30.1.08

#2

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2nd meditation: by the power of the holy spirit

readings

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
MARK 1:12

therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden…He drove out the man….
GENESIS 3: 23, 24

moment of thought

Mark is the only gospel writer who uses the word ekbalei (ekballo) in his account of the Holy Spirit’s role in taking Jesus to the desert.

It’s a word that means force – drive out, expel, exclude, reject, among other things. It reminds me forcefully of the language used of Adam and Eve, who were also ‘driven out’ of their garden – they are both ‘driven out’ into the wilderness; Adam and Eve for their disobedience and Christ for his obedience.

Scripture seems to indicate that the wilderness will be a place to which we might be driven, but also where we might encounter God, whether it is a place that we come to out of disobedience or obedience.

So in our second meditation perhaps we might think about this contrast and think of how we might find ourselves in the wilderness. We might also wish to pray for an awareness of the driving power of the Holy Spirit, wherever we may end up.

prayer

God of the city
God of the wilderness

You make me sing
You make me silent

God of the faithful
God of the faithless

Stir me to hear you
Propel me to move

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