Rev. Dr. Troy Troftgruben
To Ponder: “The first thing that struck me when I came to live in a house with mentally handicapped people was that their liking or disliking me had absolutely nothing to do with any of the many useful things I had done until then. . . . In a way, it seemed as though I was starting my life all over again. . . . This experience was and, in many ways, is still the most important experience of my new life, because it forced me to rediscover my true identity” (Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus).
Reflection:
Right after his baptism, Jesus enters the wilderness. In fact, the Spirit leads him there—to be tested. We often regard temptation and testing as bad things to “get through,” nothing more. But the Spirit’s leading here suggests otherwise.
Were it up to me, I would have had Jesus’ ministry begin right after his baptism—after the strong word of promise: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” What could launch a ministry better than that?
But the Holy Spirit’s wisdom says otherwise. Before Jesus’ ministry begins—in Matthew, Mark, and Luke—the Spirit sends Jesus first into the wilderness to fast and to be tested by Satan. This test, after all, is not simply something to “get through.” It solidifies who Jesus is and what he is called to be.
In Matthew’s Gospel especially, Jesus’ testing in the wilderness parallels Israel’s wilderness experiences as recounted in the Torah (Pentateuch): forty years/days, multiple tests, a mountaintop revelation, and questions about God’s provision. However, whereas Israel struggles with faithfulness throughout the wilderness testing, Jesus excels. More to the point, Jesus’ faithfulness clarifies not just who Jesus is (the Son of God), but how he will live out that identity. In doing this, it solidifies the identity God declared at Jesus’ baptism in ways that nothing else could. Clarifying these things at this juncture prepares Jesus for public ministry in ways that nothing else could. Without such testing, Jesus’ ministry would never have looked the way it did.
Times of testing are neither punishments nor signs of God’s disfavor. Nor are they pass/fail exams. They help us realize our identity, our purpose, and our support network—even if it feels like we fail. Our trials are seasons for relearning who we are, where we are going, and whose we are.
This Lenten season, let us embrace the struggle, the tests, and the trials we face—not as punishments or mere signs the world is screwed up, but as wilderness spaces where God’s Spirit has led us and is active. As Howard Thurman suggests, “there are qualities that seem to be hidden deep within the very texture of the human spirit that can only be laid bare, that they may grow and be fruitful, by the most terrific flailings of a desperate adversity.” Whatever our testings and trials, whatever their origins or severity, let us find and see the Spirit of God leading us, guiding us, and supporting us to the very end.
Prayer: O God of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our trials, help us know you love us, lead us, and never forsake us by the presence of your Spirit. Amen.
Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 27–28.
Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart (Boston: Beacon Press, 2022), p. 60.
