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March 1, 2020Lent is an invitation to overturn Adam’s “no” by participating in Jesus’ “yes.” The Holy Spirit invites us into the desert, that Adam-in-us might give way to Christ-in-us. Like Adam and like Jesus, we too must respond to the tempter's offer to rely on self instead of God. Like Adam, we suffer from a painful inability to look beyond ourselves long enough to see God accompanying, nurturing, and sustaining us in the garden.
By following the Holy Spirit into the desert, our inability gives way to God's strength. By letting go of our fear and trustingly embracing the Holy Spirit who calls us into the desert, we become graced with the power to claim our share in Jesus’ radical “yes” to the Reign of God. This “yes” grows in us and frees us as we learn to renounce the temptations of a consumer culture that promises us all the kingdoms, prestige, and false nourishment the world has to offer.
What might we become, if only we were to trust God enough to renounce such temptations and let the Holy Spirit empower us to claim our share of Jesus’ “yes”? What might the world around us eventually look like after a lifetime of such radical surrender? Would we recognize the world, or even ourselves, or would we instead see Christ-in-us, the hope of glory, fulfilling Jesus' promise of God’s Kingdom-to-come?
