar kind of abandonment and dependence when he tells them to go forth and preach the kingdom of God and heal: “And he said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics’” (Luke 9:2-3). What is it that drives us to do ridiculous things like this: when we are so filled with passion and zeal for something, we are willing to do anything to make it realized by others so our lives could testify to the truth that has changed our lives? Missionaries abandon everything they know to evangelize in a foreign land. Priests and other religious enter orders or seminaries, leaving behind all the comforts of their past life. What is it that drives these people? Often it is not a question of what, but who. The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the desert for 40 days. As we begin Lent, meditate on the reckless abandonment Christ exemplifies here, and what he is calling us to, a calling that is in direct contrast to the comforts popular culture expects us to obtain and hold onto.