In This Is Love (part 7)

To further reinforce the congruity between Adam (son) and Jesus (Son), as presented through Jesus’ experience of wilderness temptations, Mark adds that Jesus was “with the wild animals” (1:13c).  Adam, of course, was given “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth” (Genesis 1:26b).  Additionally, the animals that had been created were brought before Adam, “to see what he would name then, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.  So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field” (2:19b-20a).  Adam, before Jesus, was very much with the wild animals.  Perhaps this is why Mark, drawing from the son of God tradition that would have included Adam, makes what seems like a rather out of place insertion about Jesus being with the wild animals during His wilderness trials? 

The second of the two-fold consideration of Jesus’ experience of forty days in the wilderness also causes us to connect Him, quite rightly, with the nation of Israel as a whole.  Forty is an often referenced number in relation to Israel.  Moses is on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights.  This time of Moses’ absence presents itself as a test of Israel’s faithfulness to their covenant God that had just rescued them from Egypt.  It was a test that they failed, doing so quite miserably.  Elijah, the one looked upon as Israel’s greatest prophet, fasts for forty days as part of an experience that will take him to the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:8).  Saul, David, and Solomon are all said to have ruled over a united kingdom of Israel for forty years each.  Quite naturally then, within the context of His presentation as the Son of God, it is altogether logical to draw an analogy between Jesus’ forty days of wilderness testing and a connection between Jesus and Israel.  Forty days in the wilderness for Jesus after baptism in the Jordan---forty years for Israel in the wilderness after their “baptism” in the sea. 

Jesus had entered the waters of the Jordan, for John’s baptism, which was emblematic of a new exodus movement in anticipation of God’s working through His messiah on behalf of His oppressed people.  Israel had entered the waters of the divided sea (though they did not get wet) as part of God’s working on behalf of His oppressed people, in the movement that would forever define “exodus,” Israel as the people of exodus, and their God as a God of exodus.  Of course, there is a major difference between Jesus and Israel, in that Jesus’ wilderness experience was on the heels of having been declared as being pleasing to God, whereas Israel’s forty year wilderness experience was for the opposite reason, though God had previously shown forth Israel as His elect people (son) by bringing them out of Egypt, much like God shows forth Jesus as His elect Son (who had also been brought out of Egypt, though that is for a different time). 

Needless to say, Israel had its share of problems during their forty years, but it did serve to strengthen their trust in their delivering, covenant God, as the faithless generation died off in the desert and the people, as a result, were prepared to enter into their land of promise, and therefore prepared to enter into the mission that their God had for them.  Israel would cross through the waters of the Jordan (inviting a direct comparison between Jesus and Israel) into their promised land, to carry out the work of their God, to establish a kingdom that would allow them to experience God’s blessing, to become a light in the world for the surrounding peoples, and thereby elicit praises for their God.  Israel was to leave the wilderness and enter their land for the purpose of God’s glory.  What would Jesus do on the heels of crossing the Jordan and His forty wilderness days?  Mark tells us that “Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the Gospel of God.  He said, ‘The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the Gospel!’” (1:14b)  Jesus embarked upon His kingdom establishing mission as Israel had done.  In the book of Joshua, we learn from Rahab that the inhabitants of the land---the defiling usurpers in Israel’s promised territory---feared Israel greatly, knowing that they had already destroyed great kings and gained decisive victories over other peoples.  To this can be equated the fearfulness expressed by the unclean spirits with which Jesus dealt, who would cry out with words such as “Leave us alone, Jesus the Nazarene!  Have you come to destroy us?” (Mark 1:24a)  Like Israel, Jesus is even referred to by these demons as “the Holy One of God” (1:24b). 

To accomplish the purpose of His mission, Jesus first went to Galilee?  Why?  Because just like Israel, who was to be a son of God that would shine as a light of God’s glory to the world, Jesus was a Son that would do the same.  As Messiah, He had to fulfill the messianic role as understood through the words of the prophets.  Matthew assists in informing the answer as to why Jesus would do this, as he quotes from Isaiah, saying “Galilee of the Gentiles---the people who sit in darkness  have seen a great light, and on those who sit in the region of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:15b-16, Isaiah 9:1-2).