Standing in the Wilderness
Have you ever been alone in the wilderness? I don’t know that I have. But there was a man named Joseph Knowles who in 1913 undertook to stay alone in the woods for 40 days, naked except for a loincloth, without any survival equipment whatsoever. He wrote a memoir entitled Alone in the Wilderness, an astonishing tale dotted with perilous encounters including those with bears and wildcats. When you begin to read it, you think, “Man, this man is something”, but as you continue to read it you begin to think,“this man is quite the embellisher”. The things he was able to accomplish naked without so much as a knife become to seem very fantastical. Embellisher at the very least, con man more likely. But interesting reading and I do like a good story even if it is mixed in with a little crazy. (Sometimes because of the little crazy).
So, I am not sure that Knowles account really gives us any insight on what it would be like to be alone in the wilderness. I have friend who is a Baptist minister who sometimes when I would call and say, “What are you doing?”, he would answer, “Watching Naked and Afraid.” I would say, “What in the world are you watching that for?” But then decided one day to watch and I had to admit — it was kind of addictive. Watching people decide how to survive in the wilderness with one another on teams naked made for an interesting show. They could decide three things I think that they could take with them (or I don’t remember) but, I remember thinking you need someone that can make fire or have some way to make fire would be one of the things I would want someone on my team to have.
So, I don’t know what it it like to be alone in the wilderness — or to be naked in the wilderness and I have no desire to experiment and see how it might be. I trust that it would not be a pleasant experience. But I do know what it feels like to stand alone or to feel and be alone.
Wildernesses can be literal wildernesses or a wilderness can be a time where we don’t see ourselves reflected in the people around us. Maybe we feel as if we have lost our way or our path may demand that we not just go along with the crowd. This can cause us to feel alone amongst our friends and families when we are not going along with what others are thinking, and we may feel as if we are in a wilderness. We may feel lost and think, “What is happening here?” It is disconcerting when you feel alone.
In today’s Gospel narrative we find Jesus in the wilderness where we are told for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. Jesus was in a literal wilderness. He was famished when the devil showed up. He had already been there alone for 40 days when the devil shows up. Being famished brings a multitude of problems, and one of the things that we know that accompanies being hungry is that generally we do not do our best thinking at those times —and we can become irritable — and we may say and do things that are unwise. Jesus wasn’t just hungry — he had not eaten for 40 days! So, he was vulnerable.
The temptation narrative arriving on the first Sunday of Lent is interesting positioning for the composers of the lectionary. Lent is a season that is marked by three activities: prayer, fasting and giving of alms. And placing this narrative at the beginning of Lent has led preachers to tend to write sermons and reduce this passage to challenges that you may have in your individual faith and how you should over come them. That you can fight the temptations offered to you this Lent as you begin to desire things you may have given up. We as preachers can be tempted to draw analogies.
But this passage, while we could glean ways to handle temptations in our lives by following Jesus’ example, the passage is more about us understanding Jesus’ vocation as Spirit-anointed Son of God, and how Jesus, as the Son of God, a King, chose to be the world. It follows his baptism story where a voice from heaven had declared, “This is my beloved Son - Listen to him”. (Luke 3: 21-22)
So this narrative of Scripture while we can glean how we may can handle temptations in our lives, is more about showing us how Jesus will fulfill his Spirit-anointed vocation as Son of God.
And, these aren’t garden-variety temptations, these are temptations that target this vulnerable Jesus as the Son of God, directly from the demonic or Satan.
The first temptation is one to turn stone into bread. “If you are the Son of God, then turn this stone to bread.” “If” you are.
Jesus responds by using a familiar quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 -‘One does not live by bread alone’. Jesus begins to show how he is going to be the Son of God --He is not going to use his power for his own gain.
The second temptation the devil shows him all the kingdoms of the world and offers them to him — Jesus again replies with Scripture, Deut. 8:4; “It is written, ‘worship the Lord your God and serve only him’. Jesus is not going to use his power to rule over all and force an earthly kingdom. His desire was not for dominance over kingdoms of the world.
The third temptation the devil changes his approach and begins with using Scripture —part of Psalm 91 from today— goading Jesus to jump off the tip of the Temple and let God save him— (as it was promised in Scripture).
