How Did He Know?

How Did He Know?

A Story of Jesus and the Desert

[First Installment]

After it was over, he didn't remember 40 days - what came to mind were moments when he heard, or remembered, or lived out the words of God.  He entered the desert because he had been driven there.  When he made his way out of the desert, he had come to understand that in living out the words of God, he had become God's Word.

Few go into a desert willingly, and only the foolish go there alone.  He had entered the desert late on that first day as a kind of surrender - he had surrendered to a bird.

* * * * * * *

That day the Sun had been a friend.  It warmed the edges of the chilly Jordan, where once again a crowd had gathered.  They came to see the Wild One - the Baptizer.  Those in the crowd had been raised on children's stories about the Prophets - the ones who were so filled with God's voice that they would burst forth SHOUTING the pronouncements of the Most High.  On countless evenings they heard tales of Moses, who knew God face to face and who yet - for a time - lived to tell the tale.

They had heard the stories of Elijah who, reckless of the power of Kings and Queens, had called down fire from Heaven - and had even ridden a chariot of that fire back to the gates of Glory.

For those in the crowd such stories had the safety of distance.  They were stories of a Time Before.  The stories could thrill the imagination without making them feel the unsettling fear their forefathers had experienced when encountering the ones who had just seen the Holy up close.  They had grown up with the stories about the Prophets without for one minute expecting that they would ever see one.

And then John had appeared.  He preached in the wild places, and people came to know how their ancestors must have felt.  In the Times Before people had suspected that the Prophets were half-crazed by their time in the presence of the Almighty.  When John came preaching and baptizing and living in the wild, his people watched, and wondered - and after a time they came down to the Jordan to be baptized.

When Jesus came to the Jordan he, too, watched and listened.  He could hear John's voice carrying over the water and the rocks from afar.  "The axe is laid to the very root of the tree!  Every tree that does not bear fruit befitting repentance will be slashed down and cast into the fire that never dies!"

He saw children run and cling to their mothers at John's approach, and he saw grown men step back when the Baptizer looked their way.  But he also watched John when he would move towards those who were ready to enter the River.  He would meet them by the rocks, and with the gentleness possessed only by the truly strong he would bend and unlace their sandals, then lead them out to the deeper places.

There his powerful hands would grasp them as Baptizer and penitent plunged beneath the water together - then burst up wet and shaking in the warm air as John's voice would echo, "Clean!  Clean!"

Into this roisterous scene Jesus plunged, and when they came face to face even John was silent for a moment - his face full of surprise and recognition.  Jesus had smiled, and nodded - and then there came the dive into the waters of baptism.

There was one quiet moment when the Jordan closed over them - one moment when the noise of the multitude was replaced with the muffling sound of the river.  Dark coolness replaced the piercing sun.  One moment - and then came rush back up into the air.  Flashes of light surrounded them as drops of water, flung from hair and beard and robes were caught by the sun.

Then came a more intense light - a rare orb of summer lightning shone brief but bright as sunlight - and then the thunder roared - and as it echoed Jesus heard a voice in the midst of the roar saying, "Beloved!"

[END OF PART 1 - to be continued]