Sunday Worship Service - February 26, 2023

While the tradition of getting ready for Easter has a long history – dating to the earliest days of the Christian church – it is the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness that helped Christians arrive at the number of days for preparation. Jesus’ 40 days of fasting are mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which is one signal of the story’s importance. (The number occurs elsewhere in scripture, so it has symbolic importance as well.) The time in the wilderness was clearly important for Jesus, but what is its importance for us? What should we learn from what Jesus did? I like this quote from Frederick Buechner: “After being baptized, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent 40 days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus.” That’s a good insight. Maybe Lent is less about not giving into temptation and more about getting clarity on who we are as sons and daughters of God.