The LINK: 3/22
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”‘”
The 40 day season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on March 2 and continues through Saturday, April 16, the day before Easter Sunday. (The 40 day count excludes Sundays.) The Christian Church has celebrated Lent for many centuries as a way to encourage Christians to prepare for Easter by observing a period of spiritual discipline. The choice of 40 days echoes important 40-day and 40-year events in the Bible, including the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
What motivated Jesus to spend 40 days and nights of solitude, prayer and fasting in the Judean wilderness? This desert landscape was largely uninhabitable and was full of dangers for anyone who dared to venture in it for long. Danger from scorching heat by day and extreme cold at night, danger from wild animals and scorpions, and deprivation of food and scarcity of water.
For the chosen people of Israel the desert was a place of testing, encounter, and renewal. When the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt, they wandered 40 years in the wilderness. This was seen as a time of purification and preparation for entry into the promised land. During that 40-year journey, Moses went to the mountain of the Lord at Sinai and stayed there for 40 days and nights (Exodus 24:18).
Jesus, no doubt, went to the wilderness to prepare himself for the mission the Father sent him to accomplish. Satan, in turn, did his best to entice Jesus to reject the will of his Father. Despite his weakened condition, due to fatigue and lack of food for 40 days, Jesus steadfastly rejected Satan’s subtle temptations. Where did Jesus find his strength to survive the desert’s harsh conditions and the tempter’s seduction? He fed on his Father’s word and found strength in doing his will.
During this season of Lent I encourage each one of us to practice the spiritual discipline of daily feeding on our Father’s word. I invite us to follow our church’s Bible Reading Plan (available at the church and on our website: www.congopres.org). Then, as we are daily feeding on his word, we will find strength to do God’s will, and we will be better prepared to welcome our risen Lord and Savior on Easter Sunday.
Yours in Christ,