Yesterday, I heard Tamar’s cry. She’s empty, broken, abused, and hopeless. Sadly she is not alone. There are millions of women in our world that are crying the same tears as Tamar.
It feels so trite to say things like, “Jesus has been there”. Or to say, “He knows your pain”. Those seem like words you say when you don’t want to actually deal with the person in front of you. It feels like saying—with comfy coat and filled belly—to a homeless person, “Be warmed and filled—God bless you”.
It feels trite. But it’s not. Jesus has been in the wilderness and he went there for the Tamar’s of our world.
The Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. –Mark 1:12-13
Those words are in stark contrast to Mark 1:11, where the Father’s voice booms from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”. Then the wilderness. The two don’t seem to match up. Why is the beloved Son plunged into the wilderness? If God really loved him why place him with wild animals? Why strip him bare and leave him vulnerable to the tempter?
For Tamar. That’s why.
Jesus is stripped because Tamar was.
Jesus is thrust into the wilderness because Israel was.
The Lord is invading hostile ground. Hostile ground that he created. That he owns. But ground that has been taken over by rebels; the same rebel hearts that left Tamar desolate. And that is where Jesus is, in the place the rebels have plundered. The places where a thousand choices have left you wondering if you’re a victim, a perpetrator, or some how both. No matter—rebel and battered alike—Jesus is rescuing.
Desolate is word that Chris is removing from our lips:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. –Revelation 22:1-5
Jesus has the power to transform Tamar’s wilderness into a garden of delight.
But we aren’t there yet…
