A Voice In The Wilderness

(A Voice in the Wilderness, Part Two of Salvation from the Margins)

John’s was a “voice in the wilderness.” The wilderness was more than a simple geographical location or story detail. It was also a political and economic social location as well as a religious one. In this narrative, God brings change not from within the system but from the outside in, from the margins, and from the grassroots up.

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(Read this series from its beginning here.)

In his book Say to the Mountain, Ched Myers comments on the political, social, economic and religious implications of John’s work being located in the wilderness:

“While the margin has a primarily negative political connotation as a place of disenfranchisement, Mark ascribes to it a primarily positive theological value. It is the place where the sovereignty of God is made manifest, where the story of liberation is renewed, where God’s intervention in history occurs.” (Ched Myers, Say to This Mountain: Mark’s Story of Discipleship, p. 12)

In Luke’s gospel, John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ work is located not within the system in centered locations such as the Temple, a synagogues, or Jerusalem, but on the peripheries in places like the wilderness of Judea (John) and the rural villages of Galilee (Jesus).

These marginal social locations were charged with political meaning, meaning still relevant to us today. I want to be clear about this: In this story, God is already present and at work on the margins of this society. Often those living in centered positions of privilege mistake the work of justice as opening access so those less privileged can sit at the tables of privilege. But opening up potential to compete with others in an unjust system doesn’t change the actual system itself. Some tables shouldn’t be shared. They should be flipped (cf. Luke 19:45-46).

Our story this week isn’t one where salvation is defined by including those on the margins at the tables of the privileged. God is already at present and at work on the margins. God and the gospel are already at work on the edges in the wilderness. God is there and those of us who live in more privileged social locations are with God when we work alongside and in solidarity with the work already in motion where God already is—on the margins.

This is the theological and political point of the “wilderness” in our narrative this week. Change, liberation, and social salvation has historically come from voices on the outside of unjust systems. It’s comes from the grassroots, the outside in and bottom up. Outside is where John shows up in our story. It’s where Jesus shows up in our story (cf. John 1:46).

The wisdom for us as we rededicate our efforts to resistance and harm mitigation in the years to come is to look to the margins. Listen to the voices of those on the edges. Look for the good that is already happening in justice efforts on the margins and get with that! Throw your energy and solidarity alongside that!

What work was taking place on the edges in this week’s story? Even in the face of deep harm and the social and economic devastation of vulnerable communities, a path for change was being prepared in the wilderness. The way was being smoothed out for justice’s arrival. In that first season of Advent, even when things looked most bleak, a way was being made out of no way on the margins.

(Read Part 3)

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