John the Baptist wilderness message

John the Baptist reminds us we can retreat to natural sanctuaries to find faith again when we have fallen away from God.

Saint John the Baptist is celebrated as one whom God chose to baptize Jesus Christ to initiate his ministry. St. John is remembered as someone different from the norm of living in society. Instead he lives alone in the wilderness and off the land without altering God’s perfect creation. God provides what John needs like honey for food and animal skins for clothing. His only interaction with other people is to tell people who seek him out to repent and undergo a purification ceremony, likely the Jewish mikveh, in the river waters.

The Bible has earlier references to the special role wilderness can play in bringing the faithful closer to God. In Isaiah 40 the prophet is told to make a “highway” for the followers of God. Elijah escaping in the desert hears the soft sound of God’s voice over louder sounds in the wilderness showing God’s mastery of the universe. The exodus must travel in the desert, another form of wilderness, to learn to be closer to God. When John the Baptist is interrogated by doubting Jewish leaders he now talks about the wilderness as a place where he feels the calling to God. Jesus is tested by Satan in the desert.

Wilderness is identified as a place created by God untouched by human manipulation. It is a well known practice that when modern people wish to escape the anxiety of modern living they seek out wilderness to commune with nature. Modern contemporary Christian writers Barbara Brown Taylor and Br. Richard Rohr , for example, celebrate being in wilderness as a place close to God. Going to the wilderness to escape modern society even if only for while is not the heresy of pantheism which is confusing nature for God but panentheism which is realizing that God is in everything and every where.

When we are in natural surroundings we are transformed by being in a creation without human corruption. We can spiritually reach out to God. Many times when I was living in Ethiopia I felt touched by the Holy Spirit feeling small but connected to the beautiful mountains, landscape, and the people living simple but rewarding lives remote rural regions.

Technology and modern living to help mankind can be a good use of helping mankind develop. But at the same time we must cherish our relationship with our creator and remember our sacred duty of being stewards of that creation. Preserving the natural world preserves for us a holy place to which we can retreat when we feel we have fallen away from God.