And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness in order for Him to be tempted by the devil.--St. Matthew 4:1
Why was Jesus led by the Spirit? This is the same Holy Spirit Who had just affirmed Him at His baptism. How is it that the Spirit of God leads Jesus to be tempted by Satan? This seems harsh and extreme. Why did Jesus have to be tempted? All of this was for us. He knew that in order for us to be able to say with confidence that He truly understands, He had to taste the dryness we all face in our desert. Lent is about the desert. The wilderness is a place with wild beast. It is an arid place, where prayer is dry. It is a place of fear and strange silence. God is silent. Satan must have loved those 40 days. He probably took his time and tried to catch Jesus in a weak moment of hunger and weariness. Sound familiar? Isn't this what he does to us? He knows our weakness, he screams it in our ears whenever he thinks it will slow us down. St. Paul said he "runs the race." The devil wants to slow our pace. He wants our souls, and sometimes, when the Spirit leads us into a desert, it seems like God is giving our very souls to the devil. Jesus must have felt this. He must have felt the attachment to his friends and family being stripped away. Do we ever feel this? He was detached from His comfort food and His fish that He liked to cook. And listen to the way He quotes scripture to the devil, He speaks of God the way we do, as if He felt the loneliness of faith. When we are in a desert, God is trying to teach us to find our peace and happiness deep within, where only He abides.
wkm
Why was Jesus led by the Spirit? This is the same Holy Spirit Who had just affirmed Him at His baptism. How is it that the Spirit of God leads Jesus to be tempted by Satan? This seems harsh and extreme. Why did Jesus have to be tempted? All of this was for us. He knew that in order for us to be able to say with confidence that He truly understands, He had to taste the dryness we all face in our desert. Lent is about the desert. The wilderness is a place with wild beast. It is an arid place, where prayer is dry. It is a place of fear and strange silence. God is silent. Satan must have loved those 40 days. He probably took his time and tried to catch Jesus in a weak moment of hunger and weariness. Sound familiar? Isn't this what he does to us? He knows our weakness, he screams it in our ears whenever he thinks it will slow us down. St. Paul said he "runs the race." The devil wants to slow our pace. He wants our souls, and sometimes, when the Spirit leads us into a desert, it seems like God is giving our very souls to the devil. Jesus must have felt this. He must have felt the attachment to his friends and family being stripped away. Do we ever feel this? He was detached from His comfort food and His fish that He liked to cook. And listen to the way He quotes scripture to the devil, He speaks of God the way we do, as if He felt the loneliness of faith. When we are in a desert, God is trying to teach us to find our peace and happiness deep within, where only He abides.
wkm
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