Lent made easy (for those starting again)

 ‘… and suddenly angels came and waited on him …..’ (Matt 4:1-11)

 Matthew 4:1-11 (Year A: First Sunday of Lent Sunday 5^th March 2017)

Even self-confessed atheists, agnostics and others can feel the need for some sort of Lent.  If there were no Lent one might have to invent it!  Coming, as it does, in the Spring time in the Northern Hemisphere Lent is a natural time in the rhythm of life to clear out, to cut back, to review, to plant and to sow.  As the days get longer and the winter winds and ice recede (and global warming has been regrettably and immensely helpful in this regard) a sense of longing and possibly even excitement arises.  The summer is coming, holidays beckon for those healthy and wealthy enough and the sun cream is on the ready (for all of three days in Ireland once a year!).

But Lent is more than just a social norm associated with personal discipline, dietary adjustment and positive psychology. For those who follow Jesus it is a time of renewal and preparation. Renewal, that is, because every so often we need to make a special effort to readjust our spiritual compass and turn away – metanoia or conversion – from what is harmful to us and others.  Preparation, that is, for the greatest festival and day of the year – Easter Sunday.

(Some day, perhaps, Christians will agree about a single date for celebrating the Lord’s resurrection?). 

The passage from the dark of winter to the light of spring and onwards to summer is a journey we, each, take in life. However, another winter awaits after the next summer (or does it?).

We only have now.

When Jesus went into the desert he had undergone a very public type of baptism at the hands of his cousin, John.  When Jesus emerged from his trial in the desert  he was ready and equipped to commence his public ministry (a sequence of events confirmed not only by Matthew but by Mark and Luke as well).  Matthew has a strange way of introducing the time in the ‘wilderness’ (4:1):

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil

Mark puts it this way (1:12):

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

We may note that the wilderness experience of Jesus was a time of special testing. Jesus would be tested on what he hungered for, what power was really about and who to trust.   He passed that hard threefold test.  

We may note that the episode of the three temptations recounted by Matthew involves a discourse between Jesus and the Tempter – the Devil.  The discourse is shaped by scripture as Jesus and the Devil compete to quote scripture at each other. ‘The Devil can cite scripture for his purpose’ as William Shakespeare reminded us in The Merchant of Venice. Many a power struggle has erupted in churches where various parties or persons in hierarchy or below have invoked scripture to prove someone else wrong or to justify a particular line of thinking or action.

The key point is that the wilderness experience played a purpose.  Likewise, for us, wilderness experiences, be they daily or periodic or seldom but fierce, are times of grace – at least potentially. They prepare us for what is ahead.  Rather than seeing them as hopeless dead-ends or some sort of punishment for past demeanours (distorted notions of God still abound), we need to recognise – there in the middle of the wilderness – the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

We need to be open for the next chapter.

Perhaps we need to let go of all our plans, hopes, concerns, fears and preoccupations and go with the flow of suffering – there in the middle of the wilderness. (There is no need for dietary, spiritual and penitential blitzkrieg even if one enjoys that sort of thing!).  But, ‘going with the flow’ is not about surfing the waves of self-pity, animosity or fear. It is about not resisting what washes over us while setting our compass on a goal which may be less than visible or clear but, nonetheless, present by a sense of intuition, prompting and hope which never fails even in these trying times.

And so, often, due to custom and upbringing we think of Lent as a time to ‘do something’ by way of penance or by way of positive and kind things towards others. The idea is to re-focus, to re-train, to do, to undertake, to bring some good to others. But, could we also (without neglecting these other things) consider what good comes our way from others?  Matthew closes the story of Jesus’ struggle in the desert by saying ‘and suddenly angels came and waited on him’.  Jesus had, by all accounts, been through an extremely rough time in that place of dryness, darkness, hunger, thirst and temptation. Temptation comes in many forms of delusion, seduction, doubt and the kind of persistent, obsessive and negative questioning that leads to nothing good. 

Angels came and waited on him …..

can we switch to asking a question to ourselves – ‘where in my life, right now, are good angels present?’ ‘Am I missing something or resisting something or someone?’ ‘Have I entertained angels without realising it?’ ‘where do I draw strength and nourishment after a period of drought and harrowing trial?’

Lent should be a time to stop and think. Perhaps I need to ask these questions in those special moments of quiet and pause.

In the original Greek version of this passage the verb for ‘ministering’ is  diakoneó which can translate as to wait at table or to serve. But trials come and they go and they come back again. As Luke reminds his readers (4:13):

When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

But, back to now.  Enjoy Lent. Be open to grace.