The Spiritual Waiting Room
Scripture: Luke 4: 1 and 13
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the area around the River Jordan and was guided by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.
When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he departed from Him for awhile.
Reflection
This reading from Luke comes as we are a few days into our Lenten journey. It presents a scene of Jesus needing to be by Himself after He has been baptized by His cousin, John the Baptist; and after Luke presents the genealogy of Jesus.
Jesus has been anointed by John for His ministry. He is ready to begin. In that beautiful scene of His baptism, the Father and Holy Spirit come to Jesus to confirm His calling to proclaim the Good News.
In the genealogy, Luke shows us the roots of Jesus. He starts with Joseph and traces the heritage of Jesus all the way back to Adam.
In this context Luke then shows Jesus making an unusual move. He goes into the wilderness for forty days.
We might have thought that Jesus would start His ministry right away. He has just been baptized. Luke has Him at about thirty years of age. He has given us the background of Jesus. He should be ready now!
But Jesus is not ready.
Jesus is open to the Holy Spirit.
We notice in this reading that it is the Holy Spirit who leads Jesus into the wilderness. Right from the beginning, it is not the way of the human Jesus---it is God's way.
The Holy Spirit knows that Jesus will face an onslaught of temptations. Any time when a person tries to do good and share love and express concern for others, there will be obstacles.
There will be people who will say to you, "You are doing that just to draw attention to yourself."
"Who do you think you are?"
"Are you trying to be better than everyone else? Holier than thou?"
It is easy to get discouraged. Jesus needed, and we all need, interior strength to fight against the stumbling blocks that He, and all of us, will face.
Lent is a great opportunity to identify those issues and to realize that we can respond to them with obedience---listening to the voice of God.
We can repent from our lack of trust in God to provide for our needs. We can repent from our desire to exert power over others. We can repent from the times we worshipped other gods of our own making and desires---the gods of materialism and sensuality. Those gods that destroy our humanity and our caring for others.
We resist those many temptations just as Jesus did. We turn to God who will always be there for us to lead us on the right paths just as the Holy Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness.
That wilderness can seem foreboding and forbidding when we first enter.
As Kathy's photo shows, however, there are arrows for us and signs (sacraments) that point us in the right direction.
The flowers await!
1. Why do you think the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness?
2. Can you think of a time in your life when the Holy Spirit led you into the wilderness?
3. What are the temptations that you have faced lately?
4. What are your feelings about the season of Lent?
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