It is Lent. We are preparing for Easter. During this moment we consider ourselves to be like the Israelites of old who were traversing the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land. Many of us attend churches that replicate scenes of the desert the way we know it here in the United States. Sand and cacti. We don't imagine the Middle Eastern Desert anywhere near what it looks like, and especially the Holy Land desert. If you look at the picture on the right of this paragraph, the one with the Ibex, you'll notice some tufts of green. That is because this picture was taken at a place called Ein Gedi. It is a place where a spring has existed for centuries. It is a place that appears in the Old Testament and is named in a very interesting story. It is a story of something that happened between David and Saul. I encourage you to click here and spend a few moments reading about Ein Gedi and the story of what happened between Saul and David here. This a story that takes place at an oasis in the middle of the Judean desert. This is what the Israelites would call the wilderness. They call it that because it can sustain life. What the Israelites call the desert is incapable of sustaining life. Since this place was known to Jesus (Because He knew what had happened between Saul and David) and since this place was also close to the desert and close to the monastic community of the Essenes, it is possible that the 40 days that Jesus passed in the desert were close to here.
The picture on the right shows a picture of the stark Judean desert, not far from the Dead Sea. This picture shows some caves in the desert not far from where the Essenes had their community established, not 5 miles west of the Dead Sea. This is a mere 20 miles south of Ein Gedi, and there is not a blade of grass, and nary a small cactus in between the two. Try to image living there for 40 days. Jesus had to be tough!
Let's make this the Lenten leg of our Pilgrimage.
God bless you all.
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