Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpEEk05UlV4
Program Transcript
Easter Preparation – Led by the Spirit
Journeys of transformation often begin in a place of testing. The wilderness is not a place of punishment. It is a place of preparation. It is where noise fades, distractions fall away, and truth rises to the surface. Easter Preparation reflects this posture of reorienting our hearts to depend on Christ.
After his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There, among the rocks and silence, he faced hunger, loneliness, and temptation. Yet he was not alone. The same Spirit who descended on him in the waters now strengthened him in the desert.
In the wilderness, Jesus was tempted to take control, to prove his power, and to seek glory apart from the Father. But he chose trust over control, obedience over pride, and worship over compromise.
The wilderness became a space where faith was refined and identity affirmed.
We, too, are led into wilderness seasons, not to be abandoned, but to be strengthened.
In these forty days, we remember that life is not sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. In Christ, our hunger becomes dependence, our struggle becomes formation, and our emptiness becomes space for grace.
As we begin this season of Easter preparation, let’s reflect together:
- Where might the Spirit be leading you into a wilderness of trust and renewal?
- How is God inviting you to rely on his word more deeply in this season?
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Matthew 4:1-11
In every wilderness, God is near. The Spirit who led Jesus now leads us, the word that sustained him now sustains us, and the love that strengthened him now strengthens us. As we walk this path of preparation, may our hearts be renewed, our faith deepened, and our lives anchored in the steadfast love of God.
Program Transcript
Easter Preparation – Led by the Spirit
Journeys of transformation often begin in a place of testing. The wilderness is not a place of punishment. It is a place of preparation. It is where noise fades, distractions fall away, and truth rises to the surface. Easter Preparation reflects this posture of reorienting our hearts to depend on Christ.
After his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There, among the rocks and silence, he faced hunger, loneliness, and temptation. Yet he was not alone. The same Spirit who descended on him in the waters now strengthened him in the desert.
In the wilderness, Jesus was tempted to take control, to prove his power, and to seek glory apart from the Father. But he chose trust over control, obedience over pride, and worship over compromise.
The wilderness became a space where faith was refined and identity affirmed.
We, too, are led into wilderness seasons, not to be abandoned, but to be strengthened.
In these forty days, we remember that life is not sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. In Christ, our hunger becomes dependence, our struggle becomes formation, and our emptiness becomes space for grace.
As we begin this season of Easter preparation, let’s reflect together:
- Where might the Spirit be leading you into a wilderness of trust and renewal?
- How is God inviting you to rely on his word more deeply in this season?
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Matthew 4:1-11
In every wilderness, God is near. The Spirit who led Jesus now leads us, the word that sustained him now sustains us, and the love that strengthened him now strengthens us. As we walk this path of preparation, may our hearts be renewed, our faith deepened, and our lives anchored in the steadfast love of God.
Genesis 2:15–17; 3:1–7 • Psalm 32:1–11 • Romans 5:12–19 • Matthew 4:1–11
Today is the First Sunday of Lent, a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal. Our theme this week is love in the wilderness. In Genesis, we remember when Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden. They chose mistrust over trust, typifying a world marked by brokenness and hiding. Yet Psalm 32 sings of another way: the joy of confession and the liberation of forgiveness. In his letter to the Romans, Paul contrasts Adam and Christ — through one came sin and death, but through the other comes righteousness and life for all. And in Matthew’s Gospel, we walk with Jesus into the wilderness. There he confronts temptation head-on, not by power or pride, but by trust in the Father and faithfulness to God’s word. These readings remind us that Lent is not about self-punishment. Lent can be seen as re-entering the wilderness with Jesus. We don’t resist evil alone, but in the strength of his grace, and to walk with him toward the life he freely gives.
Love in the Wilderness
Matthew 4:1–11 NRSVUE
(Read or ask someone to read the sermon passage.)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 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,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Introduction: Love and Misunderstanding
If you were an adult in 1970, you might remember the movie Love Story, starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw. The film’s most famous line is: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Now, anyone who has loved — romantic or otherwise — knows that’s not true! Real love means saying “I’m sorry” quite a lot. It means humility, forgiveness, and beginning again.
That line from “Love Story” may sound romantic. But it actually captures something important about how easily we misunderstand love. We often think of love as a feeling, or a transaction — something we earn, deserve, or maintain by our performance.
And sometimes, we bring those same misunderstandings into our relationship with God.
