When we set aside 40 days for self-reflection, we are in good company. Jesus did that. The scripture traditionally used for the first Sunday of Lent describes the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness.
Biblical literalists would have us believe that Jesus encountered a physical Satan, was taken up to the pinnacle of a temple and told to jump off to prove his power, and was then taken to a high mountain so he could see the whole world being offered to him if he submitted to Satan’s wishes.
Of course, none of these things happened in that way. Jesus was alone. The wilderness was a vast, desolate expanse between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. There were no temples, no high mountains where he could view all the kingdoms of the world. This is a story Jesus told his followers about his personal spiritual crisis in the midst of his solitude. How else would they know about this private experience and later write about it? Jesus used vivid images to convey the intensity of his inner battle, images that had significance to the disciples.
The temptations were real and not unlike the kinds of temptations we face during our own developmental crises in faith. More about that in the next posts.
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