Just a word before we go...First Sunday of Lent...February 18, 2024

Our faith is replete with signs and symbols that represent the reality to which they point. For instance, our readings today refer to the rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant with the people of the earth.  The waters of Baptism point to the awakening of our call to relationship with God.  And Jesus’ being driven into the desert by the Spirit, where he is both tempted and ministered to, can guide us in the process of discernment. 

While Mark’s gospel does not give us a description of the ways in which Jesus was tempted, or exactly how he was ministered to, we can make some assumptions about how Jesus’ time unfolded. Surely, he rested at times, and one can imagine that the resting would have included some dreaming. Dreams play a prominent role as signs in the scriptures, as in Joseph learning to flee with Mary and Jesus into Egypt, or the wise men heading home by a different route. Perhaps Jesus became increasingly aware of God’s dream for humanity during his resting time.  Maybe whatever temptations were placed in his path were no match for cooperating with and fulfilling that dream.  What we do know is that his time in the desert strengthened Jesus for the mission that lay ahead, prompting him to declare, “The kingdom of God is at hand.”

The symbol of the desert has implications for us, especially during Lent.   The example of taking time apart, to rest and reflect, combined with the admonition to pray, fast and give alms, decenters us in what might seem to be a contradictory way.  By taking time to focus on our inner life and personal struggles, by relying on the promptings of the Spirit, we can begin to turn outward toward those needs and struggles of others, and what we might be able to do to alleviate them.  In a spiral motion of moving inward we find our way to be focused outward, recognizing that we are all connected and mutually responsible.

Perhaps this Lent we can emulate Jesus’ time in the desert as a model of discernment, in which we can find our way to more fully embody God’s dream for each one of us.  Perhaps then we can become signs and symbols to one another of the kingdom of God being at hand.