Lent and Love
Today is the first Sunday in Lent — a 40-day season of preparation before Easter. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and leads us toward the cross and the resurrection. For many, Lent is associated with giving things up — fasting, abstaining, or “doing without.” Some people fast from sugar, social media, or meat. Others add practices like prayer or acts of service.
Those practices can be good, but Lent is not about earning God’s approval or proving our devotion. It’s not about punishing ourselves for our sins or trying to pay God back for Jesus’ suffering.
Lent is about remembering who God is and who we are in God. It’s about returning to love — divine love, not sentimental love.
The forty days of Lent recall Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. Just as Israel wandered in the desert for forty years, Jesus enters the wilderness. He enters to face what humanity has always faced: temptation, struggle, and testing.
But this isn’t a story about willpower or moral heroism. It’s about the faithfulness of God revealed in the humanity of Jesus.
The Scene: Led by the Spirit
Matthew begins, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil.”
Notice: it is the Spirit who leads Jesus into the wilderness.
This means the wilderness for Jesus was not a mistake or a detour. It was part of God’s redemptive plan. The same Spirit who descended like a dove at Jesus’ baptism now leads him into a place of hunger and desolation.
The Father’s voice had just thundered at the Jordan: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And now that beloved Son walks into loneliness, silence, and testing.
Why? Because this is what divine love looks like when it steps fully into our humanity.
The Incarnate Son, empowered by the Spirit, goes into the wilderness not to prove his love to the Father — but to reveal the Father’s love to us.
The Wilderness as a Place of Encounter
In Scripture, the wilderness is never just a backdrop; it’s a place where the boundaries between heaven and earth thin out.
- Israel met God in the desert.
- Moses heard God’s name from a burning bush in the wilderness.
- Elijah heard God’s whisper there after the storm.
Wilderness can be thought of as a metaphor for a place or condition where everything else is stripped away, like success, distraction, comfort, and noise. And we are left face-to-face with the living God.
When Jesus enters the actual wilderness, he enters the human condition in its most vulnerable form: hungry, alone, and tempted.
And yet, even here, God’s presence is not absent. The Spirit is with him. The Father’s words of love still echo in his heart.
Three Temptations, Three Lies About Love
Matthew tells us that after forty days of fasting, Jesus is hungry — famished. And that’s when the tempter comes. The devil doesn’t begin with something obviously evil. He begins with something that sounds reasonable: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Each temptation begins with that same phrase: “If you are the Son of God.” In other words, “Prove it.”
Satan challenges not just Jesus’ hunger but his identity. He attacks the relationship between the Father and the Son — the same relationship that defines our lives.
At its core, each temptation distorts the meaning of love.
- Love as Self-Sufficiency — “Turn these stones into bread.”
The first temptation is to act independently — to meet your own needs apart from the Father’s provision.
Satan’s logic is simple: If you’re really loved, why are you hungry? If you’re really the Son of God, take matters into your own hands. Fix it yourself.
Sound familiar? We face this temptation every time we believe that being loved by God means we’ll never face need, delay, or discomfort.
Jesus answers: “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
He quotes Deuteronomy 8, where Moses reminds Israel that God fed them with manna in the wilderness so they would learn to trust him. When the nation of Isreal wandered the wilderness food was scarce, but they woke every morning to find a sweet, flaky substance they could eat. They called it “manna,” bread from heaven.
Jesus refuses to turn stones into bread because he knows that his hunger doesn’t mean God has abandoned him. God will never leave us nor abandon us, and Jesus trusted this.
- Love as Manipulation — “Throw yourself down.”
Next, the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and quotes Scripture, twisting Psalm 91. “He will command his angels concerning you … On their hands they will bear you up.”
The temptation this time is subtle: Make God prove his love. Force his hand. Jump and see if he catches you.
This is manipulation. The idea that relationships depend on performance is manipulation. It’s manipulation to demand that love be demonstrated under our conditions.
But Jesus refuses. “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus’ love for the Father is based on who the Father is. His relationship is one of worship, not negotiation. Jesus did not need to demand proof. Love rests in trust. Jesus demonstrated that love is not coercive. God does not force us; God desires a relationship of love and trust.
- Love as Transaction — “All these I will give you.”
Finally, the devil shows Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” and offers them in exchange for worship.
Here love is reduced to a bargain: I’ll give you this if you give me that.
It’s the logic of the marketplace, not heaven. It’s what drives much of human life — I’ll love you if you meet my needs, if you make me happy, if you give me what I want. But God’s love doesn’t operate by trade or reward. It’s gift, grace, and overflow.
