finding jesus in the wilderness

First Sunday in Lent ● February 18, 2024

Pastor Alexis Lillie © 2024

You can view the full worship video recording at:

https://youtu.be/W5jymunMcao?si=qLI32CYD_ZbeSf-N

Scripture Readings: 

Matthew 4:1-11 (The Inclusive Bible)

The reading text is provided at the end of this sermon.

This is the first Sunday of Lent, we’re entering into a period of 40 days of contemplation and introspection that the church has observed as a collective for centuries. There are many references to time periods of 40 in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures: The flood epic lasts for 40 days; the Israelite people wandered for 40 years in the wilderness; and the period of 40 days we recollect during Lent, where Jesus spent that time in the desert in preparation before his ministry. The early Christ communities felt it was important to set aside this time period of preparation before Easter. This practice seems to have started around 300 AD. It’s an invitation to different rhythms of life, a dedicated opportunity to pause.

 Which is interesting, because this pause happens in a relatively inhospitable place! Who want to pause in an inhospitable environment? As I was reflecting on this question (I, for one, would much rather pause at a beach resort or a spa retreat!!), I noticed something I hadn't before: Jesus is tempted after his 40 days in the wilderness. So maybe he spent even more time there than the 40 days we traditionally think of?

 In any case, temptation comes on the heels of a deepened spiritual practice. When we think about Lent, I think we often ponder things like, "how hard it would be to resist food after fasting for 40 days!" Yes, and ... Jesus has been fortifying himself with time alone with creation, the divine, the cosmos, himself. Perhaps this is what enables him to stay in the desert when he faces temptation, to not take the "easy" outs that are offered to him.

 This staying piece is what I really want us to unpack this morning. It would also have been "easy" (on the surface) to just give up, to throw himself down as he's invited to do and get out of the current situation. Of course, we can imagine, from what we know from how stories unfold, that taking that option would in fact not have been a simple solution! But it's presented as an opportunity to exit the work and solve the problem another way.

 And yet, Jesus says no to all these fixes and possible distractions. As we consider what it looks like to stay. to walk through a difficult situation, I think we can actually relate to this. Sure, it can feel so lofty and aspirational, but I'm going to guess that many of us know what it's like to consciously choose something difficult because we know that anything else is not a true solution

 What Jesus does in this choosing to stay in the wilderness, may sound fantastical, but boiled down to its essence it's not that hard to understand. Yes, it may be hard to do in practice, but we can understand the need to do it! We know deep down that there are no quick fixes, rarely easy solutions. This practice of life presents us with wildernesses, and we must work through them.

 Jesus refusal of so-called easy outs, and his commitment to working through these wilderness moments highlight three things I want to lift up.

 First: Wilderness is a place of possibility. Perhaps the most pronounced place we see this is in the journey to get to the "promised land.” This references the story of Israelite community as they are stuck wandering for 40 years, struggling to get out of the desert. And it can also reference a proverbial promised land. I think of the Civil Rights era, and MLK saying -- I have been to the mountain top, but first we have to get through the wilderness. Our vision for what is on the other side of wilderness may not be as precise as his, we may not have perfect clarity around what we're aiming for and why we’re not taking the easy way out. But I think anytime we face difficulty, we hold in our mind's eye the hope for a new way. What that looks like in our lives and communities, feels like in our bodies.

 This hope helps the wilderness time itself become generative -- not just because we're holding out for what is on the other side. Not as a fantasy or escapism, but because we are holding on to this vision in the midst of our desert wanderings. 

 I'm not sure if Jesus knew what truly was ahead of him in his life after he came out of the desert, but from the ways he responds to temptation, we can sense that his wilderness experience has enabled him to hold a vision for what he believes is possible.

 So wilderness is a place of imagining what is possible -- both for what is to come on the other side, and that sustains us in the work of the journey.

 Second: Jesus' time in the desert invites us to imagine wilderness as alternative refuge. There are many ways that we get to wilderness. Some are of our own making. Sometimes we find ourselves pushed there little by little. Sometimes it seems we blink and -- there we are. Jesus seems in this passage to choose to go there.

 However we get to it, there is refuge to be found there. It may not be a spa retreat, or a beach, or what we traditionally think of as life-giving. But that doesn't mean life isn't there. Jesus retreats to deepen his spiritual practice there, and so he meets us in the wilderness however we've ended up there.

 The African American tradition took this idea profoundly to heart. there's a spiritual that talks about this, about the wilderness being this place of refuge. It says: if you want to find Jesus, go to the wilderness. Interestingly, part of the spiritual is a Methodist hymn that originally stated: ain't I glad I got out of the wilderness. This community is lifting up an alternate reading of wilderness as a place where we meet Jesus because Jesus chooses to stay

 This leads me to the third thing I think we can further reflect on, and to advance from what is offered in the Biblical text. That is: Wilderness can be a communal experience. Jesus' example offers one way to enter into the wilderness: he goes into the desert alone, for a time of deepened spiritual connection and practice. And there are certainly instances when we need that alone time. There is power in being comfortable being with yourself, just as you are.

 And, in many ways, staying in the wilderness -- growing there, resisting the "quick" fixes -- necessitates community. I need the perspective of others to help me envision wilderness as possibility. I need friends and loved ones in the wilderness with me, for me to see imagine it as a place of refuge. '

In the last line, we hear that at the end of this period in the desert, "angels" came to wait on Jesus. Even though he journeys into the desert alone, he discovers he is actually accompanied by these angels. In order to be sustained in the wilderness, Jesus needs divine community.

 As I've prepared for this sermon, some of you have told me stories about angels that have accompanied you - those sent by God to sustain us in a time of deep need, in a time of wilderness. They enable us to see the possibility and refuge, even in the midst of our most dire circumstances.

 I hope that by reframing our experience of wilderness through this Lenten text, we're able to see our experiences in the desert as ripe with possibility, and perhaps, even as a place of solace and refuge. Whether we choose the wilderness or find ourselves there; whether we are there 40 days or 40 years; it does not have to be a place of barren solitude. Jesus meets us there -- and angels walk with us.

Matthew 4:1-11 (The Inclusive Bible)

Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, 

to be tempted by the Devil. 

After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. 

Then the Tempter approached and said,

“If you are the Only Begotten, 

command these stones to turn into bread.”

Jesus replied,

“Scripture has it, ‘We live not on bread alone

but on every utterance that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Next the Devil took Jesus to the Holy City, 

set Jesus on the parapet of the Temple and said,

“If you are the Only Begotten, throw yourself down. 

Scripture has it, ‘God will tell the angels to take care of you; 

with their hands they will support you

that you may never stumble on a stone.’ ”

 Jesus answered, 

“Scripture also says, ‘Do not put God to the test.’ ”

The Slanderer then took Jesus up a very high mountain 

and displayed all the dominions of the world in their magnificence, promising,  “All these I will give you if you fall down and worship me.”

At this, Jesus said to the Devil, 

“Away with you, Satan!  Scripture says, 

‘You will worship the Most High God; God alone will you adore.’ ”

At that the Accuser left, and angels came and attended Jesus.

The Word of Life and Salvation

Thanks be to God.