Deut 26.1-11; Luke 4:1-13
Here is a multiple choice question about Lent! Without thinking about it too much choose one of the following options to the question ‘Lent is a time for...’
• A) Ignoring? Life is too busy anyway!
• B) Making yourself miserable? I suppose I could give up chocolate again?
• C) Drawing closer to God?
No surprise that the correct option is the last one! But most of the time we alternate between the first two, I think through sheer ignorance and habit. We know how to ignore stuff we don’t like, and we are only too familiar with (often doomed) attempts to make ourselves into better people. But drawing near to God? How are we supposed to go about that?
Our Bible readings give us two ways of exploring how we might go about growing closer to God. Deuteronomy talks about tithing, giving of our best, in response to all that God has given us. So this Lent we might consider all the good gifts that God has given us, and offer back to him a portion - giving away some of our money, or of our time, or some other resource. But it is our second reading that I would like to focus on today and ask, how can we follow Jesus into the desert? And here I am unashamedly drawing on John Mark Comer’s book, Practicing the Way, which I really recommend to you!
Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, into a time of solitude and testing, as preparation for his ministry. We only too easily assume that Jesus’ ministry was something quite unique – and obviously his message was unique. But his lifestyle, the way he wandered the countryside with his disciples, followed the familiar and respected pattern of the rabbi.
Jewish education (only for boys, I am afraid) began at the age of five, and involved learning the whole of the first books of the Bible by heart. At the age of around twelve, most children went off to learn their parent’s trade, but the brightest stayed on until around 17 years old to study the whole of what is to us the Old Testament. Then a very few, the most gifted and the most prayerful, apprenticed to a rabbi – becoming disciples. They learned on the job, travelling with their rabbi, eating, sleeping and learning not just his wisdom but his whole way of living. Eventually, if they stayed the course, the rabbi would give them his blessing and send them out in turn to become rabbis with disciples of their own.
We can assume that Jesus attended the synagogue school up until he was 17, and then worked with his father as a carpenter – but learning from his heavenly Father all the time. At his baptism, God commissions him to begin his work as a rabbi – and Jesus prepares for this, not by following another rabbi, but by giving God his whole undivided attention in the wilderness. When he emerges at the end of forty days, he is ready to teach, to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to call his disciples.
This pattern remains unbroken today. Jesus continues to call us to follow him, to become like him and to do as he does. Lent is a wonderful opportunity to focus on that call, and to prepare, like Jesus in the desert, by clearing away the distractions.
Because Jesus does not invite us to become Christians! He is not interested in which box we tick on the census, nor which denomination we identify with. He is not calling us to an institution. He invites us to become his disciples: to walk with him, learn with him, grow with him.
How on earth do we become the disciples of someone who taught in Palestine 2000 years ago? Folk, Jesus’ teaching is as alive and relevant today as it was when he first spoke, and through the power of the Holy Spirit cuts right through our frantic culture to speak to us today! To become Jesus’ disciples now, we need to be prepared to do what his first disciples did: live with him 24/7, listen to him through the words he left us, and do as he did. To ask ourselves – if Jesus was in my situation, my age and gender, with my family background, what would he do? The principle of it is straightforward - the practice is challenging! But just imagine how it would change the world if more of us did take discipleship to Jesus seriously!
So this Lent, can we take one step along that path of discipleship? The important bit is to choose just one thing that we can realistically achieve, rather than imagine the only way to follow Jesus is to sell up and take to the road as an itinerant preacher!
The example that Jesus gives us in his time in the wilderness centres on three things: solitude, fasting, and trust in God’s Word. These are three disciplines that all of us can copy. Can I invite you to reflect on which of these you might develop?
In an endlessly noisy world, bombarded by written, spoken and visual media, where is your moment of silence? It is so easy to fill every moment of every day with broadcasts and music and social media. In the quiet, God can speak to us. In slowed breathing, in deliberate movement, in peaceful contemplation of nature – we can intentionally create space. Maybe this could be your Lenten practice?
Fasting is the discipline we associate with Lent – but fish on Fridays hardly has the impact now that it did when fish was the cheapest form of protein. We all need to consider individually what it would be like to go without in order to make space for God. You could go without a meal, and use that time for prayer. But you don’t have to go quite so large! Maybe you particularly enjoy the relaxation alcohol brings? Or the stimulation of coffee? Or the pick-me-up of a few biscuits? Would it be possible to say no to just a bit of that as an opportunity to yes to God? If this is your Lent discipline, be specific with yourself: swap one cup of tea for a glass of water, once a day. It’s not an attempt to break a habit, but a deliberate surrender to God.
And finally, in the desert, Jesus goes back again and again to the scriptures he learnt as a child. He counters the temptations of the Devil with the Word of God. Where do you hear God’s Word in your day-to-day life? Could this be where you follow Jesus this Lent – by committing to opening your Bible, or joining a Lent group, or listening to Christian music, or using an app for daily prayer? For Jesus, God’s words were always there to draw on in times of need. He wants that for us too.
Can I encourage you to choose just one practice that will strengthen your discipleship, that will make you a better apprentice of Jesus? Whatever you go for, may you be richly blessed!
Revd Emma Phillips