Jesus replies, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”. Jesus is not going to test God. If I do this, will you do this?
The devils tactic is an interesting one - he quotes Scripture to Jesus, it says that He (God) will command his angels concerning you and protect you. I would imagine it would have been very tempting to say, “Yes, of course He will and here I will show you”, and flung himself down.
This passage is a good reminder that Scripture is not a contract of promises that God has made to you. Pulling Scripture out of context and claiming a verse for yourself is a bad way of interpreting Scripture. It may provide you with some temporary hope, but it may lead to longer term disappointment and disillusionment. The Psalms were poetry meant to convey meaning— not individual specific promises.
Jesus is not interested in being Son of God in a way that vindicates him.
All of this is to say that these temptations belong to Jesus as Spirit-anointed Son of God. These temptations are his and reminds us of what it means to be Son of God… in the wilderness — they show us what Jesus was tempted with. Our temptations and struggles are different.
He could take power for himself and rule over the world. He could turn anything in to anything that he needed to provide for his needs in any manner he chose — he could do theatrics to prove who He was to the world. He chose not to. If Jesus could throw himself from temple and defy the laws of gravity and live — (which he could - but he chose not to) - if he did those things he would have shown himself to be invulnerable.
Which would have nullified his humanity.
Jesus can help us in our wilderness — in our temptations and struggles— precisely because that while he was fully God, he was fully human. And he can identify with the fact that we struggle.
Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus was able to resist the things the devil tempted him with. How? Well, he knew the Scripture. He was able to respond because he was grounded in Scripture. Even when he was hungry, even when he was starving.
How do you ground yourself in Scripture? Practices like the daily office — Morning prayer — can help ground you each day. You read the lessons and are exposed to the word of God daily which seeps into you.
This is how Lent begins, with the victory of Jesus over temptation. He knows who he belongs to, he knows the Scriptures, which he uses as a defense.
I don’t know what wilderness you may be facing or if you feel like you are in a wilderness. I doubt the devil will ever come to you directly and offer you temptations as the devil is confined to time and space — the devil is not omnipresent and cannot be in all places at all times — and the devil coming to tempt you personally while not impossible seems unlikely. Your temptations come from within yourself. Society/others may tempt you to do things that are destructive to yourself or others, but you can have the strength to withstand.
Choose things that are constructive to who you are. Who we are as the body of Christ. Choose to fill yourself up with those things and leave temptation no room.
The wilderness will be easier to handle.
Amen.
So, I am not sure that Knowles account really gives us any insight on what it would be like to be alone in the wilderness. I have friend who is a Baptist minister who sometimes when I would call and say, “What are you doing?”, he would answer, “Watching Naked and Afraid.” I would say, “What in the world are you watching that for?” But then decided one day to watch and I had to admit — it was kind of addictive. Watching people decide how to survive in the wilderness with one another on teams naked made for an interesting show. They could decide three things I think that they could take with them (or I don’t remember) but, I remember thinking you need someone that can make fire or have some way to make fire would be one of the things I would want someone on my team to have.
So, I don’t know what it it like to be alone in the wilderness — or to be naked in the wilderness and I have no desire to experiment and see how it might be. I trust that it would not be a pleasant experience. But I do know what it feels like to stand alone or to feel and be alone.
Wildernesses can be literal wildernesses or a wilderness can be a time where we don’t see ourselves reflected in the people around us. Maybe we feel as if we have lost our way or our path may demand that we not just go along with the crowd. This can cause us to feel alone amongst our friends and families when we are not going along with what others are thinking, and we may feel as if we are in a wilderness. We may feel lost and think, “What is happening here?” It is disconcerting when you feel alone.
In today’s Gospel narrative we find Jesus in the wilderness where we are told for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. Jesus was in a literal wilderness. He was famished when the devil showed up. He had already been there alone for 40 days when the devil shows up. Being famished brings a multitude of problems, and one of the things that we know that accompanies being hungry is that generally we do not do our best thinking at those times —and we can become irritable — and we may say and do things that are unwise. Jesus wasn’t just hungry — he had not eaten for 40 days! So, he was vulnerable.
