And, after the Wilderness, a changing of
the guard. John is arrested. Jesus picks up
the prophetic torch and begins his public
ministry.
The gospel of Mark startles us with its
speed. You feel that Jesus is sent into the
wilderness still wet from the waters of
baptism. And that the time in the
wilderness passes in the blink of an eye.
Everything in Mark's gospel is in a bit of a
hurry. Mark's favourite word seems to be
"immediately"! Yet even in his hurried
pace Mark tells us that God saw to it that
Jesus took time first to get his act
together.
Jesus is sent into the Wilderness. And so
often, we jump to thoughts of temptation,
testing and suffering. But wait. Go back.
Before he's driven out - and it's the same
word in the Greek that's used later when