Looking back on the lessons chosen for the first Sunday in Lent, I found Lent always begins with Jesus going into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.  He's barely out of the waters of His baptism by John and He's on His way to the desert.  No sooner did the dove light on Him than it turned into a guide bird, leading Him away from the river and out into the wilderness of the desert.

          It's almost as if God led His Son into the wilderness to be tempted, and that confuses us.  God doesn't tempt people.  Jesus taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," and that, too, sounds as if God is trying to lead us astray.  Martin Luther, however, gave some further thoughts on that when he said, "God tempts no one to sin, but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that when we are tempted by the Devil, the world and our sinful nature, we might overcome temptation and not be led into false belief, despair or other great and shameful sins."

          What did it mean for Jesus to be tempted?  How would He behave in the wilderness?  What would He say or do there?  Would God give Him special powers to overcome temptation or would He have to make do with standard the human equipment?  Jesus Himself may have wondered this, for His ministry had not yet begun and He knew He had to pass some tests before He started.

          Interestingly the Father doesn't test His Son;  He lets His enemy do it.  And like a good parent, He had no intention of bailing His Son out, but wanted Him to learn for Himself.  Jesus would have to learn to overcome the temptations of Satan, but He would also learn of His Father's love for Him out there with the scorpions, snakes and cactuses, for forty days in His wilderness of testing.

          Where is your wilderness of testing?  We all have one, I believe.  Our own private wilderness is known mostly to us, and probably unknown to others, unless we have to endure the public heartache of disease, divorce or despair.

          But mostly our wilderness of testing is known only to us, in the temptation to our private pride, or our lust, or our hypocrisy, or our greed.  We enter that wilderness through our computer or our bank book or our bedroom, and always through our mind.  And there Satan confronts us, leading us into all manner of temptation.  There we will need God's strength to overcome.  And there we will also discover God's love.

          Forty days in the wilderness will drain anyone.  Satan didn't come to Jesus in the first, but in the last days, because then He knew God's Son would be drained.  When Jesus was worn out and weary, then the devil knew it was time to start.  Satan knows when we are weak, and when we might be open to accept his deceitful help.

          I once spent a little time in the desert around Tucson with its spiny cactus, its dust, lizards and flies.  The desert can be a place so silent you can almost hear your own heart beat.  But it can also have its unrelenting wind.  For a short while it's good to have the silence, but then a loneliness comes roaring in with gale force.  While I appreciate a day or two in the mountains, I cannot imagine 40 days in the desert.  His body must have been weak and His hunger overpowering.  He was at the end of His limits to endure.

          When you and I enter the wilderness of testing, we also will find our limits.  The hospital bed, even with its hallway and loudspeaker noise, can be a very lonely place.  The office with its emotional isolation can become a wilderness.  Even the church can become inhospitable if people see each one of us looking out only for ourself.  Even our homes, perhaps especially our homes, can become a wilderness of pain and loneliness if people do not receive the love they need.  There may be no desert near us on the maps, but each of us can have a desert in his own heart.

          Those forty days must have been hard on Jesus.  He had just come from His own baptism where everyone had seen the sky burst open, the Dove of the Spirit descend on Him, and the Voice of His Father introduce Him to the world.  After something so wonderful as that, those present might have expected Jesus to sprout wings and fly away.

          But instead He who could have become an instant Super Hero is snatched away into the wilderness.  He went from one spectacular moment into pure isolation.  For forty days the sky stayed shut and there was no sign of God.  There were no gentle doves, and no voice from heaven spoke reassuring words.  There was just Jesus, and the desert, and finally also Satan.

          Satan first tempted Jesus to practice magic:  "Command these stones to become bread."  We're His children, why shouldn't God give us our every wish?  Didn't He say that whatever we ask for, believing, we would receive?  I want my prayer answered! we tell God in our hearts.  But that's just pride talking, not faith.

          Then Satan tempts Jesus with special protection:  "Throw yourself down from the temple and see if God will save you."  I think I deserve a little special treatment in life, especially since God loves me.  What's wrong with wanting God to give me a little more attention than the others?  Don't I deserve it?  And if I can't get it from God, I might just try to find it elsewhere - just this once?  That, too, is our pride talking.

          And finally Satan tempts Him to turn away from the Father:  "Worship me and I'll give you the world."  Well, God, I may not want the world, but I'd like to win the lottery - or at least have more money, enough, maybe, to retire by age fifty.  Or maybe God you can have my candidate win the election.  I don't want the world, but I think I deserve better than what I've been given.  What pride we have.  Where is there any humility when we expect God to give us so much?  And it is humility that God seeks, not pride.

          All along Satan was subtly suggesting that Jesus deserved better than God was giving Him.  Why should the Son of God go hungry?  Why should He subject Himself to the troubles of this world when He had superpowers?  If God could do no better than this with His only Son, maybe Jesus should go shopping for another Father.  And so we, too, often go shopping for another Father, trying this, tasting that, experimenting with the others.

          This is the story where believers find out what the Son of God is made of.  This is the story where Jesus proves who He is, not by seizing power, but by turning it down, not by pride, but in humility.  God's beloved Son will not practice magic.  He will not ask for special protection or use His power.  And above all, He will not turn His back on God for personal gain.  He will remain human, accepting God's will for His life.  And in taking our place for our sins, He gives us eternal life.

          While this incident is about Jesus' identity, it's also about our identity.  We are children of the Heavenly Father.  We are people God loves with an everlasting love.  God so loved you, that He gave His only Son for you, that when you believe in Him, you will not be destroyed, but you will have life with God forever.

          Dear friends, it's so good to be here in God's house for this one day of the week.  I hope you feel that way.  Out there in the wilderness, it's dog eat dog, and sometimes we're the dogs doing the eating.  But no matter which part of the menu we are, nothing can separate us from God's love.  Paul said, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

          Jesus ended His temptation by telling the Devil, "Away with you, Satan!  I'd rather be a hungry child of God than a well-fed player on the other team.  Now scram!" And you and I can tell Satan the same.  And if you do resist his wiles, don't be surprised if you hear another voice, "This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased!"  Amen

Copyright © 2000 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.