The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.

This is a really short gospel, and it leaves us wanting more. In the gospel of Matthew he goes into a lot more detail about this scene, explaining the temptations of the evil one and how Jesus overcomes them. Jesus confronts the temptations of lust, pride, and greed, and He show us how to overcome them by following the lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Fasting from food overcomes the temptation of lust of the flesh; Prayer to god, overcomes the pride of power, the pride of thinking of yourself as god; and almsgiving overcomes greed (the lust of the eyes), the need to take from others, instead of giving away to them.

But todays reading glosses over all of that completely. Why? I believe, because it is to give us time to contemplate why he allowed himself to be tempted by the devil, and why Jesus went into the desert in the first place. Jesus was not just the divine son of God, he was also completely and totally Human. 100% God, and 100% man. This is critical to understand if you want to truly contemplate the temptations put before Him and why He was there in the first place. He was tempted not only as a man, but also as the divine son of God.

So Jesus’ journey into the Desert has to serve the purposes of both of His natures, and His triumph over the devil needs to speak to us, both about who God in Heaven is, and who Jesus is as Man. The short answer is that Jesus the divine son of God wanted to repair the damage, to right the wrong, done by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, by overcoming the same temptations as a fully human person.

The stories overlap perfectly. They (Jesus and Adam) were both were tempted by satan. They were both confronted with the same temptations. They both found themselves among the wild beasts in the wilderness, and they were both accompanied by angels. But Jesus is obviously superior to Adam, He is the new Adam. Jesus did not fall to temptation, but confronted those temptations perfectly obedient to God in Heaven. Where Adam fell from Eden into the world of sin, Jesus completely reverses it all by being born into a god-forsaken world, setting right the past wrongs, and ultimately restoring eden, and through his death on the cross, saves us, and gives us the oportunity to go back to eden and walk with Him in the Garden and be with Him for all eternity.

In many ways this moment marks the beginning of His ministry. The beginning of the end of His life. After battling with the devil and triumphing, He then sets to the task of teaching us what He did for us, and how that is going to culminate in His passion, and then finally what it all means when He is ressurected. That is the point of everything He does and says after this moment, and that is why he proclaims “the kingdom of god is at hand.” Because it is! Before that moment there was no hope for any of us! Sin and death were the only thing that we could expect, but after this moment, and after His triumph on the cross, the gates of heaven were opened, and our hope for eternity in Eden with God, was restored.

Incredible! That the all powerful, creator of the universe would love us, any of us (but actually all of us), that much, that He would literally rewrite history to save us… is truely Awesome. And all you have to do is follow His lead. Reject the temptations of Lust, Power, and Greed, and embrace the life of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, To reject this world and seek the divine life, the Kingdom of Heaven. If you do this, then you too can hope for eternity with God in Heaven. It is a simple equation, but extremely hard to do. So when you fall short, seek God’s forgiveness, and start again. Simple but hard…! Your eternity depends on it, what will you do?

Oh lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil. i do not deserve your love and devotion, but I am so grateful for it. You are a good God, and I love you, Amen.