OUR WILDERNESS JOURNEY

NUESTRO VIAJE AL DESIERTO

Nancy Willet                                                                    February 13, 2005

Matthew 4:1-11                            Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas, TX

Last month, I preached a lesson about the Baptism of Jesus, and we experienced our own reaffirmations of our baptismal covenant. We learned that God had so much love for his Son that he ripped open the heavens and declared, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Jesus heard this voice the moment he was baptized, the moment he identified with us, with humanity. This means that God is also calling us  beloved; God is also pleased with us. This was the moment in our faith history that Jesus began his ministry on earth. In Jesus, we and all our ancestors were given a perfect model in which to live our lives. In our text for today, sometimes referred to as the "temptations of Jesus," Jesus gives us our first lessons on how to live.

Después del bautismo de Jesús, el fue llevado por el Espíritu al desierto. Después de no comiendo por cuarenta dias, Jesús fue tentado por el Diablo tres veces. Jesús tenía un gran hambre—y el Diablo le animó a Jesús a convertir los piedras en pan. Es cierto que Jesús tuviera hambre, y claro, no hay nada mal con comer. Es una necesidad. Pero, quizás, la tentación no fuera acerca de comer. La tentación no fue acerca de hambre. Quizás todas las tentaciones no fueron acerca de las cosas obvias, como hambre, o tentar al Dios, o poder.   

Isn't it interesting that the first act of ministry Jesus performed was one of a personal nature? The Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness where he fasted for forty days. Sometimes acts of ministry are actually things we do for ourselves. Usually it is necessary for us to get our own hearts right with God before we can minister to others. It was after the forty days of fasting and contemplation in the wilderness that Satan appeared and began testing Jesus.

Quizás Jesús fuera llevado al desierto para reflexionar—para pensar lo que era el significado de su bautismo y que era el significado cuando Dios le proclamó al mundo "Este es mi Hijo amado, en quien tengo complacencia." El desierto, en la Biblia, tiene significado teológico. Es un lugar en que la persona alla puede enfrentarse con sus debilidades, y luchas a obedecer con la voluntad de Dios.  Para Jesús, era un tiempo para preguntar, para entender en todo que era el significado en ser el Mesías. Antes de que Jesús pueda ser el Mesías verdadero, tenía que decider lo que el no sería. Tenía que enfrentar con las mentiras y las tentaciones de Satanás y renunciarlos.

 Into the wilderness Jesus went. The wilderness or the desert, as it is sometimes translated holds significant theological meaning here, as it does throughout many biblical texts. The wilderness is a place where a person goes to confront his or her weaknesses and struggles to comply with God's will. It is a barren, lonely place where there are no outside influences, no other human beings, no telephones, no TVs or computers, not even any food—just you and your Creator. For Jesus, the desert was a place to reflect, to question, and to understand the significance of God's statement at his baptism: "This is my Son, my beloved with whom I am well pleased." Jesus was about to begin his ministry, but before he could be the true Messiah, Jesus had to decide what he would not be.

Como comencemos la época de Cuaresma este Domingo, comencemos nuestros cuarenta dias en el desierto. En el ciclo de la vida cristiana, La Cuaresma es el período cuando podemos, como Jesús,  preguntarse, pensar, y  reflexionarse en todos los aspectos de nuestra vida. ¿Estamos dispuestos a renunciar las mentiras and las tentaciones del Satanás? ¿Estamos dispuestos a estar fieles y obediente a Dios?

Jesus, to be God's Son, and for us to be called God's children, means that we are required to trust God and to have an authentic relationship with God that does not ask for miraculous exceptions to the limitations of an authentic human life, like turning stones into bread for food or throwing ourselves off tall buildings and expecting angels to save us. I don't believe this passage in Matthew was as much about Satan tempting Jesus to perform miracles, as it was about Jesus' willingness to trust God. If you'll look at each of these miracles Satan was asking Jesus to perform, they were not evil things—they were for Jesus' benefit. Satan was offering food for the hungry, safety from a fall, and kingship over all the nations. And what do all these temptations have to do with the complicated temptations we experience today in our lives? These are all temptations to treat God as less than God. They are temptations to mistrust.

En el viaje de vida, entramos en el desierto muchas veces—no solo durante La Cuaresma. Dios nos lleva en esas experiencias del desierto no solo para preguntarnos y reflexionarnos, sino también para darnos fuerza y resistencia espirituál en nuestras almas. El desierto es un lugar donde nuestras almas están fortelecidas y perfeccionadas. Nuestros viajes en el desierto no son viajes normales que pensamos. El viaje no sigue la carretera de una casita pequeña a una mansión grande, de enfermedad a salud. No sigue el camino de tristeza o miseria a felicidad or riqueza. Este viaje en el desierto es el viaje de nuestra vida cristiana—nuestro viaje de fe de bautismo hasta la muerte. Este es el viaje que es importante.

During these forty days of Lent, we are called to trust God. We are called to take a journey. Our journey into the wilderness, like Jesus' are times of testing, times in which God prepares us for certain tasks. The journey I am speaking of is not the usual life journey we think of: it does not follow the route of a lower paying job to a high paying position. It is not a journey from illness to health, or from misery to happiness. The journey I am speaking about is the journey of our Christian faith from baptism to death.  Just as Jesus' ministry on earth was from his baptism to his death, we are also called to make a journey—our faith journey in which we discover our true identity—as God's children.

Estamos llamado para descubrir nuestra identidad verdadera. Nuestra identidad como niños de Dios. Para muchos de nosotros, este viaje puede ser marcado con veces de temor, de lo desconocido, o veces de incertidumbres. Sin embargo, nuestro viaje siempre será moderado por gracia. Tenemos la promesa que nosostros, con toda la Iglesia cristiana, hacemos este viaje en juntos, y que seguimos El Uno—Jesucristo-- quien ya está terminado el viaje.

 ¡Gloria a Dios por Jesucristo. Ten un viaje bendito este época de Cuaresma. Amen.

 For many of us, this journey can be marked by fearful times of testing, unknowing, or uncertainty. However, we may be assured that our journey will always be tempered by grace. We may be assured that we along with the whole Christian church on earth are taking this journey together, and following the one who has already traveled the path for us, has already made this journey.

To God be the glory through Jesus Christ our Lord, and may each of you have a blessed Lenten journey this year.
Amen.