Jesus says, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
The love between the Father and the Son is not a transaction. Jesus demonstrates for us that the love the Father has for us, his children, is not transactional either.
Jesus: The Faithfulness of God in the Flesh
In each temptation, Jesus resists not by sheer willpower but by remaining grounded in the Father’s love and the Spirit’s presence.
The Incarnation means that God doesn’t just tell us how to live faithfully — he lives faithfully for us, as one of us. Jesus isn’t simply our example in the wilderness; he is our representative.
Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeds.
Where Adam fell, Jesus stands firm.
Where the devil plants doubt, Jesus trusts.
He embodies what it looks like for a human being to live fully dependent on God.
In his victory, we see the faithfulness of the triune God at work (triune meaning consisting of three in one) —
- The Father whose voice has already declared love,
- The Son who lives from that love,
- The Spirit who sustains that love in the wilderness.
The temptation story is not just about resisting evil. It’s about revealing love — divine love that never abandons or coerces and love that is not a transaction.
The wilderness didn’t end for Jesus when he left the desert. As a metaphor, it followed him throughout his ministry. Jesus faced the wilderness in rejection, misunderstanding, suffering, and finally the cross.
Yet through it all, he remained anchored in love.
We, too, have our wildernesses — seasons of scarcity, confusion, or pain. Times when God feels silent and temptation whispers, “You’re on your own. You can’t trust this love.” But wilderness can also be the place of transformation. It strips away illusions and teaches us to depend on the Word that sustains us.
These temptations are still alive today. We can be tempted to believe that God is not trustworthy. Maybe he will abandon us.
But Jesus turns those lies upside down. His victory in the wilderness isn’t just a moral triumph — it’s a divine revelation. It points to how we are saved. Jesus took on flesh and healed our humanity. We are in Jesus, and Jesus overcame temptation for us. We share in Jesus’ perfect trust in his Father.
The Ministry of Angels
Matthew closes the story with a quiet, beautiful sentence: “Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”
Notice the tenderness of divine love. The Father does not leave the Son to starve. At the right moment, help arrives. The same God who allowed the testing also provides comfort.
The angels ministering to Jesus is a picture of the Spirit’s ongoing ministry in us. God’s presence attends to our weakness, nourishing us. God’s love has the last word.
A Closing Word About Lent
As we journey through Lent, remember: Lent is not about proving our devotion but participating in Jesus’ dependence on the Father.
When we fast, it’s not punishment; it’s an opening.
When we pray, it’s not performance; it’s presence.
When we give, it’s not transaction; it’s sharing in God’s generosity.
Lent isn’t about saying “I’m sorry” enough times to earn forgiveness. It’s about remembering that forgiveness is already ours and letting that forgiveness re-shape us into people of love.
The story of Jesus’ forty days is not just his story — it’s our story. It’s the story of a love that will never leave or forsake us. It’s a story of love in the wilderness.
The Incarnate Love That Transforms Us
The story of Jesus’ temptation shows us the Trinity in motion —
- The Father’s love, already declared
- The Spirit’s presence, leading and sustaining
- The Son’s faithfulness, giving us a share in his trust
This is not a story of a contest of power but a revelation of relationship.
Jesus does not overcome the devil by divine lightning bolts but by human obedience rooted in divine love. He meets temptation not as a superhero but as one of us — showing that the love of God can be lived out in human flesh.
That is the heart of the Incarnation: God with us, God for us, God within us.
And because Christ faced temptation and triumphed in love, our wildernesses — our hungers, our doubts, and our tests — can become places of grace too.
Conclusion: Love That Cannot Be Tempted Away
In this story we see how faithful God’s love is. Satan leaves, defeated. Angels come. Love remains.
In the wilderness of Lent, and in the wildernesses of our own lives, we can trust that same love. The Father’s love is a love that neither hunger nor doubt, neither testing nor trial, can take away. There is nothing stronger than the Trinity’s love in the wilderness.
For the One who was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, now lives within us, loving through us.
So, when you feel empty, remember: A trustworthy God holds you.
And you are loved enough to give love away. You are free to give love without fear of running out. Look for ways to serve, bless, and encourage others. Divine love is always outward flowing, always overflowing. How can we live generously this week?
God’s loving generosity has already said, “You are mine.” That love — tested, proven, and faithful — will never fail you.
Jesus, may we feel your love in the wilderness. Amen.
