Wisdom from the Wilderness!
Matthew 4:1-11
Dear
Friends,
As I look back on my boyhood days growing
up in a Christian home, lent didn’t make much impact on my life. The days of
lent were 40 dull and drab days. A list of items such as meat and sweets and a
few other things were not included in our meals during lent. That was a lesson for us on self-denial. I have
however a different approach towards lent these days. It is always good to
spend time on study and prayer and reflection and in lent I encourage us to do
more. It is always good to get rid of my own stubbornness, anger, and envy and
greed .And in lent I want to pay more attention to this exercise. It is always
good to spend my energy in the acts of goodness and service and the acts of
peace and justice, kindness and mercy. However in lent I want to plunge into
these services more and more. Someone came up with a new abbreviation for lent:
“LET US ELIMINATE NEGATIVE THINKING”. I want you to picture Jesus today in a
meditative mode in the Judean wilderness. That is the picture you have in front
of you in the power point. What happened to Jesus in the wilderness also
happened to Prince Siddhartha but the location was different. He left his father’s palace and all his
luxury and went into the jungles of Benares in India for 6 years. After spending
some time there in meditation and reflection he returned to the world as the
Buddha, the enlightened person. He brought with him answers for all the ills of
the world. What happened to Jesus in the wilderness also happened to Moses and
Muhammad, Peter and Paul, Luther and Gandhi, Juliana of Norwich, Susanna
Wesley, Susan B Anthony and Mother Teresa as well. Psychologist Carl Jung gives
a different name for this wilderness experiences. And his term is INDIVIDUATION.
Which simply means it is one’s search for the totality of oneself. It is an
exploration into one’s own being. How does one become an integrated
personality? How does one discover the divine in oneself? How does one become
conscious of everything under the sun? Jung here coined another psychological
term THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS, to describe these human explorations.
Jesus visits the wilderness immediately
after the highest, the peak and the summit experience of his baptism. After
hearing the most distinct voice “THIS IS MY SON WHOM I LOVE AND WITH WHOM I AM
WELL PLEASED”. After the affirmation of his father on his son ship, after
seeing with his own naked eye the heavens being opened and the Holy Spirit
descending in bodily form like a dove, he receives a marching order” GO TO THAT LONELY WILDERNESS. The
30 year old Jesus had every right to ponder as to what the future had on his
life. Perhaps he wanted to probe into the mind of God. Perhaps he wanted to
strategize as to how to deal with a society, which was so stubborn and
segregated, a society that separated the good from the bad, male from the
female the pious from the sinful the clean from the unclean the priestly from
the lay, the mundane from the sacred. Here is a word about this wilderness: it
is a stretch of plain and empty land between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. The
only sound probably we hear is the howling of the jackals. There is no one to
talk to, no water, no food, the temperature freezes in the night and the
scotching heat gets unbearable in the day. Being hungry and cold and left alone
is almost like finding oneself in the company of devil. Do we need any more
descriptions of what the devil does? The first attack by the devil on Jesus was
at the point of his physical need. Food is the basic need of life. Jesus was hungry and his forty-day fasting
would have accentuated his hunger pangs. When you look at those rocks and
stones in the desert they look exactly like the browned baked wheat bread or Italian
or the Monk bread. So the devil asks, come on Jesus! Why don’t you turn this
beautiful bread like rocks into real bread? I know you can do it. Why don’t you
do it for the sake of the starving people of Judea, Samaria and Galilee? Perhaps
Jesus had seen how the authorities of the Roman Empire who were giving away
free bread to people in order to promote Caesar’s kingdom. He was not excited
about this idea. He knew that the spiritual need of persons is as important as
the physical needs. He knew it was not morally right to bribe people with false
promises. Our politicians do this all the time. Raising the minimum wage
promise, the promise of health care for all people, the promise of possibility
of immigration to those from other lands come and work in our farms in inhuman
conditions. How about the promise that no child be left behind? We then quickly
cut down the number of teachers in the schools and the school nurses as well.ONE
DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE LIPS OF
GOD. There is a risk we take in any culture if our emphasis is only on THE
MUNDANE: Technology alone, knowledge alone, stocks alone, military power alone,
wealth alone, inventions alone, prolonging the last quarter of a person’s life
alone, space exploration alone. We need to pay equal attention spirituality as
well.
The second temptation is about politics and
power. All the kingdoms of the world and wealth and powers will be yours, if
only you bow down and worship me. From the top of the mountain Jesus had a
magnificent view of the Roman Empire. He saw countries like Assyria, Babylon, Persia
the beautiful Mediterranean sea, the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece.
Here was a once in a life time offer to
become the most powerful emperor of the world and Jesus turned it down. He said
at a later time” what does it profit a person if he or she gain the whole world
and lose their essence, their value and their character?
And the third one is Jesus is now taken
to the pinnacle of the temple, which is the highest point in the Holy City of
Jerusalem. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. Your God
will command his angels to protect you; they will not let your body to dash
against any rocks. Can you use all your powers to dazzle the crowed? Take the
spotlight. Show the world that you are a man of fame and then you can persuade
people to accept your teachings. Jesus knew his scripture so well and he quoted
again a Deuteronomy passage.” Do not put your God to test”. Jesus was not a
person to fall for cheap publicity stunt. It was his faith in a God of absolute
truth and holiness which moved the mountains, gave sight to the blind made the
lame walk again. IIf Jesus the Son of God had to face temptations how can you
and I be exempt from it? Remember the very last prayer of Jesus to us, Matt26: “Watch
and pray that you will not fall into temptation”. The Spirit is willing but the
body is weak. Temptations in life are inevitable. Life without temptation is
inconceivable. Temptations remind us that there are limits to this universe.
There are boundaries to life. Temptations remind us the devil does not like us.
Martin
Luther said” you cannot prevent a bird flying over your head but you shouldn’t
let it build a nest on your head”. In a few moments you will pray in unison the
Lord’s Prayer. Think a little bit when you pray that line: lead us not, into temptation, but deliver us from the evil ones.
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