Mark’s gospel gives us the readers digest version of the temptation in the wilderness.  There is no ‘recorded’ conversation of the devil and Jesus, no ‘bread to stones’, ‘throwing yourself from the top of the temple’ nor ‘prostrating before Satan’ to be found.  In fact there is not much of a prelude to the event before Jesus is in the midst of his struggle.  However, there are eight key words that make it all work in Mark’s gospel.  “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.”  And for Mark, that is all you need to know about that experience.   

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.  What a fascinating line to pray into.  Fresh from hearing that voice that He longed to hear since the day of his birth, - the voice that each of us longs to hear from our birth, if we are honest: “that we are loved by our Father” – the Spirit steps in.  Almost as if to say:  “Jesus, don’t let your identity as the ‘beloved of God’ tempt you in the wrong way.  Don’t let it become “all about you”.  Rather, reflect, pray, fast, purify – do all the things that a harsh physical climate can do for you, in terms of putting everything into perspective. Then you’ll understand what it means to be the beloved son.  Then you’ll know what I want for you on your journey.”  So the Spirit DRIVES Jesus into the harshness of the desert so that he can put what his baptism means into perspective.     

And what do you notice when he comes back from that retreat?  What happened to him in the desert:  “The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the good news.”  Notice, there is not a word in Jesus’ inaugural address about Jesus.  It is all focused on announcing what God is doing, all focused on proclaiming the kingdom and calling everyone to accept what that means in their lives.  The Spirit DRIVES Jesus to that place of testing so that he can understand what being the beloved means.   

And that is true for us as well if we let this lent be for us the time of grace God wishes it to be.  We are to be DRIVEN into our own wildernesses, our own deserts – there to be purified.  In our own deserts, we are to learn what our Baptisms mean – what it means to follow Christ unto to the end.  This morning, in a few minutes, we are going to call forward those who are preparing for Baptism, as well as those preparing for reception into the church and those preparing for confirmation.  We’ll send them to the Cathedral – there to be ‘chosen by the church for the Easter Sacraments’ – there to pray and reflect about what this movement of faith means for them.  Like Jesus, these whom the Father is calling by name, are invited to uncover the mission behind their status as God’s sons and daughters.   

Into what deserts do you need to go to this lent?  Physically, that is hard for us to do in this city with three rivers and sometimes too much water.  But let me suggest three other kinds of deserts: 

There’s the desert of unforgiveness – either with yourself or a neighbor or family member: the mistake that cost us our job, the wrong word spoken at the wrong time, the petty feud that started over something trivial but now has built itself into a deafening silence.  Spend some time in that desert land to seek or to give the forgiveness that is necessary. 

There’s the desert of self-denial.  Some of that is being forced upon us in the changes in our global economy – we realize we can no longer afford everything our heart desires.  But go a further step – that step of sacrificing something that you want and CAN afford – and give that money to a needy family for tuition assistance, or to a homeless shelter or a food line. 

The desert of discipline in our prayer life.  Perhaps the hardest of all – this is the desert that invites us to continue to pray even when it is inconvenient or we think we’ve exhausted all that God wants to teach us.  Make the choice to stay an extra 5 minutes in that time of prayer – asking specifically to be shown what God’s mission is for you. 

The Spirit DROVE Jesus out into the desert.  Might we go with him…