Jane Williams—Year A Lent 1
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR072-Williams-YearA-Lent1.mp3
Sunday, February 22, 2026 — First Sunday in Lent
Matthew 4:1–11 NRSVUE
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Program Transcript
Jane Williams—Year A Lent 1
Anthony: Our final pericope of the month is Matthew 4:1-11. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the First Sunday in Lent, February 22. Jane, please do the honors.
Jane:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Anthony: I so enjoy listening to you read. What is it about the Brits when they read? It just sounds so inviting and intelligent.
Jane: But that’s what we feel when you read.
Anthony: This is quite a text, is it not? And we’d be interested to know, if you were teaching it, what would you teach?
Jane: I love this text and because I’ve written a number of small reflective books for Lent, it’s a text that I’ve written about and prayed about and pondered over in all kinds of different ways.
I would start by noticing that it is the work of the Spirit to take Jesus into the wilderness, we are told. And therefore, Jesus goes trustingly into this hard testing place. And he goes to find out. Remember this story immediately follows the baptism of Jesus, where he’s heard the voice of the Father saying, “Oh, my beloved Son.” He’s felt the presence in the Spirit upon him.
And then he’s driven out into the wilderness. And it is as though we see Jesus really confronting what it is to be told that he is the Son of God. What does it mean for Jesus to be the Son of God in this world and for us and for our salvation?
And the tempter is giving Jesus all the pictures that we would normally have of what it would be like to be the Son of God: the kind of power, the kind of safety, and the sense of God taking care of us, people admiring Jesus, that all of these kingdoms could be yours. That’s so much of what, left to our own devices, we think is important about the world — those kind of attributes. And over and over and over again, Jesus is able to reject them. And we see Jesus’ sonship really taking shape, I think, and these temptations.
And these temptations are what are going to enable Jesus when it comes to that terrible moment in Gethsemane to say, “Not what I will, but what you will,” because we see Jesus becoming through and through and through the person who will, under all circumstances, be the Son of God. And I think that’s what I find it incredibly moving: to see this description of Jesus in the wilderness, allowing the Scriptures, allowing the Spirit, allowing the Father to shape what it will mean for Jesus to be the Son of God in his ministry, in life, and in death.
And as I say, I think these choices are the ones that enable Jesus to be always, under all circumstances, Son of the Father. That’s Jesus’ most basic self-definition.
Anthony: You pointed out that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. And the wilderness shows up time and time again in Scripture in both testaments over 300 times. And it’s a significant metaphor and situation that we face in this world. What is the wilderness and why is it so important in Scripture?
Jane: I suppose I come at it primarily as a doctrine and history scholar rather than necessarily a biblical scholar. And it’s fascinating to see, for example, in the work of the early monastic movement, the desert fathers and mothers. And that movement was just as Christianity was beginning to get a bit more comfortable, a bit more settled in the world — that movement of people being led by the Spirit out into the wilderness again.
And they see it very much as a place for doing battle with the devil as we see Jesus doing here in this particular story. Because here in the wilderness the devil is much more noticeable because there are few other distractions. And so, the desert fathers and mothers are very deliberately taking on, you might say the battle between good and evil for their own sake, but also for the sake of others.
As even more so, obviously, Jesus here in this account is overcoming the devil so that he can be the one who fulfills God’s calling to him. And so that really important sense of doing battle with the things that are preventing us from being who we are called to be, I think, is one of the big wilderness symbols because so much of our life is so distracted.
It is so easy not to notice the things that are actually holding us in through all the things that are taking up all our time and energy, the things that we, whether we would call it worship or not, the things to which we give the best of ourselves. They’re so insidious all around us that I think these wilderness times, whether actually physically going out into a place of quiet and retreat or the hard times that we hit, are times for really reevaluating and reminding ourselves that our most basic calling, that the only thing that can truly fulfill us is to be the children of God that we are called to be. So, taking Jesus’ example and constantly saying God first, God first, God first.
Anthony: God first. That’s a great way to segue into what I was going to say. God first. I was going to mention how, from my vantage point, theology is enormously important and it’s an understatement even saying it that way.
Jane: Sure.
Anthony: Because it shapes how we see everything, the way that we think and talk about God. And I am of the opinion, if theology doesn’t lead us to greater worship and devotion, we’ve missed the point. It’s not just knowledge. It is about worship of this living God. So, as a final word, would you do us the honor of just heralding the good news that you see in this text about Jesus Christ who reveals the heart of God?
Jane: What we see in Jesus is the lengths to which God will go to be God for us and to come and find us.
