When Jesus was led into the wilderness, He was isolated (a type of quarantine?).
He was weak and He was alone.
There were no disciples to hear His teachings, no children to hold on the knee, and no lepers to heal.
There was no one to see, no one to touch, no one to love.
There was simply no one.
Except Satan.
The God-man had been drawn into the wilderness to be met by only one: the serpent.
Of the three temptations that took place in the wilderness, I wonder which one was the hardest for Jesus?
Would the 40-day lack of food make the God-Man crumble?
Would the slithering words of deception succeed in convincing Jesus to do things another way--to call down the angels the Psalmist had cried out to in order to save Him from the fall?
Perhaps, just maybe the easy way out words Satan would win Him over with were the ones inviting Jesus to get all He wanted in one moment--all the kingdoms of the world--without the mocking, the spitting, the accusations, the nails, and the cross.
In my flesh, I honestly don't think I would have thought of anything else but the physical pain of what I knew was ahead. I just can't imagine what Jesus went through during those beatings, and those nails, and the hours He hung naked on that cross.
But I don't think that was what Jesus saw in His mind when He heard Satan's temptations, and I know the images I would have dreaded didn't keep Him from coming to the earth.
I think what flashed in Jesus' mind was every face He had ever created, and the knowing that He could do something that would change their destiny forever.
Taking over the world in a moment was nothing to the Creator of it. Causing all that He had made to bow to Him could have been done without the 33+ years of waiting for the inevitable. But the one thing Jesus didn't have in that wilderness-the joy that was set before Him-were all of the faces He still wanted to touch, all of the bodies He still wanted to heal, and all of the souls He still wanted to save from their own wilderness.
I think what Jesus would have missed if He had bowed that day are some of the very things we long for now in this season of COVID: the face to face expressions, the touch of a human hand, the hugs of family and friends,...maybe not in this life, but in the one that is to come where we will live with Him forever.
He would have missed us.
I'm tired of wearing a mask.
I'm tired of not getting to hug my 91 year old Daddy.
I'm weary of wondering if today's the day I'll spike that fever.
But I am so thankful that there was no mask, no pandemic, no serpent's deception, and no cross that would have kept Jesus away from coming to me.
I was the joy that made Him come.
And so were you.
