A blessing in disguise
Deuteronomy 26: 1 – 11/Luke 4: 1-13.
Once upon a time, there was a young boy, he was looking with fascination as a butterfly emerged from its casing, the chrysalis. As the butterfly struggled to shed its hard shell it appeared to tire, no longer struggling to emerge but pumping with its body. The boy was worried that it might never emerge and so, hoping to help, he eased the butterfly out of the case. The crumpled body of the butterfly flopped to the floor of the glass case and attempted to drag its body toward the light. Its wings were limp and useless, hanging like rags instead of spreading out with a display of its shining brilliance. Those wings would now never flash in the sunlight because they had been never been pumped up with the blood that would flow into the tiny vein that formed its wings. The butterfly had been prevented from pumping that precious blood into its wings because it had been eased out of its chrysalis too early. The struggle to emerge was part of the creation of strong and beautiful wings with which it would fly.
Christ in the Wilderness – Rising in the morning (1940)
The natural world has a way of teaching us lessons for life. Jesus often pointed to the birds of the air, the grass of the fields, or the fruit on the vine. Artists too have used this rich imagery to illustrate his life. Stanley Spencer pictures Jesus as a kind of butterfly emerging from the broken shell of the cocoon in the last of his studies on the ‘Temptations of Christ’.
The painting, one of a series designed originally to cover the forty days of Lent, recalls Spencer’s own traumatic experiences in the first world war. He served both as a medical orderly and as a regular soldier in Macedonia. The series, which eventually reached a total of eighteen paintings was begun in 1940 as war again engulfed the world. The backdrop to the paintings in the Macedonian landscape of red earth and scrubby bushes. In this painting, Christ in the wilderness – Rising in the morning. (1940), Christ rises from a shell crater to bring healing and restoration to creation.
Jesus emerges from the trials of his confrontation with the power of evil with wings spread out ready to fly. He has emerged stronger from the struggle and is ready now for the ministry God the Father has prepared for him. Just as the butterfly must struggle to free itself from the restrictions of the cocoon, so the wrestling in the wilderness is a necessary preparation for his ministry. The wings of the butterfly would have no strength without the struggle and the ministry of Jesus would have been powerless without the trials of the desert.
The formation of Israel
The wilderness years of wandering in the desert are often thought of as wasted years in the history of God’s people yet they are told to remember them when they emerge into the ‘Promised land’. It was here they learned important lessons about themselves and their God.
Identity: It was there that they learned of their true identity as the ‘People of God’. They had been a bunch of ‘homeless Aramaeans’ but God called them to be a great nation.
Vocation: It was here that God called them out of the slavery of Egypt to be a holy people serving Him alone.
Covenant: It was here they received the Law, not as a burden to bear but the promise of a faithful God who would be at their side in all their struggles.
They discovered all this in the heat and dust of the desert. When they were tempted to turn back because they had no food, they found God mindful of their needs. When they were tempted to revert to the worship of Egypt’s gods, they saw God’s power displayed in mighty signs and miracles. As they faced empty stretches of desert and marauding enemies God proved faithful to His promise to be with them. So now as they enter the Promised Land they were called to bring the first fruits of all they produced so that they should remember:
Who they were – God’s people, dependent on Him.
What they were called to be – A Holy people dedicated to God.
How they had arrived – Through God’s goodness and faithfulness.
Blessing through adversity
Most of all they were to give thanks for God’s blessing in and through their adversity. It was not just that God delivered them to a good place and fulfilled His promises, but that the adversity itself was a blessing rather than a curse or a punishment.
If even Jesus had to go through this wilderness to equip him for his ministry we should expect God in His goodness to test, or should I say bless us, at every stage of our pilgrimage so we are equipped for the journey.
Jesus himself was tested but yet it was through his testing that he was confirmed in his identity as the Son of God:
Who is Jesus? “If you are the Son of God” Luke 4: 3
In his time of testing his Mission was refined and defined in such a way that he remained focused on His Father’s will.
What is he called to do? “You shall worship the Lord your God” Luke 4:8
To equip and strengthen him for his mission and to confirm his identity as Son of God he was given the Holy Spirit.
How is he equipped to serve? Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit” Luke 4:1
Like the butterfly, we have no power to fly without the struggle. Without the struggle, we will not be strengthened to serve or remember from whom we have received everything. Without the struggle, we will not remember that we are held and known by a loving God. Without the struggle, we will not remember to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith.
Rev. Simon Brignall