When Paul says in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, that is because God will not let anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And that’s what we see in this passage. It’s Jesus’ complete open identification with the task that God the Father has given him and which he has received with generosity and openness to be God for us.
“For us and for our salvation” as the creed says, and that willingness on God’s part to identify with us when we are so often unwilling to be the human beings that God longs for us to be. It’s one of those extraordinary mirror images, isn’t it, that God is willing to be a human being and so that we can be the human beings we are called to be.
But we don’t want to be human beings. We want to be gods. That’s the Genesis pattern that echoed in this wilderness account, that we know Jesus is really God because Jesus is willing to be God for us and not for himself.
Anthony: Hallelujah. Praise God. Jane, I’m so grateful that you joined us.
I didn’t mention this to you, I don’t believe, but my wife and I, Elizabeth and I were sitting in a workshop session at the Duke Divinity Initiative of Theology and Arts, and you were one of the panel presenters about how art can be a gift in the midst of suffering.
And I sat there and I was so drawn to the wisdom that you taught with, the humility. And one thing I said to Elizabeth as we drove home that day is your precision of language. Your language was so informed by your experience with the Lord. I was struck by it and I thought, oh, I want to have her on the podcast. And fact that you said yes was such a delight. So, thank you so much for joining us.
Jane: Thank you for the invitation.
Anthony: Yes, of course. And I also want to thank our team, Reuel and Enerio, Michelle Hartman, and Elizabeth Mullins. This would not be possible without them. What a wonderful group of people to work with. And as is our tradition here on Gospel Reverb. We’d like to end with the word of prayer. So, Jane, would you pray for us please, as we close?
Jane: It would be such a pleasure.
Come, Holy Spirit, and open the Scriptures to us so that we may see Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit, and pray in us, Abba Father, so that we may be sisters and brothers of the Son, daughters and sons of the Father.
I pray in particular for all who read these texts that Anthony and I have been discussing — all who ponder them or who preach them or who try to live them — that every word will be filled with presence of the Spirit. With the joy of the Spirit and with the call to proclaim God who comes to find us, God who is for us, God who will let nothing separate us from his loving Christ Jesus, may these words come alive afresh as each person reads from ponders them and proclaims them. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Anthony: Amen.
Program Transcript
Jane Williams—Year A Lent 1
Anthony: Our final pericope of the month is Matthew 4:1-11. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the First Sunday in Lent, February 22. Jane, please do the honors.
Jane:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Anthony: I so enjoy listening to you read. What is it about the Brits when they read? It just sounds so inviting and intelligent.
Jane: But that’s what we feel when you read.
Anthony: This is quite a text, is it not? And we’d be interested to know, if you were teaching it, what would you teach?
Jane: I love this text and because I’ve written a number of small reflective books for Lent, it’s a text that I’ve written about and prayed about and pondered over in all kinds of different ways.
I would start by noticing that it is the work of the Spirit to take Jesus into the wilderness, we are told. And therefore, Jesus goes trustingly into this hard testing place. And he goes to find out. Remember this story immediately follows the baptism of Jesus, where he’s heard the voice of the Father saying, “Oh, my beloved Son.” He’s felt the presence in the Spirit upon him.
And then he’s driven out into the wilderness. And it is as though we see Jesus really confronting what it is to be told that he is the Son of God. What does it mean for Jesus to be the Son of God in this world and for us and for our salvation?
And the tempter is giving Jesus all the pictures that we would normally have of what it would be like to be the Son of God: the kind of power, the kind of safety, and the sense of God taking care of us, people admiring Jesus, that all of these kingdoms could be yours. That’s so much of what, left to our own devices, we think is important about the world — those kind of attributes. And over and over and over again, Jesus is able to reject them. And we see Jesus’ sonship really taking shape, I think, and these temptations.
And these temptations are what are going to enable Jesus when it comes to that terrible moment in Gethsemane to say, “Not what I will, but what you will,” because we see Jesus becoming through and through and through the person who will, under all circumstances, be the Son of God. And I think that’s what I find it incredibly moving: to see this description of Jesus in the wilderness, allowing the Scriptures, allowing the Spirit, allowing the Father to shape what it will mean for Jesus to be the Son of God in his ministry, in life, and in death.
And as I say, I think these choices are the ones that enable Jesus to be always, under all circumstances, Son of the Father. That’s Jesus’ most basic self-definition.
Anthony: You pointed out that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. And the wilderness shows up time and time again in Scripture in both testaments over 300 times. And it’s a significant metaphor and situation that we face in this world. What is the wilderness and why is it so important in Scripture?