The temptation narrative arriving on the first Sunday of Lent is interesting positioning for the composers of the lectionary. Lent is a season that is marked by three activities: prayer, fasting and giving of alms. And placing this narrative at the beginning of Lent has led preachers to tend to write sermons and reduce this passage to challenges that you may have in your individual faith and how you should over come them. That you can fight the temptations offered to you this Lent as you begin to desire things you may have given up. We as preachers can be tempted to draw analogies.
But this passage, while we could glean ways to handle temptations in our lives by following Jesus’ example, the passage is more about us understanding Jesus’ vocation as Spirit-anointed Son of God, and how Jesus, as the Son of God, a King, chose to be the world. It follows his baptism story where a voice from heaven had declared, “This is my beloved Son - Listen to him”. (Luke 3: 21-22)
So this narrative of Scripture while we can glean how we may can handle temptations in our lives, is more about showing us how Jesus will fulfill his Spirit-anointed vocation as Son of God.
And, these aren’t garden-variety temptations, these are temptations that target this vulnerable Jesus as the Son of God, directly from the demonic or Satan.
The first temptation is one to turn stone into bread. “If you are the Son of God, then turn this stone to bread.” “If” you are.
Jesus responds by using a familiar quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 -‘One does not live by bread alone’. Jesus begins to show how he is going to be the Son of God --He is not going to use his power for his own gain.
The second temptation the devil shows him all the kingdoms of the world and offers them to him — Jesus again replies with Scripture, Deut. 8:4; “It is written, ‘worship the Lord your God and serve only him’. Jesus is not going to use his power to rule over all and force an earthly kingdom. His desire was not for dominance over kingdoms of the world.
The third temptation the devil changes his approach and begins with using Scripture —part of Psalm 91 from today— goading Jesus to jump off the tip of the Temple and let God save him— (as it was promised in Scripture).
Jesus replies, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”. Jesus is not going to test God. If I do this, will you do this?
The devils tactic is an interesting one - he quotes Scripture to Jesus, it says that He (God) will command his angels concerning you and protect you. I would imagine it would have been very tempting to say, “Yes, of course He will and here I will show you”, and flung himself down.
This passage is a good reminder that Scripture is not a contract of promises that God has made to you. Pulling Scripture out of context and claiming a verse for yourself is a bad way of interpreting Scripture. It may provide you with some temporary hope, but it may lead to longer term disappointment and disillusionment. The Psalms were poetry meant to convey meaning— not individual specific promises.
Jesus is not interested in being Son of God in a way that vindicates him.
All of this is to say that these temptations belong to Jesus as Spirit-anointed Son of God. These temptations are his and reminds us of what it means to be Son of God… in the wilderness — they show us what Jesus was tempted with. Our temptations and struggles are different.
He could take power for himself and rule over the world. He could turn anything in to anything that he needed to provide for his needs in any manner he chose — he could do theatrics to prove who He was to the world. He chose not to. If Jesus could throw himself from temple and defy the laws of gravity and live — (which he could - but he chose not to) - if he did those things he would have shown himself to be invulnerable.
Which would have nullified his humanity.
Jesus can help us in our wilderness — in our temptations and struggles— precisely because that while he was fully God, he was fully human. And he can identify with the fact that we struggle.
Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus was able to resist the things the devil tempted him with. How? Well, he knew the Scripture. He was able to respond because he was grounded in Scripture. Even when he was hungry, even when he was starving.
How do you ground yourself in Scripture? Practices like the daily office — Morning prayer — can help ground you each day. You read the lessons and are exposed to the word of God daily which seeps into you.
This is how Lent begins, with the victory of Jesus over temptation. He knows who he belongs to, he knows the Scriptures, which he uses as a defense.
I don’t know what wilderness you may be facing or if you feel like you are in a wilderness. I doubt the devil will ever come to you directly and offer you temptations as the devil is confined to time and space — the devil is not omnipresent and cannot be in all places at all times — and the devil coming to tempt you personally while not impossible seems unlikely. Your temptations come from within yourself. Society/others may tempt you to do things that are destructive to yourself or others, but you can have the strength to withstand.
Choose things that are constructive to who you are. Who we are as the body of Christ. Choose to fill yourself up with those things and leave temptation no room.
The wilderness will be easier to handle.
Amen.