Lent: Jesus' Path to Lordship is Unlike the Path of Earthly Lords

In the next weeks of the season we have come to call "Lent", I plan to share some key quotes from N.T. Wright's book, Lent for Everyone - Matthew - Year A. This is part of a series of books he's written that goes through the gospels during the Lenten season. In the first book, Matthew is the featured gospel and each day during Lent the author includes commentary and a short prayer. NT Wright gives focus to the kingdom of heaven and the King as he goes through Matthew. The following are his observations concerning the King's temptation in the wilderness and why it mattered for Him and for us as it relates to how God is establishing His rule on earth:

(Matthew 4:1-11) "...his temptations are not just an example, showing us how to resist, though of course they are that too...They are part of a larger story of how 'heaven's rule' came to earth.

"Part of the point of the 'kingdom of heaven', you see, and of Jesus' own mission to make it happen, is that there was another power ruling the earth. If Jesus was to bring God's rescuing rule to the world, the present power had to be defeated. Jesus' 'temptations' are therefore the personal side of the larger battle he had to fight if God's rule was to take hold...

"...it's clear throughout Matthew's gospel, and particularly at the very end, that Jesus 'as king of the Jews' is to become the true lord of the whole world. But the path by which he moves to that lordship is not the satanic one which would make him grab it for his own ends. The whole of the book is about the alternative path, the true way by which Jesus comes to embody heaven's rule on earth.

"...We too are tempted to do the right things in the wrong way, or for the wrong reason. Part of the discipline of Lent is about learning to recognize the flickering impulses, the whispering voices, for what they are, and to have the scripture-fueled courage to resist. We too are part of the on-going battle for heaven's rule to be established on earth."

"Lord Jesus, as you saw through the temptations and refused them, give us wisdom to recognize the tempter's voice, and strength to resist."