In June of 1863 Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern
Virginia turned aggressor and punched upwards into Maryland on their way to
what would be the decisive battle of the conflict. Just after crossing the
Potomac, Confederate General William “Extra Billy” Smith, leading the vanguard,
shouted to a group of watching citizens, “My friends, how do you like this way
of coming back into the Union?”
There
is all the difference in the world between a reunion and an invasion.
What
Jesus conducted in his own Wilderness Campaign was an invasion. This was not a
prayer retreat; it was a spiritual attack. Ancient thinking associated the
desert with the devil. When Aaron downloaded all viruses and spiritual malware
of one year’s worth of Israelite sins onto the head of a single goat, he
deleted it into the desert. (Lev 17.7-8, 21-22) The Revised Standard Version even translates the term “scapegoat” as Aza’zel, a name for
Satan. The symbolism speaks clearly: Stamp that sin “Return to Sender” and
address it to the desert! Jesus, then, takes the fight to the enemy’s camp.
Later
Christian tradition would recognize this same idea. When St. Anthony set up
shop in a reptile-ridden ruin in the Egyptian desert, the demons bellowed, “Get
away from what is ours! What do you have to do with the desert?” Every rock of
that blistered desolation glowed with spiritual graffiti that tagged it as the
Devil’s turf. Anthony’s presence and prayer amounted to a police action.
At
the beginning of Lent we do well to remember that this forty days of fasting is
about fighting, not fleeing. Lent launches us into the physical, social, and
spiritual turf we have previously deeded over to the Devil. That territory may
include bad neighborhoods, bad habits, bad attitudes and bad relationships. If
we fast, it’s because we’re on field rations; we dig foxholes, not escape
tunnels.
Lent is not a bad time for a little math, either:
Jesus put in forty days of basic training before he fought a one-day,
three-charge battle. There might be a lesson there as to the proper ratio of
asceticism and action.
Forward!
Doug
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