Sunday 17th February – Lent 1C

LUKE 4:1-13
“He ate nothing at all during those days,
and when they were over,
he was famished.”

It’s a story
probably not true on the outside
but true on the inside:
about a journey of the heart,
into the heart.
Take it literally
and we lose the story’s power.

Our place,
south of the equator,
means that Lent
is not a lengthening of the light
but a lengthening of the dark,
of light fading to darkness:
a journey into our inmost being,
an echo
of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem
and death
of warm air giving way to cold
of waiting for the autumn rains
while the earth cries,
“I thirst!”

It’s a story
not just about Jesus
wrestling with temptation and evil;
it’s also our story,
the struggle in our lives,
taking responsibility
for our words
our actions.

“When the devil had finished every test
he departed from him until
an opportune time.”

(Adapted from a sermon from some years ago, which may have drawn on material from other, long-forgotten, sources.)
        Jeff Shrowder, 2013.
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