Jesus and the rejection of supremacy
Lent 1A | Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus entered the public stage at his baptism. When John the Baptizer was proclaiming the Good News of repentance at the Jordan River and dunkinging people into the flowing water, proclaiming the transformative power of God to restore them, renew them, transform their lives. And Jesus joined the masses as the one who came to lead them. Among them at the grassroots, experiencing the same transformation. And as he came out of the water, the voice of God proclaimed him beloved.
From there, he was whisked into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to spend forty days in quarantine, separate from people, his home. It was common then, there, to take a retreat like this. Not a bougie retreat with spas and yoga, but time alone in the desert, watching bugs crawl out of the cracks in the earth at night, when the sun’s heat is gone, and life starts to return to the space humans declare is desolate and empty.
Jesus was driven there to observe and wait, to hunger and thirst for righteousness. The sermon that will come after this, beginning with the beatitudes of blessing no doubt grows from here. Like John’s ministry, in the wilderness, wild and dangerous. Here, too, the danger is not so much overblown as misunderstood. And the perceived safety of the cities is, too.
For a limited time, you may find the audio here.
