So, this mountain rises up from the lush Jericho Valley, a harsh, vertical desert of rough rocks, harsh edges, and slippery goat paths. It is Mount Quaratania, also known as the Mount of Temptation. After Jesus was baptized, he left the Jordan River and headed here, making his way up the mountain, for his encounter with what was ahead.
I imagine any of the herders in the valley below who might have met Jesus as he passed through may have looked up now and then to see if they could see this earnest young man among the rocks and crags, but eventually he would be too far away and his clothes would have blended in to the sun-bleached rocks. But he could probably pick them out below, slow moving figures with their herds, moving among the green wadis and fields, headed out to graze.
It is at this place that Jesus met up with the tempter, the devil. It is here that Jesus came face to face with what he was and what he could be if he just reached out and grabbed it. And it was here that Jesus said, “no,” and set out on a different path. It was here that Jesus turned from sin.
It's a hard climb for a man with only sandals and probably a staff. No food except what he might find growing on a bush. No water except what you might carry. Exhausting and sweltering.
When Jesus reaches where he's going, Matthew tells us that he's famished. It was a hard enough journey when he was full, but now, running on empty and weak, any misstep going down might be his last.
The Lakota say that when a young person starts a vision quest that everything begins normally. Even during the fasting stage, when hunger is a preoccupation, there is still a connection with the reality you started with. Then almost like a light switch is flipped it happens. Reality changes. And the things that were hidden in the world creep out to find you there. Vulnerable.
And so it is when Satan creeps out and finds Jesus. He knows why Jesus is here. Jesus is here to come to grips with who he is, both as divine, but also as human. He is going to be engaging the powers of the world. In fact, given that legend tells us he's now 30, he probably has already had a few “engagements” with the local powers. He knows this isn't going to be easy.
And here are all the powers of the world, standing there in front of him, in the form of the tempter. The powers of this world are injustice and violence, despair and hopelessness, hatred and evil, relentlessly moving forward regardless of the costs, even to the point of death. These are the powers that Jesus meets on this mountain, and they are the powers that will eventually crucify him. He has a chance now to avoid that horrific pain. But Jesus, at a time of great physical and emotional weakness, says no to the use of power for his own survival.
In the second temptation, the devil, quoting scripture, invites Jesus to tempt God: "Throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple so that God's angels can save you before the eyes of all who are watching and then they will know for sure that you are who you say you are – the Son of God."
This is all the powers of this world at their best: claiming God to be on their side, turning their own power, their own political ends, into God's way of seeing the world whether it is God's way or not – a reminder that in the wrong hands even the Bible can be a weapon to be used in opposition to the will of God. Once again, Jesus says no.
In the third temptation, the devil invites Jesus to use his power to establish a political regime based upon the ways of the world. Jesus can have it all--all the worldly power and domination there is--if he will just "yield to the devil." "Take charge of it all," the devil says to Jesus, "all the power in the world can belong to you: all you have to do is to claim it by worshiping me, by yielding to domination and violence." To follow the devil's lead will make Jesus the emperor--the King of Kings of the kingdoms of this world. What man would ever refuse that opportunity? But Jesus says 'No.'
And the Devil leaves.
In these days of Lent, we live between temptation and crucifixion. Jesus resists every temptation that the devil throws at him. And Jesus resists because he sees what is coming. Jesus can see that these temptations are stumbling blocks on the path to Jerusalem.
Jesus knows that with the resistance of each temptation he is taking a step towards the cross.
All of us struggle with the powers of this world. All of us know, as Jesus knows, that it is often easier to choose power, violence, and domination instead of the reconciling ways of the reign of God. All of us know, as Jesus knows, that it is easier to pick up lifeless stones and hurl them toward one another, instead of passing to each other the bread that sustains life.
Y'all, as we walk these great forty days from temptation to crucifixion, I bid you to walk gently and with your heart wide open.
Listen for Jesus.
Jesus will call out to you as he makes his way from temptation to crucifixion. Jesus will call out to you from the cross. And in the midst of death, domination, and violence, you will begin to hear.
Lent is the tough introspective work of changing our lives, held during a time in our Church year when we leave the happiness of the birth of God and head toward the happiness of the resurrection of God. It’s a time to pause and not worry so much about keeping our Lenten promises for forgoing chocolate or coffee, but to take that journey into the wilderness of our souls, to listen to what Christ is telling you. It sounds risky, and there are wild animals out there with their eyes on us, tracking us, waiting for us to stumble. But there’s something else out there, too. Matthew tells us that Jesus didn’t go out to the wilderness alone. The Holy Spirit went with him.
And the Spirit will go with us, too. And will sustain us through the wilderness.
Jesus came out of the wilderness after forty days a changed man, ready to do the work of God, to go where God leads, to love and serve others, to do miraculous things through God and with God.
So we too have our forty days. Perhaps, in that time, we will see, with new eyes, those around us who hurt and are in need. Perhaps we will listen with new ears as God calls us to follow, to leave the old things behind. Perhaps we will speak with new tongues when we say, “I confess,” to those we’ve wronged and find out that this difficult admission opens up entirely new ways for loved ones to love us.
But we can do these things. Because God’s Spirit accompanies us during this time. And leads us out the other side of the wilderness, sustained and loved so that we can sustain and love others in and through Christ.