Not once or twice but three times Jesus flunked the Devil's tests. He received three great big red "F's" on the trio of Satan's SATs. A "flunking Jesus" is not how we usually describe the outcome of the wilderness tests in Luke's gospel. But viewed from the Devil's perspective, Jesus failed miserably. He was too attentive to God's Word and too indifferent to the Tempter's taunts for evil power. Attentiveness and indifference were the incorrect answers to Satan's suggestions in the desert landscape of Lent. Jesus exemplified a "wilderness wakefulness" and a "desert detachment" worthy of the Messiah who would serve only God.

"In December of 1935, Antoine de Saint Exupery, on a mail flight between Paris and Saigon, crashed in the Libyan Desert west of the Nile. It was in the same vicinity to which the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century had withdrawn to seek the face of God in a landscape of emptiness. Saint Exupery's story of survival, in his now classic Wind, Sand and Stars, evokes the same desert discipline practiced by those who had preceded him there centuries earlier. No one lives for long in the desert without acquiring its crusty virtues of attentiveness and indifference. It was only because of these that Saint Exupery survived.

"Over a period of three days he walked 124 miles without water through desert sands, stumbling at last, half-dead, into a remote Bedouin camp. He has been told that no one could survive more than 19 hours in the desert without water; the eyes then fills with a ghostly light and death soon follows. What saved him were two things. First, he was meticulously observant of his surroundings, noticing an unusual northeast wind, full of moisture, retarding the dehydration of his body and bringing a light dew he could collect on parachute silk. Secondly, he remained stubbornly indifferent to the panic, pain, and despair which preyed on his mind. Learning to be fiercely attentive, he learned also not to care -- to ignore everything that was unnecessary, everything unrelated to the primary task of staying alive." (Cross Currents, pp. 193-194)

Lent is the season where we practice the primary task of "staying alive" in our Christian wilderness journey. The more intentional we become in our spiritual discipline, the more intentional the devil becomes in testing. Jesus is "led by the Spirit" into the wilderness where He is tested by Satan's questions: What kind of Messiah will you be? Our Lenten questions are on the same evil exam! What kind of Christian will you be? Who will you follow? Jesus knew when to pay attention and when to be indifferent.

The first test began with a reference to the words addressed to Jesus after His baptism, "if you are the Son of God..." (NRSV) The Devil drew attention to the real possibility of Jesus using his power to feed Himself and others. After all, the people of Israel had cried for bread and God supplied manna. Even King David took holy bread when he and his troops were hungry. "If you are the son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread" (NRSV).