Welcome, once again, to the season of Lent. It comes much too early this year. I know for a fact that some of you have not quite managed to get all of those Christmas things put away just yet. We were just celebrating his birth and beginning to wonder what it means for us to share in his baptism as we venture into the life of a Christian, . . . and, lo and behold, the calendar has tricked us and we must reluctantly begin our Lenten journey once more.

Forty days and forty nights. As I said to the Tuesday Morning Bible Study group this past week, whenever you hear that number "forty" from the Bible you should know to pay careful attention. In the Bible, "forty" is code language for "very important." Remember the story of Noah's Ark? Humankind had fallen into such a state of sin and disrepair that God wiped the slate clean with rain that lasted forty days and forty nights, saving only Noah's family and two each of every living thing to start over again.

Remember Moses, up on the top of Mt. Sinai, seeking God's leading for himself and his people. Up on the mountain for forty days and forty nights waiting for God. And then receiving the Ten Commandments. But again, the people fell away. The prophet Elijah also went up the holy mountain and fasted for forty days and forty nights, and then he heard the still small voice of God speaking to him, calling the people back.

No wonder, then, as Matthew tells us, that Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights before he was ready to face the temptations of the devil.

All these stories were precious to the early church. They knew about all those important "forties." And they knew that forty signified a testing, a battle of allegiances, a purging of sin, and an affirmation of God's blessing. After the Ark, the rainbow. After the wait on Mt. Sinai, the covenant. After the prophet's fast, a word from God. After the Temptation of Jesus, the blessing of courage and the launching of ministry.

And so, the church created a period of time, a season of forty days and forty nights, as a time of prayer and fasting, penance and self-denial, to prepare for the greatest blessing of all, Easter, the Resurrection.

And here we are again, ready or not. Called to enter into a different kind of time. A different pace of life. A heightened awareness of God's claim upon us. We have pared down the furnishings in our sanctuary so that each Sunday when we enter this space, we will immediately be reminded that Lent is a season to put aside distractions and clear away the clutter of our lives and our hearts and focus in. Forty days and forty nights. A time for self-examination and repentance. A season to turn from sin and embrace the fullness of life offered in Christ Jesus. A season of repentance, forgiveness, healing and blessing.

We begin Lent, as we always do, with the story of the Temptation of Jesus. The same Spirit that descended upon him at his baptism now leads him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasts for those forty days and forty nights and then-I love what Matthew tells us-he was famished. During this whole time leading up to Easter we are going to see Jesus as both fully human and fully divine, as we say in our creeds, and today, as the story begins, we clearly see him fully human. He was in the desert, alone and vulnerable. He was famished. And the devil seizes that opportunity to challenge his identity, his authority, and his mission.

If you are the Son of God, the devil repeatedly taunts, and tries to use scripture against Jesus. Trying to hook him in using a lure he knows would appeal to the people and seeming to justify it with the Word of God. If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. The First Temptation is Food.

Now, as something of an aside here, I want to make a pitch for our Lenten speaker this year, Dr. Jonathan Reed. I've been reading his book, Excavating Jesus, and learning so much. Whether you take on the book or not, come to his lectures. I know you'll be fascinated and your understanding of the Bible and Jesus will be greatly enriched.

Reed reminds us that Jesus himself was a peasant, as were his people and the society in which he lived. They didn't have much of anything and they surely didn't have much to eat. Staples of their diet were olives, grapes, and grain. Oil, wine and bread. And not much of that. They were lucky if they got fish occasionally and meat hardly ever.

A messiah who could change stones into bread would have a lot going for him, to say the least. This is credible temptation. Yet Jesus responds quoting Scripture: "It is written: 'Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. ' "

The Second Temptation is Security. The devil knew that the Psalms said that God will safeguard his chosen. So, he challenges Jesus to deliberately throw himself off the cliff so that the angels could do their dramatic rescue maneuver. Not me, says Jesus, the one who later will choose to give his life for the redemption of the world. For as he says to the devil, "The Scripture also says: 'Thou shalt not put one's God to the test. ' "

The Third Temptation is Power. All the power in the world can be yours if only you will say the Pledge of Allegiance to me, wagers Satan. That's easy enough. We're out here alone in the desert. No one need ever know. Just say the word, Jesus, and all the kingdoms of the world can be yours.

You know, to those peasants Jesus wanted to win over, people oppressed and hungry and resentful, power would certainly have looked like a very good thing. Just do it, Jesus, they might have wished. Sell out. No one will know. And we can have it all.

And even we might ask ourselves this morning, as we are reeling from the Enron scandal (and how many more yet to be discovered), about the temptation to compromise and deceive for power. This third temptation could hardly be more pertinent. The hunger for power and wealth can overtake otherwise reasonable people, such that they would put family, friends, colleagues, reputation, integrity at risk.

The devil tempts Jesus with the very things he knew people would want, then and now: food, security, power. It could not have been easy for Jesus, just at the very beginning of his mission, to turn it all aside. He was turning away what might well have been a sure thing for something nebulous and unproven. A new kingdom based on love and forgiveness. A new realm founded on justice and righteousness. A new ethic of hospitality and compassion. A model of self-giving love.

How was Jesus strong enough to make that choice? How could he be that clear? How could he insist that bread comes from God, not from trickery? That God takes no interest in foolish bravado? And that power bought at any price will eventually devour those who seek it? How did Jesus know all that? And how did he stand firm?

The answer is found in the bedrock foundation of the faith of our ancestors: the commandment to worship God and God alone. To love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength. Surely, Jesus had been meditating on that first of the commandments through those long, hard, famished forty days and forty nights. Surely, he repeated those words as he rose in the morning, as he prayed at noonday and as he settled into the sleep of the night: "I am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before me."

Not you, Satan. Not bread. Not security. Not power. The key to Jesus' courage is found in his steadfast commitment to God alone. And in that, dear sisters and brothers, is found the first of our Lenten blessings.

How do we stand firm? How do we resist temptation? How do we know what choices to make? How do we guard against selling out? Only by remaining true to our covenant with God. For God has blessed us through faithfulness. God has blessed us through fidelity. God blesses us with courage.

As we begin our Lenten journey of self-examination and repentance this year, the story of the Temptation of Jesus reminds us of the critical importance of being tethered to God-the one who gives us life, who provides our food, who shelters us in love, who gives us abundant power and riches far greater than what this world can ever offer. Tethered to God, we can recognize the Tempter when he appears. Tethered to God, we can measure the wager and count the cost. Tethered to God, we can hold fast to the promises and stand firm.

In the second century, one of the early desert fathers wrote: "The devil cannot lord it over those who serve God with their whole heart and put their hope in him. The devil can wrestle with them, but cannot overcome them."

May this forty days and forty nights be for us a time of silence and self-examination, a time to turn from all that separates us from the love of God, a time to renew our covenants with God and one another, a time to hear God's voice to us, a time to receive the blessing of a firm foundation and steadfast courage. Amen.