Luke 4:1-13

The First Sunday of Lent always focuses on Jesus’s time in the desert. I actually like deserts. There is beauty in the rawness. There is hidden life. At the same time, the sparseness helps us be more aware of ourselves and our surroundings. We are also vulnerable – to temperature swings, to thirst, to falling with no one around to help, to wild animals, flash flooding, and all the rest. I can see why the Holy Spirit guided the newly baptized Jesus into the desert. It was a time for him to “come to himself” and be ready to be the one who fulfills what Isaiah foretold about the proclaiming good news, healing, bringing release, and proclaiming God’s favor.

At the end of his retreat, the devil comes to Jesus.  We usually speak of it as a time of temptation. The better word is tested.  This time is less about Jesus withstanding a temptation in the same way we might wave off dessert or keep the credit card in the wallet, and more about the tester (the devil) poking and prodding to see just who Jesus really is, and whether or not he will remain true to his identity and purpose. 

Jesus indeed stays true to what it means to be God’s anointed one. He masterfully reframes the tests, refuses to reduce his ministry to that of a magician on call, and to claim power and authority on his own. His focus is not on glory, but on healing and restoring. I wonder how much the simplicity of the desert helped strengthen his humanity to trust in God’s providence just as the desert sojourn shaped and formed Israel.

While the devil lifted Jesus up to the top of the Temple, tempting him test God and leap, with the suggestion that he will be raised up on eagle’s wings, Jesus again sweeps the devil aside. Chillingly, Luke tells us that the devil left “Until an opportune time.”

Scholars usually speak of this as the testing Jesus endures on the night of arrest as he struggles with God in Gethsemane, and yet continues to commend himself to God’s will. But there is another test still to come. Will Jesus be true to his identity and purpose?

Lukan scholar L. T. Johnson draws a parallel between the third test in the desert and the crucifixion on Golgotha. It strikes me that both Lent and the earthly life of Jesus are framed by this test. Perhaps the devil has indeed found his opportune time.

Once again, the forces opposed to God raise Jesus up, this time on the wood of the Cross on top of Calvary hill. Once again Jesus has a choice. This time, Jesus does take the leap. “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit,” and the Son of God leaps into the arms of his Father.

I wonder how much Lent is a season for our testing. Do we know who we are? Can we stay true to our purpose? How well do put God’s will before our own?  How ready are we to take the leap when God calls, even when it is a leap into the unknown? To leap from the Temple is to keep the focus on us and treat God as a resource to be tapped when we want to dabble, rather than the source and destiny of our being who calls us outward into the new.

Perhaps this Lent we can look for those moments that are tests. True tests are less about chocolate and more about patience, generosity, compassion, centering God through prayer and worship, opportunities to forgive and welcome back, to jump into the ditch and lift the wounded out, to speak and act faithfully rather than shrink back. May the one who leapt from the Cross into the love of God give us courage to take the leaps we can take that join us to Christ’s healing work in the world.

Meditation by the Reverend Dirk Reinken
Rector, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Freehold
Diocese of New Jersey