Notice that John was in the desert – “a voice crying in the wilderness”. Throughout the Scriptures, leaders, prophets, and visionaries have gone to the desert to see more clearly, listen intently for God’s voice and discover new ways of living with God in communion with all creation.
The Hebrew word for wilderness midbar is derived from a Semitic root that means “to lead flocks or herds to pasture.” Eremos, the Greek word used to translate midbar, denotes a desolate and thinly populated area and, in a stricter sense, a desert.
The term “wilderness” has two different but related meanings. The first is that something
can be bewildering and wild. It is probably the unknown (bewildering) and uncontrolled (wild) character of the place that earned it the name “wilderness.”
Like John, we too are sometimes invited by God to go to the “wilderness”. That wilderness might not be a physical place but perhaps the bewildering and wild parts of our lives, our hearts.
Often, we are afraid to go to the places that bewilder us, that we see as wild and untameable. Yet, John the Baptist teaches us it is in those places that God may lead us to see more clearly, listen more intently and discover new ways of living.
What might bewilder you? What parts of yourself might you consider wild? Take time to be alone with God, and talk to God
about that which is bewildering and wild. Then, listen intently to God’s voice. What is God saying to you?
Reflections by Gillian Hugo
