Turning to face Jesus

From the beginning Jesus was already at the end. We are reminded that as soon as he was baptised in the Jordan, Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirt into the wilderness, to be tempted by Satan to turn away from his own kingdom he had come to bring to us. Already, at this launching point of his mission, Jesus is taken to the cross—or, better, he is taken to those things for which he would go to the cross.

The temptations that Christ experienced in the wilderness were not presented to him as personal gains: personal power, personal satisfaction, personal allegiance. While each of these temptations were offered to him by Satan to benefit him in the living of his own humanity, they were temptations for him to abandon bringing about our salvation.

By the strength of God’s Word—for Scripture says—Jesus rejected the enticements of Satan at the beginning, yet knowing Satan would return with them at the appointed time, that is, at the end. From the beginning, Jesus faced into his end. From the beginning, he chose life for us, a promise he fulfilled at the end in his death on the cross.

At this seasonal beginning of Lent, we get to accompany Jesus into the wilderness. Our chief temptation might readily be to see in Satan’s allurements a personal gain—power, satisfaction, allegiance. But we may also see that we can be like Christ—free to reject the ‘fake news’ of Satan, and turn to follow the Good News of Jesus.

The heart of Jesus, coming as it did out of God’s heart, always remained steadfast, from beginning to end. Our hearts, on the other hand, tend to be fickle. We desire to be faithful in faith, hope and love, but we know this is a struggle. This is why the call to repentance has to be a key feature of our lives. The conversion of heart we need to take on each day, not just forty days, is to take on a heart like Christ’s. He is calling us to constantly turn around, and to face into his face.

This is transformational: to turn and see Christ, face to face. It allows him to see our struggles and weaknesses, our anxieties and poverties, and it allows him also to see our joys and delights, our hopes and loves. And in seeing these, Jesus shows us his unstinting love and faithfulness, his protection and rescue. To turn to face Jesus is to turn to our healing. So to walk into the wilderness with him is to accompany him on the journey to our healing, and it is to trust that the Holy Spirit wants us there, at least for a time.

At the beginning of Lent, may we look to the horizon that Christ desires for us—to see ahead to his death and resurrection. And may we follow him, through the wild lands of our lives, to the place where he renews us, and rescues our lives.