Catapulting Event

The temptations or testing of Jesus of Nazareth:

The Spirit drove (threw) Jesus out into the wilderness and he remained there for forty days and was tempted by Satan (Mark 1).

A foundational human experience is:

Being uprooted, disrupted, unhinged, vehemently opposed, deeply disturbed.

We cannot avoid it. The more we try to, the greater the pain when it comes.

Jesus is truly human – he can’t avoid it.

‘Out you go,’ says the Holy Spirit. Mark actually says that the Holy Spirit ‘threw’ Jesus out into the wilderness.

How to cope with such realities?

The catapulting event, you remember, is preceded by the baptism of Jesus in the warm waters of the Jordan.

What an experience for Jesus:

When Jesus came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased (Mark 1).

It is not possible to face and enter catapulting events without another foundational human experience – the experience of knowing and feeling loved by God.

Let God say to you:

You are my beloved daughter, son.

Amen.