Posts Tagged "spirit"

Desert Trials – Part 1 of 3

Posted on 22 Feb 2010 | 0 comments

This post will be the first in a series of three. My original single post wound up far too long, so I figured wisdom dictated breaking it up. All three posts are grounded in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4, verses 1 to 24.
There are two portions to this text – the testing in the desert, and Jesus’ return to his hometown.

You can Read Luke 4:1-24 here

Jesus and His Trials in the Desert
There are three tests here:

1. the temptation to turn a stone into bread (here in Part One)
2. the splendour and authority of the world (read more in Part Two)
3. a wild leap of faith (read more in Part Three)

Henri Nouwen, in his In the Name of Jesus, deals with these three trials.  If you haven’t read it, I strongly recommend it.  I’ll be working somewhat from his work, and also moving forward from my own reflections.
Test 1: A Stone into Bread
Jesus has been fasting for 40 days (which in the Bible normally translates as an inexplicably long time).  And wouldn’t you know it, he’s hungry.  We’re in the beginning of Lent, in which we can give up things or take up new disciplines in order to come closer to understanding God’s purpose and presence in our lives, as well as the things that Jesus gives or takes up in his journey to the cross at Easter.  Lent can be a special time.  But have you ever noticed that the more that you cannot have something, the more that you want it?  For example, I don’t eat pork or shellfish.  In general, I have a cheeseburger about once a month or so – if not less frequently.  But one year I went kosher for Lent.  I hoped that I would learn more about a Godly perspective on food – which I did. But I’ll tell you, I also craved bacon and cheeseburgers and just about everything that I couldn’t eat while being kosher.  It didn’t matter that I didn’t eat them regularly, it just mattered that I wasn’t supposed to eat them.
And Jesus was hungry.