Wilderness as temptation?

     It's not yet Lent, but beginning tomorrow we enter the 40-day journey toward the cross, death, and at the very end, resurrection.  Starting with the mark of ashes on our head, we enter the time in our liturgical seasons that centers on penitence, repentance, and discipline.  Now, these words may all sound scary - and indeed they are churchy - but in the words of Jesus, "fear not."
     Historically Lent has been a somber time in the church year, marked by the celebration of Mardis Gras, or Phat Tuesday, where people have all the fun they can, eat all they want, and purge themselves of the desire for anything good so that for 40 days they can deprive themselves of something, focusing on how much of a sinner they are, how much they don't deserve God's love poured out in Jesus, and how they can better live in the Holy Spirit so their lives are evidence of Christ.
     And maybe this isn't a bad practice.  After all, our reading for Sunday (as is always the first Sunday in Lent) is about Jesus' time in the wilderness.  This year is Luke's version, taken from Luke 4.1-13.  As I have been reading and studying this text, and talking about it with others, we began to see this wilderness story in a different light.  Traditionally I have heard sermons on this text talk about the wilderness as a metaphorical place where we dwell in times of loss, anxiety, sadness, depression, etc., and this is most certainly a great way to read the text.  But this time, we focused on the first two verses where it says:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 

Frankie's 1st birthday cake - yummy!

The rest of the text focuses on the three temptations laid out by the devil - to turn rocks into bread, to worship him and get all the kingdoms of the earth, and to throw himself down from the temple mount.  But the first two verses say so much in so very few words.   Jesus wasn't just wandering around the the wilderness that whole time, gazing at his navel and wondering what was God's plan for his life.  He was in the wilderness being tempted.  For 40 days.  And then after the 40 days of facing temptation come the final three, on which the text focuses.
     What was the devil doing to tempt Jesus that whole time?  I wonder because I face temptation all the time.  Sometimes I am tempted in small things - to take that extra cookie when I know I shouldn't.  To speed down the interstate to get where I'm going a whole 2 minutes earlier.  To cut a corner or take a shortcut when the long way around would be better.  And sometimes I'm tempted in big things - to think I'm always right and act accordingly.  To disrespect and think badly of those closest to me.  To think that I have control in all situations.
     Whether the temptation is big or small, they all have one thing in common: me.  They are all about what I think, what I want, what I need.  Me, me, me.  So this week, and in fact this whole Lenten season, I invite you to ponder the mystery of wilderness - not as a place of our soul in tough times, but as a place of temptation.  This can turn even our most sacred spaces into a wilderness opportunity, one where the devil might just come and whisper in our ear, tempting us, enticing us, swaying us.  Yet God has not abandoned us in our wilderness.  No, just as Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, we too, are filled with God's Spirit.  That Spirit who descended upon us in baptism, who guides us through life, who whispers in our hearts that God loves us, is the same Spirit who gives us strength to withstand the devil and all his temptations. 
     This leaves me pondering, how is the devil tempting you?  How is the Spirit leading and guiding you in life?  How is wilderness a place of temptation?