Saint Mark’s account of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness are not as detailed or as dramatic as the accounts given to us by Matthew and Luke.  We are not told what diabolical things Satan did to tempt Jesus into desiring to be like God; . . . to tempt Jesus into usurping the authority of God the Father over God the Son.  . . . Instead, Mark simply tells us that when Jesus was baptized by John the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus . . . and “immediately drove Him out into the wilderness,” Mark says; . . . immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.  . . . What a curious thing to do, don’t you think?  . . . Here is Jesus, baptized by John and endowed with the Holy Spirit Who evokes a voice from Heaven which proudly proclaims Jesus to be the Son of the Most High God … and that the Lord God Almighty is immensely pleased with Jesus.  . . . But, then, instead of throwing a party or giving Jesus a cake or doing any of a dozen things a proud Almighty Father might do, . . . the Lord God Almighty directs the Holy Spirit to drive Jesus; . . . to compel Jesus with a spiritual whip; . . . to drive Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

    Why do you suppose God does that?  . . . Why do you suppose God treats His Son so harshly; . . . sternly requiring Jesus to put Himself in harm’s way?  . . . I am asked that sort of thing all the time:  . . . “If God knows everything, why did He create the tree with the fruit we weren’t supposed to eat but He knew we would eat anyway?  . . . If God knew we would sin and didn’t want us to, . . . then why did He create the temptation in the first place?  . . . If the Lord God Almighty was so darn pleased with His Son, . . . then why did He tell Him to go to the Devil?

    Well, . . . I got an e-mail from Cap Schneider the other day which contained a story which goes a long way toward answering those questions.  . . . You see, there was this boy named Johnny who was visiting his grandparents on their farm with his sister Sally.  For his amusement, Johnny was given a slingshot to play with in the woods.  But try as he might, Johnny couldn’t hit a thing he was aiming at.  Frustrated, the boy headed back to the house, and, as he entered the yard, he came upon his Grandma’s pet duck.  On impulse, Johnny picked up a stone, fit it into his slingshot, and let it fly at the duck, who . . . to his surprise and grief, he hit square in the head . . . so that it died.  In a panic Johnny hid the dead duck in the woodpile; . . . only to see his sister watching.  But Sally said nothing.  . . . After lunch the next day Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.”  But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.”  Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck.”  So Johnny did the dishes.  . . . Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, but Grandma said, “I’m sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.”  . . . Sally smiled and said, “Well, in fact, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.”  And she whispered again, “Remember the duck.”  . . . So Sally went fishing while Johnny stayed behind.  . . . After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, he finally went to Grandma and confessed that he had killed her duck.  . . . Grandma gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know.  You see, I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you.  I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

    Satan tempts us because he wants our sin to enable him to make slaves of us.  . . . And the Lord God Almighty allows it because He cannot compel us to not sin!  The Lord God Almighty allows Satan to tempt us so that we might discover and truly understand and remember the terrible tyranny of slavery to wickedness; . . . the terrible tyranny of sin . . . which leaches the happiness right out of human life.  The Lord God Almighty allows Satan to tempt us so that we might discover and truly understand and remember . . . that human freedom is attained and preserved through our apprehension of God’s love and His willingness to forgive; . . . our apprehension of God’s love and forgiveness articulated in His Commandments; . . . our apprehension of God’s love and forgiveness manifested in the simplicity, chastity, and obedience of God’s Incarnate Son; . . . our apprehension of God’s love and forgiveness to be found in family and community and the natural order.
  
    And so, because the Lord God Almighty loves and cherishes each one of you, . . . He drove the Son into the wilderness to be tempted for our sake.  . . . The Lord God Almighty drove the Son into the wilderness to be tempted . . . so that we might know that God sees our temptations and understands why we think we must sin.  . . . The Lord God Almighty drove the Son into the wilderness to be tempted . . . so that in not sinning, the Son, by His Death on Calvary, might be an expiation for our sin; . . . so that through the waters of Baptism we might die to sin and be born again into the new Life of the Risen Son and become impervious to the memory of sin . . . imperious to guilt over Grandma’s duck . . . so that no one might make a slave of us.  . . . The Lord God Almighty drove the Son into the wilderness to be tempted . . . so that we might allow the Holy Spirit, received at our own Baptism; . . . so that we might allow the Holy Spirit to bring us to Jesus where God’s angels await us; . . . where God’s angels wait to minister to us.

    This holy season of Lent which we began on Wednesday . . . is intended to remind us of all this.  This holy season of Lent is your opportunity to face into your sin and confess it to God; . . . to confess it to Grandma Who loves us.  This holy season of Lent is an opportunity to attain to your absolute freedom by apprehending and owning God’s acceptance and love.  . . . This holy season of Lent is an opportunity not to be alone with the whispered accusations of your sister (the whispered accusations of your conscience), . . . but, instead, this holy season of Lent is an opportunity to be surrounded and protected by a sacred community, . . . a sacred family.  This holy season of Lent is an opportunity to be ministered to by God’s angels . . . all the rest of the days of your sacred life.