Where God is Revealed

Are you ready for your forty days in the desert?

It is no coincidence that Jesus spends forty days in the desert; this is a very particular biblical unit of time. It recalls the Israelites wandering in the desert for forty years before arriving in the Promised Land; the Great Flood lasted forty days; Moses fasted for forty days in the wildernes of Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 9:18), as did Elijah near Mount Hore (1 Kings 19:8).

We are in good company as we enter into the wilderness, a place where God is revealed. During Lent, it is good for us to remove ourselves from our normal routines, to be still, and to stop and breathe.

We need not be afraid of this, for the Gospel shows us that time spent in the wilderness is Spirit-led and we are not alone.

Trona Doherty and Jane Millet, The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Mark