I have a feeling some of us hear that line and think, "What's the big deal?" Sometimes we think wilderness simply means nature. For some of us, any wooded area becomes wilderness. So going to a state park or other frequented nature area involves visiting the wilderness.
Others of us may have a slightly different vision, though it may still not quite convey what is meant here. While in college, the Boy Scout troop I volunteered with went hiking in the Cohutta Wilderness of the north Georgia mountains. While hiking through this area the only signs of other people were the trail itself and any people we happened to encounter along the way. We packed in what we needed and carried out whatever we took in. This is a bit closer to true wilderness.
However, this is still a much tamer version of wilderness than the gospel writer would have understood. It helps a bit if we think of wilderness as an area unaffected or minimally affected by humans. Wilderness is wild and dangerous, a place where the laws of nature hold more sway than human law. Wilderness areas do not have paved roads, houses, cell phone service, or regular/easy access to food, water, or medical assistance. In the wilderness you may not see another person for days, and it is the woodland creatures you don't see that you have to worry about. In the wilderness you can get lost, you can run out of food or water, and if you get hurt it may be days before anyone realizes you are missing and even longer for them to find you.
Certainly there are still areas of wilderness in our world, but most of us never visit them. Too many of us can't even imagine being without cell coverage, much less being hours if not days away from the nearest road.
But that is much closer to what the gospel writer would have understand as wilderness. Wilderness is where wild things live, where human influence and control fades, where we are no longer in control. And it is into wilderness that Jesus goes for a period of time sufficient to prepare himself for the next stage of his ministry. He had to go into the wilderness to let go of the human need to be constantly in control. He had to go into the wilderness to free his Spirit.
And, yes, he went into the wilderness to be tempted. But as we consider these temptations, it becomes clear that these are human temptations, the very thing that he was getting away from in the wilderness.
Temptations that we have failed to keep at bay.
Tempted by consumption
When the tempter first arrives, he taunts Jesus with the need to eat and consume through an act of control. "Command these stones to become loaves of bread." Jesus chooses to rely on that which God has provided rather than destroying the stones to make bread.This is difficult for me to read as I consider all the ways in which we destroy God's creation for our own consumption. We regularly fracture and destroy stone in order to consume ever more resources. Rather than trusting in the resources already provided, we take more and more. We fracture the earth to draw forth gas and oil. We destroy mountains to get at cheap coal to burn. We dig up the earth to find things we consider precious that will neither nourish us nor keep us warm. We dump toxins into our rivers and streams poisoning the water we need to survive in pursuit of profit, money we cannot eat.
We have lost sight of the world that God created. We have lost sight of that wilderness that is at once beautiful and terrifying. And if I am honest with myself, that is exactly what God is like. God is no more tame than Aslan, for those familiar with that story. And yet God calls us into relationship and provides for our needs. It is not an easy road.
It is the same with the wilderness. We can find what we need but it is not easy.
Tempted by pride
Once the tempter realizes that Jesus will not be swayed by consumption, he appeals to his pride. He places him on the pinnacle of the temple, the very top of what was likely the largest structure in the area at that time in history. "God will protect you in this lofty place. No need to fear. You are important, so prove it." But Jesus rightly denies the need to highlight his own importance. There is no need to test God in order to prove our own worth.Again in an age where we pride ourselves on our ever higher buildings it is difficult for us to understand this response of Jesus. We are God's chosen. That makes us pretty freaking awesome, so why shouldn't we let other people know it? After all we need to show people that we are God's chosen. Surely if Jesus had just stepped off and proved to people that he was God's son it would have made the whole rest of his ministry easier, right?
But again, God has already given us all we need. No, God doesn't want us to come to harm. But God is not some cosmic nanny there to catch us lest we fall. We have already been shown the way to live (again and again and again). We've already been shown that being chosen is not about highlighting ourselves. Rather it is the relationships and the example that we set which serves God and others.
So rather than highlighting his own importance, Jesus again denies the temptation and turns the focus back to God.
Tempted by power and dominance
Deciding he has been thinking too small, the tempter goes all out this time. He knows what humans crave - power. Taking Jesus up a high mountain, the tempter promises Jesus dominion over all he surveys if only he will bow down and serve him. Jesus dismisses him throwing the command to worship only God back in his face.And here again we fail the temptation. We look out from the lofty heights and see only resources to exploit. We see timber to fell to be sold for lumber or pulp; land to be leveled for farms, roads, or buildings; water to be directed into little plastic bottles; dirt containing shiny rocks or liquid that burns,
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All in pursuit of...what?
What happens once we have consumed all the resources?
What good will our pride do us when nothing is left?
Why does it matter to us so much to be on top?
In the wilderness, where nature rules, bloody in tooth and claw, we know that the fittest survive. We like to think we are better than the common beasts. Yet are we?
When will we recognize the lies of the tempter for what they are?
When will we trust in all that God has already offered us?