A sermon delivered on March 9, 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

It has taken three chapters for Luke to build up to today’s debut of Jesus’ ministry. All the birth narratives are behind us, as are Jesus’ baptism and family genealogy. The first three chapters have duly announced the coming Messiah, and now, in Chapter 4, he is launched.

Our text comes from Luke 4:1-13 and is often referred to as “the temptations of Jesus.” Jesus is returning from the relatively lush Jordan River valley, and as he heads up the long dirt road, the Spirit of Baptism compels him to go bushwhacking; in other words, the Spirit has Jesus leave the obvious road and head off into the wilderness. The wilderness in Judea is not like the verdant landscapes of the Adirondacks; think instead of the wastelands of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Imagine the red, rocky Martian landscapes the Curiosity Rover sends back from the Red Planet. We are talking remote, rough, wild, and exposed. This is where the Spirit leads Jesus. Listen to the Word of the Lord from Luke 4:1-13:

Luke 4:1-13

^4.1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” ⁴Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” ⁵Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God,  and serve only him.’” ⁹Then the devil ^c] took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ ¹¹and  ‘On their hands they will bear you up,  so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” ¹²Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.^[1]

The first thing Jesus did before he began his formal ministry was to undergo a test of faith and demonstrate obedience; in a sense, the wilderness was his spiritual proving ground. Our Native American sisters and brothers would call this Jesus’ Vision Quest. In a person’s vision quest, they become totally exposed and vulnerable to themselves, and the deep essence of their character is laid bare^[2]. If he was going to inaugurate a new kingdom, he had to demonstrate to his Heavenly Father that he was up to the task. Jesus was confronted with the same temptations and struggles we face each day, yet for him, the stakes were even higher. Like you and me, Jesus wrestled with the competing voices in his head that presented him with choices to make. The late Catholic priest and author Henri Nouwen spoke about these temptations in his book, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership.² Nouwen believes Jesus was given three tests to determine the depth of his spiritual integrity:

• The temptation to turn stones into loaves of bread was the temptation to be relevant.
• The temptation to forsake God in exchange for ruling the world was the temptation to seek power.
• The temptation to throw himself from the Temple’s pinnacle was the temptation to be spectacular.

Nouwen is absolutely correct in pointing out that people, particularly leaders, must fend off these temptations to be relevant, powerful, and spectacular. As Luke’s story unfolds, we will see Jesus confront earthly leaders who succumbed to these very same temptations to be relevant, powerful, and spectacular — whether Roman officials or religious authorities of his day, from Pilate to Caiaphas – and each failed where Jesus triumphed. It was imperative for Jesus to get this right before beginning his ministry. 

The wilderness has always been a crucial place in the lives of God’s people. Ironically, it’s often in the most desolate, seemingly god-forsaken places that the light of God shines most brightly.

• It was while wandering in the wilderness that Abraham and Sarah were given the promise of a great nation.
• It was in the isolated wilderness that Jacob wrestled with God and saw angels ascending and descending from heaven.
• It was only after the Hebrews left the safety of Egypt and entered the inhospitable desert that they truly learned about God, sin, trust, and obedience. Their wilderness journey shaped their identity as God’s chosen people.

This is why Jesus had to go into the wilderness. God shapes his people in the wilderness! This was a time for Jesus to demonstrate his spiritual competence indicating he was wholly devoted to God’s will.

Friends, this past Wednesday, we began the season of Lent—the forty-day spiritual training ground where we, just like Jesus, enter the wilderness to examine our spiritual fitness and competence. Lent is an invitation to step away from our comforts, to face the elements of uncertainty and temptation, and to become vulnerable before God. But remember: Jesus did not go into the wilderness alone—he was led by the Holy Spirit. The evil one may try to convince us that we are abandoned, but our story reminds us otherwise. The Spirit led Jesus there and did not abandon him. And that same Spirit leads and stays with us, too.

The poet and mystic Thomas Merton once wrote, “The desert becomes a paradise when it is accepted as a desert. The desert can never be anything more than a desert if we are trying to escape. But,” Merton says, “once we fully accept it for what it is, it becomes a paradise.” In other words, even in the midst of our spiritual deserts and wilderness experiences, God’s presence is already there waiting for us.

For those of you who don’t know, I suffer from chemical depression induced by PTSD. I personally know what emotional and spiritual wilderness feels like. But I also know that the wilderness is the best university of the Holy Spirit. There was a time when in the depth of my pain, at the moment I felt most abandoned by God, the Spirit revealed something beautiful. I realized that in my suffering, I could feel the very tears of God—tears that our Heavenly Father cried when Jesus was tried, beaten, and crucified. And in that moment, my emotional and spiritual desert was transformed into a place of sacred encounter, a reminder that God dwells even in the midst of my of my perceived total abandonment.

My dear church, Lent is the time to let the Spirit lead you into the wilderness, where your spiritual roots can be both stressed and strengthened. The wilderness has much to teach us—if we accept it for what it is: a place to walk with God. A place to affirm what Jesus himself affirmed:

• That God will meet our needs.
• That there is no God but the Lord Most Holy.
• That we do not need to test God but instead trust in his presence, even when the path feels dark and uncertain.

Are you willing to step off the routine path this Lent and enter the wilderness to learn, to discover, and to grow closer to God? If so, take heart—you are not going alone! And you do not go unprepared — the power and sustenance of this meal can and will sustain you! Let us come to the Table of the Lord! Amen.

© 2025 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

^[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

² See Steven Charleston’s The Four Vision Quests of Jesus, chapter six, The Wilderness. See https://www.amazon.com/dp/0819231738?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title.

³ Please see availability on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Name-Jesus-Reflections-Christian-Leadership/dp/0824512596/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=In+the+Name+of+Jesus%3A+Reflections+on+Christian+Leadership&qid=1552417411&s=gateway&sr=8-1.

⁴This quote was written in a notebook.  I cannot attest from which of Merton’s works this came from to accurately cite it.