Jane: I suppose I come at it primarily as a doctrine and history scholar rather than necessarily a biblical scholar. And it’s fascinating to see, for example, in the work of the early monastic movement, the desert fathers and mothers. And that movement was just as Christianity was beginning to get a bit more comfortable, a bit more settled in the world — that movement of people being led by the Spirit out into the wilderness again.
And they see it very much as a place for doing battle with the devil as we see Jesus doing here in this particular story. Because here in the wilderness the devil is much more noticeable because there are few other distractions. And so, the desert fathers and mothers are very deliberately taking on, you might say the battle between good and evil for their own sake, but also for the sake of others.
As even more so, obviously, Jesus here in this account is overcoming the devil so that he can be the one who fulfills God’s calling to him. And so that really important sense of doing battle with the things that are preventing us from being who we are called to be, I think, is one of the big wilderness symbols because so much of our life is so distracted.
It is so easy not to notice the things that are actually holding us in through all the things that are taking up all our time and energy, the things that we, whether we would call it worship or not, the things to which we give the best of ourselves. They’re so insidious all around us that I think these wilderness times, whether actually physically going out into a place of quiet and retreat or the hard times that we hit, are times for really reevaluating and reminding ourselves that our most basic calling, that the only thing that can truly fulfill us is to be the children of God that we are called to be. So, taking Jesus’ example and constantly saying God first, God first, God first.
Anthony: God first. That’s a great way to segue into what I was going to say. God first. I was going to mention how, from my vantage point, theology is enormously important and it’s an understatement even saying it that way.
Jane: Sure.
Anthony: Because it shapes how we see everything, the way that we think and talk about God. And I am of the opinion, if theology doesn’t lead us to greater worship and devotion, we’ve missed the point. It’s not just knowledge. It is about worship of this living God. So, as a final word, would you do us the honor of just heralding the good news that you see in this text about Jesus Christ who reveals the heart of God?
Jane: What we see in Jesus is the lengths to which God will go to be God for us and to come and find us.
When Paul says in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, that is because God will not let anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And that’s what we see in this passage. It’s Jesus’ complete open identification with the task that God the Father has given him and which he has received with generosity and openness to be God for us.
“For us and for our salvation” as the creed says, and that willingness on God’s part to identify with us when we are so often unwilling to be the human beings that God longs for us to be. It’s one of those extraordinary mirror images, isn’t it, that God is willing to be a human being and so that we can be the human beings we are called to be.
But we don’t want to be human beings. We want to be gods. That’s the Genesis pattern that echoed in this wilderness account, that we know Jesus is really God because Jesus is willing to be God for us and not for himself.
Anthony: Hallelujah. Praise God. Jane, I’m so grateful that you joined us.
I didn’t mention this to you, I don’t believe, but my wife and I, Elizabeth and I were sitting in a workshop session at the Duke Divinity Initiative of Theology and Arts, and you were one of the panel presenters about how art can be a gift in the midst of suffering.
And I sat there and I was so drawn to the wisdom that you taught with, the humility. And one thing I said to Elizabeth as we drove home that day is your precision of language. Your language was so informed by your experience with the Lord. I was struck by it and I thought, oh, I want to have her on the podcast. And fact that you said yes was such a delight. So, thank you so much for joining us.
Jane: Thank you for the invitation.
Anthony: Yes, of course. And I also want to thank our team, Reuel and Enerio, Michelle Hartman, and Elizabeth Mullins. This would not be possible without them. What a wonderful group of people to work with. And as is our tradition here on Gospel Reverb. We’d like to end with the word of prayer. So, Jane, would you pray for us please, as we close?
Jane: It would be such a pleasure.
Come, Holy Spirit, and open the Scriptures to us so that we may see Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit, and pray in us, Abba Father, so that we may be sisters and brothers of the Son, daughters and sons of the Father.
I pray in particular for all who read these texts that Anthony and I have been discussing — all who ponder them or who preach them or who try to live them — that every word will be filled with presence of the Spirit. With the joy of the Spirit and with the call to proclaim God who comes to find us, God who is for us, God who will let nothing separate us from his loving Christ Jesus, may these words come alive afresh as each person reads from ponders them and proclaims them. We pray this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Anthony: Amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- What do Jesus’ responses to Satan reveal about his relationship with the Father?
- What, if any, comfort do you get from knowing that Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations?
- Have you ever fasted? What was it like?
- What if we lived as if we were loved enough to give love away? What might that look like in our community?
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