Full of the Spirit

Luke 4:1

The Temptation of Jesus

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.

Jesus entered the wilderness buoyed up by the affirmation, in baptism, that he was God's beloved son. That was enough to sustain him through trials and fasting.

However we practice baptism, be it in infancy, relying on the grace of God and guardians of the promise or in adulthood, as a public proclamation of faith, we often quickly lose sight of the import of baptism at whatever age - the import of God calling us beloved children, enabling and empowering us to do all things. Blessed to be a blessing.

Baptism is not only our affirmation but our elevation. In Baptism we are called out to serve. No one can refute that calling.

And, however long it might take us to embrace the gift, the blessing and the call, all three elements are present in that simple yet profound act.

It was enough to sustain Jesus for 40 days in the wilderness.

Enough to sustain him through an itinerant ministry.

Enough to sustain him through death and resurrection.

In these days of Lent, in whatever wilderness we may find ourselves, may we recall the affirmation and the ordination we received in baptism and may we respond as beloved children of God, called and equipped to serve and sustained in all things by one whose grace is sufficient.