Jesus asked what people were looking for when they came out to the wilderness to see John the Baptist (and, by implication, what they were looking for when they came out to see Jesus). Jesus said, “What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.” Jesus implied that they did not go out to see such things because the wilderness was not the place to find them. They came out to the wilderness to seek God’s reign. They sought the coming and power of God in their lives. They sought healing and new life in God—in the wilderness.
For many people, Christmas comes as a wilderness. At a time when families gather, when there are parties, “soft robes,” lights, and jubilation, there are those who experience most intensely the loss of loved ones or experience depression and anxiety. There are those who, when the parties are over, feel deep emptiness.
We all experience wilderness—times of trial or emptiness, sometimes most profoundly at Christmas. The God, who has come to us in Christ, comes to be where we are in the wilderness. Often, it is when the music stops and the party is over and we are alone in the wilderness and receptive, that Christ’s presence is most made known.
We need the wilderness. Prayer is often experienced as a wilderness. Our self-absorption is not interested in prayer. To our pride and arrogance, prayer appears as a wilderness. Prayer offers emptiness, the emptying of ourselves. Prayer calls us to let go of our lives to God, to trust.
When prayer feels like wilderness, we must enter into the wilderness, enter into the emptiness and silence, and then let the Spirit lead us in the wilderness as the Spirit did for Jesus. When prayer is experienced as wilderness, we simply need to go there. Enter the wilderness where the Spirit leads us to God who, through Christ Jesus, is present in all the circumstances and struggles of our lives.
Whatever the wilderness, this Christmas, the Spirit is present to prepare our hearts to receive Christ afresh. Thanks be to God.