The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness. It’s a little gentler version than the Gospel of Mark’s description of Jesus being driven out to the wilderness by the Spirit. It was after he was baptized, according to Luke, but not before Luke recites Jesus’ genealogy. It’s a curious place to put a 78 generation genealogy – four chapters in to the story. But for Luke, it becomes the connective tissue between the baptism and the wilderness in which Jesus began his work – his ministry. The genealogy demonstrates that Jesus is a child of Israel, a child of all humanity, and a child of the Creator. Our lectionary does this crazy thing of splitting the story of Jesus’ baptism which we heard at the beginning of Epiphany, early in January, and this time in the wilderness. In the last six weeks we’ve heard all kinds of other stories in between the baptism and the wilderness, like last week’s account of the Transfiguration which comes much later in Luke. But the Gospel narrative is that Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit at baptism goes immediately into a harsh place of physical and spiritual danger.

I wish I could show you some pictures right now of the Judean wilderness. I’ve never seen a place so barren and beautiful in all my travels. Rounded rocky black mountains, devoid of any vegetation as far as the eye can see. It might as well be the moon. And because the hills are so steep and are so many, people in the area can seem to come out of nowhere in no time. It’s a perfect place for robbers and other kinds of thugs to ambush a sojourner traveling through the territory.

I sometimes wonder why Jesus went into the wilderness – I wonder what he needed to learn – what he needed to think about – what he needed to prove to himself or others or the Divine by going into that physically and spiritually dangerous place. The story is that Jesus spent forty days – in other words, a very long time -- in that harsh place. Maybe Jesus was trying to figure out what to do next. Maybe he was trying to figure out what hit him (or filled him)! Maybe he was getting ready for the work that would come next. The story goes that while Jesus was in the wilderness, he was tempted by the devil. The thing about being tempted is – well, it’s tempting! Jesus was tempted by things that tempt us -- tempted to be self-sufficient – to turn a stone into bread to ease his own hunger. He was tempted to gain authority by serving something less than holy. He was tempted to try the impossible to prove how extraordinary he was or to prove how extraordinary the Source of all Being was.(1)  The Christian story goes that if a very human child of the Divine was tempted by things that tempt us and he resisted the temptations, maybe there is hope for us too!

I wonder if Jesus went into the desert, whether it he was driven or led, pushed or pulled, to test his vocation – his calling.  You probably have heard the great definition of vocation by Frederick Buechner. He says that vocation is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep need or hunger meet. What might Jesus have learned about his vocation that he would not have learned had he avoided the wilderness? What difference did his encounter in the wilderness make in the time that came after the wilderness?

You know, the Greek word for devil, diabolos, or the Hebrew word, satan, can refer to anyone who brings charges against someone else. Jesus has just experience at the moment of his baptism a voice assuring him that he is the beloved child of the Holy One. Now he’s hearing a voice that is saying, “oh yeah? Prove it. Prove it. Prove it. You’re not so special.” I wonder if the difference between the Holy Spirit and the Devil is the difference between building up and tearing down belovedness. In his answers to that tearing-down voice, Jesus asserts some things that will become hallmarks of his ministry.

The first is that self-sufficiency is not the divine intention for humanity. “One does not live by bread alone.” The rest of that quote that Jesus cites from Deuteronomy is “but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” And every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord is about loving the Holy One and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. That’s what’s always needed in addition to bread: Love. It’s not just about getting oneself fed – it’s also about relationships. Perhaps Jesus is getting clear in this challenge about how much relationships are going to matter in his work.

“Worship the Lord your God and serve only God.” This comes from a section of Deuteronomy that calls for the community to reject idolatry. Attempts to achieve greatness or gain authority by selling out in small or big ways to golden calves of money or power are forms of idolatry that persuade us that ends justify means. The alternative is humble service with honorable means, with deep integrity. Perhaps Jesus is getting clear in this challenge about how to focus on the journey more so than the destination
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” comes from the same section of Deuteronomy and it reminds listeners of the Hebrew people who feared that they would not reach the promised land because they were parched and lacked water, but then water was provided by the Holy One. This is a Torah story that teaches us to stop asking for or demanding proof of the existence or the love of the Holy One, and just keep doing the next right thing. Perhaps Jesus is getting clear in this challenge about how to trust rather than test the Divine -- all the way to the cross if necessary.

So by now you have no doubt picked up that this is the first Sunday of Lent. The word Lent comes from the Middle English word for Spring – so it is a word that embodies hope. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the days are getting longer and lighter. In churchy terms, Lent is the season when we get ready for Easter. In a religious sense Lent is a word for me that embodies hope. It’s not hope in something that may happen – it’s hope in something that has already happened and keeps happening. One of the amazing and wonderful truths of the Easter story, though, is that resurrection doesn’t care whether people are ready or not. Just like gravity doesn’t care whether we are ready or not – or whether we like it or not – or even whether we believe it or not.

So Easter will come whether we are ready or not. But for many of us, celebrations are better when we are prepared – when we are ready to celebrate. The season of Lent in the Church invites us to spend a good long time getting ready. And the Church gives us some strong suggestions about how to do that – through special giving to alleviate poverty, through a special focus on prayer, through fasting (the opposite of feasting), through study of the Bible. It’s a preparation program of diet and exercise actually. Most of us aren’t really that fond of diet and exercise. However diet and exercise really work to promote health and fitness, physically and spiritually. And for faithful people in community, it’s not just about personal health and fitness – it’s about the health and fitness of our parish, of our Church, and the health and fitness of the wider world.
It’s my job as your priest to recommend diet and exercise. If you would like to take on an activity for Lent or give something up for Lent, you might think about what you need to be able to celebrate Easter more fully when it comes, as a way to help you choose a diet and exercise program. Lent may be the one season in the liturgical year when the challenge is self-examination in order to figure out what diet and exercise program will be best!

As your priest, I want you to take some time during these 40 days in your particular wilderness, so that you might figure out how to live into your vocation – your calling – more deeply and fully. Where might your deep gladness meet the world’s deep need? I want you to take some time to get ready for whatever you are being called to do next. I have an exercise to suggest to you. I’ve filled baskets with slips of paper which each have a word to reflect on or pray about – to look for and to act on or to do.  If you want, on your way out of church, pick one of the slips of paper out of the basket. Carry it around with you in your pocket or your wallet – either for the rest of Lent or just until next Sunday when you can pick another word if you want to. Carry it around – think about what it means, pray about it, talk about it with your family or friends. Look for it in yourself and look for it in others. Find ways to act on it. Notice yourself exercising or exhibiting it, and notice others doing it. Find new ways to show it and see it.

If you pick a word that just doesn’t fit, still keep it for at least a week and see what you can learn about it – see what you can learn from it. Begin this Lent to get ready for Easter. Begin this Lent to get ready to get ready for going more fully into the place where your deep joy will meet the world’s deep need.