Description
Reflection on Luke 4: 1 - Jesus is led into the Wilderness
These reflections are simply my own response to the Luke passage reflecting on Jesus entering the wilderness as a time to prepare for his ministry and to ask whether by adopting retreating and reflecting as a model we can also refocus our own discipleship.
Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
(Luke 4:1 NRSV)
So begins the passage from Luke’s gospel which leads us into the period of Lent, a time in the church calendar which we set aside to reflect upon the ministry and teaching of Jesus, prior to his journey to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his crucifixion and resurrection.
But let’s not rush ahead – for this is the time to reflect upon this wilderness experience of Jesus and to ask whether there is still a role for retreating and reflecting, making time to ‘get away from it all’ and to explore how we may do this in our everyday lives.
1. The decision to follow the Spirit into the Wilderness was a positive choice by Jesus
We must remind ourselves that Jesus does not go from 40 days in the wilderness to Palm Sunday. The retreat into the wilderness comes right at the beginning of his ministry. This is time alone - away from his family, his friends, the men who were to be his disciples, the individuals he healed, the authorities he came into conflict with, and the crowds who couldn’t get enough of his teaching.
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