Follow Jesus into the Wilderness this Lent
Let’s talk about Lent.
In the weeks running up to Easter every spring, Christians around the world will often abstain from meat or chocolate or caffeine as a part of what is known as Lent. More often than not, Lent ends up being approached more like a do-over for people's New Year's resolutions rather than as an important part of the Christian calendar. Is that really the purpose of Lent? Is it nothing more than a goal-setting or life-improvement exercise?
What if, instead, Lent was about something more?
For centuries Lent has been a part of the Christian Church calendar. And recent years have seen it become a very popular trend across Protestant churches in the United States.
At its roots, Lent is a focused time of reflection and humility as we focus our lives on Jesus Christ and the journey He made to the cross. In the same way that his journey to the Cross was filled with sorrow and mourning, we as Christians take time during the 40 days (plus Sundays) running up to Easter to focus our eyes on the more difficult parts of life and of our Christian journey.
Lent is a time for us to journey to the cross too.
Very often when asked about the origins of Lent and of the 40 days observed running up to Easter, Christian historians will point to Luke chapter 4 where Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Within the Gospel of Luke, the ministry of Jesus does not begin until two important events occur. These two events are the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and the subsequent temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
In Luke 4:2, we find a very simple sentence describing Jesus. We are told that: "he ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry."
When we look at this verse in comparison to the story just before it (Jesus’ baptism), we find a holistic picture of the Incarnated Jesus. He is full of the Holy Spirit, but with an empty stomach. We see Jesus as fully God and yet also fully man. And as this story of temptations progresses, Jesus faces some of the core needs of humanity: provision, power, and security. Said differently, the ability to provide safety, sustainability, and prosperity in life.
As humans, we each know the desires for these three areas - and what it looks like when one of them is lacking. We can picture what it looks like to have enough means to live on, to be able to dictate your own choices in life, and the safety to know that everything is stable and predictable. But we also know what life becomes when there is not enough to make it through the month, when others dictate the present and futures of the downtrodden, or when there is no safe place to call home or safe people to call family.
And by virtue of Christ’s life, especially here in the wilderness, Jesus is a God who has human experience. Jesus literally got on our level.
And this is good news for us. Because we serve a God who walked through human life. He has experienced both the best and worst of humanity. The pain and struggle that we know all too well? He knows it too. In this story, we find a Jesus who receives the first-hand experience of the brokenness of life.
But this story also shows that we serve this God-man who did not give in to temptation, who endured hunger seemingly longer than humanly possible, and that He was full of the Holy Spirit.
Our hope in Jesus is hope in the God who has been human like us, and yet who is so much more than us. He is a God who has experienced temptation, but that same God has defeated and triumphed over it. He faced the offers to circumvent the cross and compromise for power, and He chose death instead. By shunning the offers to prove His divine status, Jesus actually confirmed His claim to be God. He would not allow Himself to stoop to the level of the devil.
This wilderness journey gives us a beautiful picture of our God:
No hunger can stop Him.
No power can pervert Him.
No temptation can compromise Him.
No taunt can unnerve Him.
No thing can defeat Him.
No death can stop Him.
Instead…
Jesus brings fullness to those who are hungry.
Jesus brings judgment to those who pervert power.
Jesus brings strength against our temptations.
Jesus brings courage to our battles.
Jesus brings victory and life through humiliation and death.
JESUS BRINGS UNSTOPPABLE, UNENDING LIFE.
Today may you be reminded that our God is one who understands you and who relates to you. God knows your pain and your trials and has defeated it all.
The victory of Jesus was made final on the cross. But it started here in the wilderness.
Here is where Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, experienced the struggles of life. His journey to the cross (and the empty grave) began in this wilderness journey. Here Jesus pivots to the revolutionary Kingdom-work and miraculous ministry which will get Him killed. He lays down His claims to provision, power, and security for something greater - the mission of God.
So during this season of Lent, my challenge to you is to find ways to lay down your attempts at achieving provision, power, and security as well. But not just for the sake of self-improvement. Pursue this with the intent of drawing closer to God as well as helping others around you.
This may look like giving something up that is drawing you away from God - i.e. an idol.
Maybe it’ll look like giving something up so that you have more margin to give to others.
Perhaps it’ll look like adding something into your life that brings you closer to God and His children.
It could be volunteering, fasting food or media, inviting neighbors around your dinner table, starting a Bible study, joining a movement against injustices in the world, or spending more time in prayer as well as in seeking to be part of God’s answer to those prayers.
May you lay down your life for others.
Because in death, we find life.
In giving, we receive.
In emptying ourselves, we are filled.
And in the wilderness, we find Jesus.
How will you follow Jesus into the wilderness this Lent?
