A way through the wilderness

I remember trying to find my way through a wilderness. Well, it was actually the woody landscape behind my childhood home. I was about 8 years old and decided adventuring in the back acres would be great fun as I battled imaginary armies of ninjas and monsters.

But after hours of playing, I realized I was completely turned around and no longer knew the way home. I was lost and alone and had no way to call for help.

As I wandered around I stumbled upon a creek, and suddenly remembered that there was a creek that ran right beside my house. So I followed it and followed it… until eventually things started looking more familiar and I got back home and just in time for dinner. Following the water helped me get through the wilderness.

Have you ever wandered through the wilderness? A wilderness can be a fearful and desolate place; you look about you, and all you see is unfamiliar territory. It is a place that seems to swallow you up. It is a disorienting place - you don't know where to turn, how to get back to safety. Have you ever struggled to find your way through such a place?

Of course, not every wilderness is a place. In fact, some of the most desolate and frightening wilderness experiences are the kind that happen within us; in our hearts, our minds, our souls. There is the wilderness of the spirit.

Our inner pain and brokenness, the mystery of evil that lives deep within, the shadow side of ourselves - there is a threatening wilderness in which we fear becoming lost. On a broader scale, there is the threat of war, the experiences of racism, prejudice, or bigotry, and then there is the fragile nature of our bodies. We get lost in the wilderness and struggle to find a way through. We are tempted to look for an easy way out.

That is what this story of Jesus' temptation confronts us with today. It is not just about him, but about the wilderness we live in and the temptations we face in this wilderness. It is about looking for an easy way out, and about the only real path through it all.

Jesus, like the ancient Israelites after they left Egypt, went into the wilderness to struggle with the purpose of his life, his ministry. There were all the forces at work within him.

On the one hand, there was the desire to accomplish the purpose for which he had been sent, to do the will of God the Father. On the other hand, doing so would cause him great suffering and pain.

Christ struggled with these forces, in the same way that all of us do. He was tempted to find an easier way, a more comfortable way, a less costly way to make it through the wilderness, but he moved ahead with a sense of ministry that took the form of a cross, and set his life’s course.

The question for us is - what are we to do with our times in one kind of wilderness or another? How do we find a way through? Maybe the story of how Jesus found a way through his wilderness of temptation can help us answer that.

In today’s gospel we hear how Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

This power of evil always attacks us in our weaknesses. Jesus had spent 40 days in the wilderness, fasting. He was hungry.

Satan knows where we are vulnerable, and the power of evil always attacks you at your weakest point; anything to distract from the life God intends you to live, anything to steer you off course, to make you lose your way.

Maybe your weak spot is a fear of failure and the power of evil will tempt you devote all your time and attention to being a success.

Maybe your weak spot is the need to be liked. Your life is run by what other people think. Nothing is more important to you than that.

Maybe your weak spot is money and nothing is more important than getting more of it to make you feel comfortable, safe and secure.

Maybe your weak spot is a tendency to be pessimistic about yourself and the world around you. You easily become discouraged and close to despair.

Maybe your weak spot is feeling unusually guilty about everything, and so you are tempted to find what you have done wrong in almost every situation.

The point is, we all have our weaknesses; the places where we are more vulnerable. The evil one finds those weak spots and uses them to steer us off course, to mess us up, to separate us from God and one another. You have your weak points and I have mine. We have those places in our lives where we are more vulnerable, where the evil one has opportunity to keep us from being what God intends for us to be.

Satan suggests that Jesus feed his hunger by turning rocks to bread. God can do that. But Jesus resists the temptation. He says, "People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

When you are struggling, the first temptation is to grab on to something that appears solid and hold on for dear life. It's like the story of the fellow who fell off the cliff and, at the last moment, grabbed hold of a small bush that was clinging to the side of the cliff. As he dangled there, a thousand feet above the rocks, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Is anyone up there?!" To his surprise, a voice answered back, "This is God. Don't worry - let go and I'll catch you!" He thought a moment, and yelled back again, "Is anyone else up there?"

In whom or in what do we place our trust? How do we satisfy the hunger of our soul as we meet up with all the uncertainties and struggles of this world? We are invited day by day to let go and place our trust in the Lord our God, to stand on his promises, to live our lives in him.

The second temptation is the temptation to success and power. In the troubles and confusion of this world, we look for order and stability. We feel lost and out of control, so we look for a way to take control of our lives. We want to do it our way.

Jesus, in the face of an unbelieving world, was tempted to show his power. Instead, he gave his life away. He humbled himself and became the servant of us all.

How do we get through the wilderness times of our lives? We stand on the love and grace of God. Human power cannot save us - least of all our own. Only God can do that.

Jesus says to Satan, "Don't tell us that we can do it on our own. We have neither the strength nor the power, nor the wisdom. Only God knows the way through; and if we will follow God, if we will trust God, if we place ourselves in God’s hands, God will take us through, just as God did the Israelites through their wilderness experience. And even in their moments of doubt, God still stayed with them and saw them through to the promised land.

Baptism is the promise of our "coming through," of our passage through death to life. It tells of God's faithfulness to us. We respond by putting our trust, our hope, in God’s promises; nothing more, nothing less, living in Christ, immersing our life in his.

The third temptation is the temptation to believe in false gods. When we feel lost and alone, when we wonder if we have been abandoned, when we don't know where to go - it is tempting to set up some false gods, to throw out an anchor anywhere, hoping it will stick somewhere. For some, that anchor may be in the past - confronted with a changing and hostile world, we cling to whatever makes us feel a bit safer. Satan offered himself to Jesus. "I have control of this world," he said. "Worship me and you'll be alright. I'll give you your heart's desire if you'll just worship me." But Jesus answers, "Get out of here, Satan - for God says, 'You shall serve only me.'"

Where do we find our answers, our steady place in this confusing, unstable world? Jesus doesn't give us easy answers. But he gives us himself. Jesus gives himself as food for our spirits as we journey through the wilderness. He gives us himself as our strength and our anchor. He gives himself to us with the promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us, that he will always be our God and we will always be his people.

We cannot avoid the wilderness. We cannot go around it. It can be an uncomfortable place, a lonely place, a frightening place. But if we are followers of Christ, we know that we will not perish in the wilderness. There is a way through. With him, even in the wilderness we can be refreshed, renewed. Even in the wilderness we can find hope and joy and peace. Remember the water of life and follow it daily. Thanks be to God. AMEN