You Think Your Dad Was Hard?

A portion of today's gospel reading really caught my attention.

Mark 1:9-11
One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

Aw, shucks! Sounds great, doesn't it? What a loving Father Jesus had! Can we collectively feel the love? And is now a great time to remember that this same heavenly Father loves us too? Warm sighs all around and happy expectations.

But there's this little problem. It's called verses 12 and 13.

Mark 1:12-13
The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him.

And if those words weren't bad enough, Luke reports in his gospel that Jesus ate nothing during those forty days in the desert. So... what happened to the warm fuzzies? On the face of it, one could be forgiven for questioning the benefits of an indwelling Holy Spirit! A Trojan dove! And if Jesus gets this kind of treatment after a baptism of the Holy Spirit, what kind of treatment might we expect?

Pentecostals usually seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Well and good — but how many of them are looking for that forty-day stint in the desert? Health-and-wealth gospel folk think a ticket with Jesus is a ticket to comfort. Perhaps they should take a closer look where this gravy train leads.

I have heard it said that our true character is most clearly revealed when we are in pain and/or tired. When our resources are stripped bare and we have no energy for pretense... that is when the real me goes on display for all to see. Forty days without food left Jesus stripped of all human energy — and yet his character changed not a bit. He decimated Satan's lies with scriptures and turned his back on the worst temptations Satan could throw at him. Luke records that a defeated Satan finally gave up and went away. And who did he leave behind? A triumphant Jesus.

Luke 4:14
Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power.

The power of God. This is why a loving, doting God would send his Son into the wilderness. To grow him up and make him strong. The desert is the spiritual equivalent of bodily vitamins. It may not taste good, but it makes you strong. Eat up! Even Jesus needed his spiritual vitamins.

Hebrews 5:8
Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

So... health-and-wealth folk can seek prosperity. Those in it for the good feelings can pursue that next mountaintop high. St. Paul preached something else.

Philippians 3:10
I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

"Punish me that way!" Usually we joke in this manner when we want something nice that someone else got. Punish me with a winning lottery ticket. But this is different. To be completely honest, I find myself afraid God might take me up on it. Am I ready for what might come? I am finding it hard to utter these words with complete zeal. But I know I should. Can I mean it?

Punish me that way, God!