January 26th, 2026
No sooner is Jesus baptized than he finds himself in the wilderness. The same Spirit that anointed him at his baptism sends him into the wilderness where for forty days Jesus fasts and contends with the devil. The evil one. Jesus goes from baptism by water to baptism by fire. Fresh from the waters of his baptism where he is identified and affirmed as the Son of God, now he finds himself in a wilderness journey where his very identity is tested.
You could say that what happens between Jesus and the devil is a power struggle. The struggle, however, isn’t each person using power to dominate the other. It is a struggle between two very different modes of power – the power of domination from the evil one and the unique power of love and mercy exemplified by Jesus.
The temptations coming from the devil to Jesus are, in large part, temptations to be dominate, to exercise power over others.
First, the devil tempts Jesus when he is famished to turns stones into bread. Who could resist the offer of bread to one who is famished? This temptation is aimed at Jesus when he is most vulnerable. The essence of this temptation is for Jesus to use his power to meet his own needs and secure his own survival. Jesus says “no” to this temptation by quoting scripture: “One does not live by bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus’ refusal to use power to his own advantage is an act of resistance to the way we use power in order to meet our own needs.
The second temptation is the devil’s suggestion that Jesus jump off the pinnacle of the temple. If you’re really the Son of God, says the devil, God will send angels and they will catch you. Unlike the evil one who quotes scripture out of context to justify his own desires, Jesus uses scripture in service to God, citing this passage: “Do not test God.”
His refusal to give into this gaudy display betrays the real trust that God desires. Yes, God can perform such a miracle, but in his refusal to do so, Jesus is depending upon God alone. Miracles are certainly within God’s wheelhouse but God doesn’t use them to manipulate or appease or get us to believe. The miracles Jesus will perform after his forty day wilderness journey are acts of divine love.
God will not manipulate us into believing in him but woos us into greater relationship with him. Finally, Jesus refuses the devil who wants Jesus to worship him by offering him all the kingdoms of the world. This temptation is perhaps the richest example of what is the common thread is in all these temptations. This one is an overt use power to establish political empire grounded in the powers of domination and violence. It takes little imagination to know that the powers of the world want it all and political leaders continue to divide and conquer in service to their lust for the power of domination and greatness. Just read the paper or listen to the news.
Jesus’ refusal is grounded in his worship of God: “Worship only the Lord your God and serve him alone.” Jesus does not compromise or proceed with a half-baked faith, but exercises undivided loyalty to God.
The temptations from the evil one are a classic example of how we tend to use power for our own ends, our selfish ends. None of us is beyond using God or invoking God’s name to manage our own success or popularity or the aspirations of our community or our nation to get what we want.
Jesus’ steadfast and resounding “no” to all of these attractive offers reveals his complete and passionate dedication to God and the Kingdom of God. For as the drama of the Gospel unfolds beyond the wilderness fast, Jesus in his teachings, actions, exorcisms, miracles, and more exercises the power that is God and it looks nothing like powers of domination. It is the power that refuses to play the devil’s game. Instead of responding in kind, Jesus does not fight of give into the alluring offers, offers not so different than the offer of the cunning serpent in today’s first reading. In his ministry, Jesus will exercise the power of love and mercy by putting people first, responding to the poor and the most vulnerable, and finally give his life away.
What Jesus demonstrates for us is a faith that trusts God’s word and trusts that God’s love can sustain us.
This season of Lent calls us to depend upon this eternal love. Lent calls us to feast on the bread that is Jesus, the bread that sustains.
How does that happen for us? How do we turn to Jesus? What will our fasting or ventures in prayer and works of love prove? Are they to help us create shields against evil? Are they to make us more presentable to God? Are they tests of our will? No. None of these.
The practices of Lent are opportunities to depend less on our willpower or attachments to success or ambition and more on the life-giving power of God. They are opportunities to ask God for help.
At the end of today’s Gospel reading there is a little detail that I’ve often ignored but now I’ve come to appreciate greatly. Matthew tells us that once the devil left Jesus the angels came and waited on him. Jesus said, “Away with you Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”
Jesus received help, angels to help him.
I imagine them dressing his wounds, acquired from his 40 day fiasco, giving him much needed food following his fast, waiting upon him and providing sweet relief. Besides the resistance to the evil one, Jesus depends upon God for real help and the angels of God come to his aid.
In the little devotional and prayer guide I prepared for you this Lenten season, the theme is “I do and I ask God to help and guide me.” This is the response we give at baptism or affirmation of baptism. The help and guide me part is the most important part of that response. It is what we need the most.
Lent is a time to ask for help:
Help to more clearly see God’s vision of healing for a broken world. Help to practice forgiveness in a world hell-bent on revenge. Help to love even our enemies. Help to notice and not bypass the neighbor who needs food or money or a roof over their heads. Help to wed prayer and action. Help to fast from the addictive lure of domination. Help to resist deathly ways of living that are suited up in the deceptive clothes of attraction.
To pray, to fast, and to give alms can be ways to place our trust in God and ask for God’s help. Just as the angels came to the help of Jesus, we too pray in the words of one of the lovely prayers in our hymnal, “Let your holy angels have charge of us that the wicked one have no power over us.”
So we pray for God’s help that God’s power be exercised over us.
I like the words of dismissal at the Ash Wednesday service. They are taken from a passage in Pauls’ Letter to the Romans and they describe a way of life rooted in depending upon God for help. They are clothes of baptism we are called to wear:
Go into the world to serve God with gladness (not fear) be of good courage hold fast to that which is good
render to no one evil for evil
strengthen the fainthearted
support the weak
help the afflicted
honor all people
love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.