34. Lenten Wilderness -II, Sunday of the Cross

What made me think that the wilderness was going to be a flat walk in the woods with furry little squirrels frolicking at our feet and birds tweeting harmonious melodies to uplift us along the way?

Watching Jesus climb this steep and barren mountainside erased from me every desire for a body. It was obviously grueling for Him. Often He slipped back down over mean rocks and suffered painful cuts and scrapes. I saw Him wince more than a few times; I heard grunts and groans. I saw bruises appear on His holy legs and arms. How I wished that Jesus could hop on my wings and let me fly him up to the mountaintop. But it was the physical material world we are engaged with and as spirit I had nothing to offer Him but cool breezes that I blew over his filthy sweaty face.

To make it more miserable, those parasitic demons remained near to taunt him with jeers.

This trek was Man v. Earth. The earth He created was resisting Him just as the human creation would. There was no peace in this wilderness. Threat of dehydration, of wild beast attack and starvation accompanied Christ every step of the way. Our way.

I thought back upon my journey from Persia to Bethlehem with the three wise men. At the time it seemed so grueling, but was by comparison easy. The wise men had each other and they had me to guide them. I was not guiding the Christ, He was being lead by the Spirit, not eagerly, but as being dragged. He was going through a hellish experience.

I had missed seeing Jesus' childhood, but I am sure that He had never before experienced such trauma to His body or soul until this day. My suffering was in watching Him, knowing the glorious heavens from whence we came and how far He stooped to be at the depths of this wilderness climb. If the Bride's Lent is to join Christ in this wilderness experience, She must be a masochistic or have a very good reason, perhaps the same reason as Jesus. She must love Him very much.

Grieved by these silent thoughts, I looked down and noticed a honeycomb with honey dripping on the ground and pointed this out to Him. Jesus looked over but did not bend down to fetch the sweet nourishing honey to comfort his parched mouth and growling stomach. I looked at Him and said, "Lord, surely the Father has provided this honey for you, to help you get through the wilderness; eat it." He replied, "Get thee behind me satan. Food is not the giver of life, God is."

I did not appreciate being called satan when I was only trying to help Him, and yet with these words and His refusal of the honey Jesus made it clear that He was training for a much more difficult battle than the one with His stomach.

Hiking on a shallow incline we were startled by the sound of hissing. If honey didn't tempt Him, neither did rattlesnakes and scorpions threaten Him as they do to lesser men. Jesus stopped and stared down at the swarm of poisonous creatures rattling and hissing. Instead of screaming, as I would have, to my surprise He began to reason with them in a wordless language that convinced them to allow Him to pass through their territory unharmed. Then with trans-species friendship the vermin lined up in single file and for a while moved ahead of us as in a royal procession up the mountain.

Reading His mind, while He climbed Jesus was thinking back with sympathy on the days of the Exodus from Egypt when His people were often without food or water. He was glad for the experience and wiser in a way that without suffering it firsthand He never could have understood. God had ached to know what the Exodus experience felt like, to know how difficult it was for man to trust Him in a physical way.

Within this physical hardship Jesus was learning step by step how to separate the body from the spirit, and how to live on both planes simultaneously. The lessons of the wilderness would serve Him well. With spirit eyes I perceived Him grow stronger and wiser every day.

It is here in the wilderness that Jesus came to understand firsthand about the plight of the ill and infirm, knowledge that will evolve into compassion and motivate Him in His healing mission ahead.

Fortunately for me, because I think it was harder for me to watch this suffering than for Him to endure it, we came to a large plateau and stopped for several days. The air was thin, fragrant and sublime. The sky in its richly azure blue was more beautiful than I had ever seen it before since I landed in Israel. I didn't dare speak to to Him because it was obvious to me that silence was His preferred companion.

It was at this respite that the Holy Spirit appeared.

He said, "The Father has sent Me to speak with You. How are you faring?"

"All Glory to God, the lessons that this barren earth are teaching Me appear numberless."

"Is the angel helping you?" Then the Holy Spirit looked over at me cynically.

"He is doing the best he can," replied Jesus, "I am grateful for his companionship."'

The Holy Spirit began to speak as a man who must deliver bad news. "Jesus, We have brought You here to talk about your mission."

Jesus quickly interjected as a school boy who eagerly raises his hand while blurting out the answer. "I know that I am to find the Tree of Life and go through the flaming twirling sword to restore immortality to humankind so that Adam and Eve can be released from Hades, I know."

The Holy Spirit patiently listened to Jesus and added, "There is more to it, the flaming sword will kill you, your body. Your closest friend will betray you to your enemies. You will beg the Father to spare you, and He will not. Men will curse and revile you, and they will drag you through the injustices of their court systems, and make a mockery of You, and finally they will nail you to a cross and crucify you.

It will be through the death of your body that you will reach Hades, to pull out Adam and Eve and the others. Only then will you be able to give mankind the leaves of the Tree of Life to ensure their immortality. In fact, Son of God, the Tree of Life is the tree of the Cross that You will be crucified on."

Jesus solemnly bowed His head in deep concentration over what He heard.

To quickly administer the final blow, the Holy Spirit added, "You only have three more years to live as a man on earth."

I could see that Jesus, the Son of Man was stunned by this announcement. I could also see that because of the strength that He had derived from our journey so far, Jesus, the Son of God was ready to accept the challenge of it.

He reacted with a daydream. In thoughts that were clearer and easier to read, Jesus remembered His grandfather David, about how bravely David was willing to take on Goliath, trusting only in the power of God and a few pebbles to slay the giant that sought to enslave the chosen ones.

As David was emboldened by the lions he had slain barehanded, Jesus knew that His success in this 40 day journey through the wilderness would fortify Him for whatever His Father called Him to do, even to death on a cross.

After delivering this fateful message, the Holy Spirit vanished. Noticing Him left alone and tender the devil boldly approached and said, “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

Knowing His Father God would only want to uplift, not cast down, and also knowing it is foolish to attempt to overcome the devil with miraculous prideful displays, Jesus shrewdly responded, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ Then the devil vanished.

I was impressed, but not surprised, that after learning about the suffering He was to endure Jesus didn't veer an iota from his solidarity with His Father God.

To tease Him, I flew over and said, "You aren't dead yet and there is more mountain to climb!"

Jesus smiled and replied, "I knew you would cheer me up, angel. Let's go."