Preparing for Ministry

If we did not know the story so well and had just read how Jesus was embarking on his ministry at the age of about 30, what would we expect next? (Think about how our politicians go about their business when they have just been elected.) Jesus would go to Jerusalem, right? And start teaching and healing. Instead, he withdraws to the desert, alone, for 40 days. What is going on here?

Jesus was not preparing, as most of us would, his own agenda, his own priorities. It was the Spirit who led him into the wilderness and the Spirit who led him to Galilee afterwards. Alone of all humankind, he was totally committed to God’s will. That set him in direct conflict with the devil. The temptations were real and menacing. He had just heard the Father affirm his identity as the Son of God. The devil immediately tempted him to distort his mission.

The wilderness was a place of loneliness and danger, a place of insecurity and doubt. It was a place without inhabitants, with no creature comforts. There was danger from wild animals. Not exactly the place from which you would expect the Messiah to launch his life’s work. Jesus was fasting–perhaps existing on what little there was to eat in that environment–and was physically weak. This recalls, and relives, the wanderings of the children of Israel before they entered the Promised Land. For them, too, it was a time of testing. Whereas they failed, Jesus prevailed. This marks the inauguration of the kingdom of God. I suspect that Jesus was indeed meditating on the story of the Israelites, since he meets the temptations with quotations found close together in the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 8:3; 6:13,16). His mission will be to reverse the sorry story of Israel so far and bring in a new creation.

Take some time to think about what lies ahead for you, what temptations there may be, and pray proactively.