10th February - Lent 1:
The wilderness and Satan

I nearly gave in to it then. Just like anyone else I nearly gave into the temptation.

I’ve always known that I was special. The stories I’ve heard about my birth. That incident when I stopped behind in Jerusalem at the temple. The way my parents – particularly my mother – looked at me, spoke about me. I’ve always known that I was special.

But I didn’t want to admit it to myself, didn’t want to set myself apart as different. I just wanted to be like anyone else growing up in our small town. I just wanted to be a normal young man. But then I had to go and do it. I had to respond to the call. I listened to my cousin John.

I went to him at the river when he was washing people clean of their sin. I went because I knew I had to. John knew it too. He wanted me to wash him clean. But I knew that was not right – it was he who had to plunge me under the water. And he did. And that’s when it happened.

As I came up out of the waters it was like I was hearing a voice God – my father – saying he was pleased in me. Others say they saw a dove descend and alight on me as a sign of his favour. All that I knew was I didn’t mind being different anymore. I had been filled with power and there was nothing that was beyond me. I could do anything I liked.

But I didn’t know what to do. I was scared. I just wanted to get away from it all – the crowds, the responsibility, the pressure. So, like John had done before, I sought out the silence and emptiness of the wilderness. Here I could hear more clearly the voice that was speaking inside my head. Here I could think about the power that filled me.

And that’s when it started. The temptations. The idea of using this new found power for my ends, my selfish ends. If I could do whatever I wanted, I could please myself.

I could use the power to change my material position. My family and friends would never want for anything again. I could produce everything we needed out of thin air. Why, I could even turn the rocks and stones of the desert into loaves of bread if I wanted!

I thought about it I can tell you. I remembered coming up out the waters of the river. It was as if I’d been born again and made into a new creation. It was as if I was a new born baby and seeing everything for the first time. Looking around me, even in the depths of the wilderness where I had chosen to place myself, I could see the beauty of God’s Creation.

I realised that there’s more to life than material things. You have to appreciate that. So I set aside my desire for the purely physical.

But I knew I was special. I knew that Father God had named me beloved Son. I knew that he would take care of me. I was indestructible. I would always be protected.

I stood in a high place and looked down into the depths. Far beyond my feet there were rocks and boulders broken by the heat and wind of the desert. If I was to fall from that height I would be broken, as they were, when I landed there. But I had no need to fear that fate. Even if I threw myself towards that certain death I would survive. I would be bourn up as if on eagle’s wings and exalted for I am the chosen one, the special one, the anointed one.

I nearly did it. I nearly let my arrogance get the better of me. I nearly gave in to that temptation. Then I remembered the voice at the river. The voice that said He was pleased with me. Was this the way to repay a grateful Father by testing His love, abusing my status in His eyes? Even a father’s love for his first born knows a limit and it would be wrong to test that. So I set aside my desire for immortality.

Refreshed and renewed by this latest triumph, I lifted my eyes to look about me once more. From where I was standing I could see for miles. I could see many different lands and I was aware of the people struggling within each of them.

So I thought about assuming power – political power – over all the lands. I could use my gifts to make me the leader of all the nations in the world. I could have all the other leaders bow down before me and worship me. Maybe that was the way to use my power.

Then I remembered the dove that descended on me at the river. I realised what it represented – a greater power given to me by the Father. I realised that if I abused that power by assuming world domination I would become just like all the others who sought total power. The power that I would be wielding would corrupt me – probably totally. No longer would I be doing any good. It wouldn’t be long before I was just as hated as the other leaders were.

My personal ambition would undo all the good I wanted to do. I’d be serving the forces of darkness. And that was not the route I wanted to take. So I put aside my desire for absolute power.

Having put all these temptations behind me I felt better. Now I have come out of the desert – both physically and spiritually. I give thanks to the Father for the strength that he gave me to resist all the temptations I encountered in the wilderness. Now I am ready to begin the work that has always been appointed for me. Only one question remains.

Where do I go from here?

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