Our Brother and the evil one in the wilderness

Luke 4:1-13

It happened after our Brother was filled with the Holy Spirit.  He told us that he needed to go to the wilderness to fast.  He walked out, and as soon as he began his journey, the evil one took a place at his side.  Every step he walked, the old trickster whispered in his ear.  At first, of course, our Brother paid no heed.  He had decided to neither eat nor  drink for forty days!  He spent the same amount of time  in the wilderness that our Grandfather Noah spent on the water, fasting, praying, and waiting for the will of God to be revealed.  It seemed to him that every day the voice of the old tempter became more seductive, more enticing.  Finally the forty days were over.  The end of his journey was at hand--this would be the end of his first steps and the beginning of the longer Journey that would lead to our blessed Brother's death.  He knew exactly what was in store, and he hungered and thirsted.

On that day, our Brother was famished.  Of course, the tempter chose that moment to sidle beside Him and whisper seductively into his ear.  "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." As soon as he said it, our Brother's eyes saw the tempting loaf.  He smelled the yeast and grain, and the aroma was overwhelming.  But at the same time, the Holy Spirit within him brought to mind His Father's words:  Man does not live by bread alone. No sooner was the thought made apparent than the lips caused them to come into being. "It is written…"  Instantly the tantalizing aroma vanished, to be replaced by the stench of death.

Having failed in the first test, the evil one took our Brother up an incline.  He swept out his hand and our Brother saw a myriad of kingdoms--shining and glorious with people and riches too vast to count.  The people seemed to see them and immediately fell to their faces in awe and respect--not for our Brother, but for the evil one.  They surrounded their leader and fawned attention on him.  From their midst he looked at our Brother and said, "See how they adore me? See how they worship me?  See how they lay their tributes at my feet?  Simply worship me, and all this authority, power and glory will be yours!  The people at the evil king's feet looked up at our Brother, and the light of love was in their eyes.  They began to stand as our Brother moved in front of the evil one.  But then they all fell back as he proclaimed, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him'".  Was it only a trick of the light?  All semblance of humanity disappeared and the two were once again surrounded only by rocks and desert sands.

But the evil one was not finished.  Not yet.  Our Brother was taken to the holy city, Jerusalem.  The evil one took him to the temple, a building made to honor our God and Father.  He stood before him, staring at him with a mixture of defiance and malice.  "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"  The sneer in his voice made it apparent that he doubted the holy words.  It was nothing more nor less than a dare.

As he spoke the words, the very air around him was filled with the rush of angels' wings:  black and white and shining in the brilliance of the desert sun.  Starving, thirsty, with fatigue straining his being, our Brother looked at this being, this once-beloved, and he answered him.  "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"  It was not said vindictively, not with malice, and yet the very words caused the fallen angel to remember the time that he himself decided in his vanity to do just that.  The tableau vanished, Jerusalem once again became desert sky, and the prince of darkness skulked off to wait for the more opportune time.

It was finished.  For now.