Each year Lent is introduced with the story of the testing or temptations of Jesus. In Year B of the liturgy, which we are currently using, it is Mark's version upon which we are invited to reflect.

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." (1:12-15)

The previous scene of the Markan narrative describes the baptism of Jesus, when he is anointed by the Spirit for his messianic mission, and hears the voice of God proclaiming him as My Son, the beloved. Jesus does not linger there; he embarks on his mission without delay. He is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit in order to engage Satan in conflict. This encounter and confrontation is the saving plan of God.

In scripture the wilderness or desert has different connotations. In some contexts it signifies a privileged place of encounter with God and a place of refuge. Elsewhere, the wilderness is envisaged as the haunt of demons, the theatre of temptation, the domain of evil. So Jesus is moving into enemy territory. Some forge a link between the desert and the story of the fall in Genesis. There humankind is driven out from the peace and harmony of the paradise garden into a wilderness, where the land and its inhabitants rebel against a man and a woman who are themselves in conflict.

Mark's story line is brief. The accounts of the episode in Matthew and Luke are much fuller. They provide dramatic content for the temptations, and link them more closely with the Old Testament, and the testing of Israel during the forty years of desert wandering. Mark simply states the fact, harsh and unadorned. Nor does he mention that Jesus fasted during this period, which was an element of preparation for mission in the life of Moses and Elijah. For Mark, Jesus is already fully engaged in his mission.

Mark's most original detail is his comment about the presence of the wild beasts. Perhaps he intends to emphasise the awesomeness of the place and of Jesus' experience, since wild animals were not infrequently associated with the powers of evil. However, it could be that this detail holds the key to the whole narrative. Instead of the hostility and fear in creation introduced through Satan's victory over Adam, the beasts can be understood as friendly to Jesus. The prophets of old dreamed that when the Messiah came, the wild animals would become tame, and live in harmony, thus restoring what was in the beginning. So, following on from the Baptist's preaching and baptising, this is a further sign that the long awaited time of God's saving intervention, the new era, is dawning. Mark does not specifically say that Jesus is victorious, but an initial victory is implied in the reversal of the effects of the fall.

The evangelist informs us that the angels minister to Jesus not just at the end of the forty day period of trial, as in Matthew and Luke, but throughout the whole time. Again there are links with the ancient story of Israel. Angels, the agents of God's providential care, help the people as they wander through the desert. Elijah is served by angels during his desert experience. There is a Jewish tradition that Adam and Eve were fed in the garden by angels.

Mark here provides us with the key to what is to happen in the course of the Gospel, for the mission of Jesus consists in his joining battle with the forces of evil as God's anointed messianic agent. In the ministry of Jesus the great cosmic conflict, the final battle between God and Satan is taking place. It will reach its climax in the passion. The vanquishing of Satan, the liberating from his stranglehold, evidenced later and perceived in Jesus' exorcisms and healings, signals the inbreak of the Kingdom of God, God's rule in love, that gladdening news which is the central message of Jesus' preaching: The time has come; the kingdom of God has come near.

A few days ago we set out on our Lenten journey, our annual desert safari. I'm wondering about the contours of my own desert. The Judean wilderness consisted of ravines and limestone hills. We are familiar with pictures of the seemingly endless, undulating miles of the sandy Sahara. Nearer home I recently gazed across the lonely barrenness of Bowes Moor, which reminded me of the flats and troughs of Kinder Scout, and the contrast of dry dust and mud bog. Wastelands assume a variety of forms. As Salesian faith communities too, and sharers in Jesus' mission, we have our desolate wastes. I seek to locate points of vulnerability, and to identify the shapes the wild animals might adopt.

We were invited on Ash Wednesday to deepen our life of prayer, to reach out to others in compassion and care, and to refrain from whatever harms people and the planet which we inhabit. (Prayer, almsgiving and fasting). There will be many challenges for us in this three dimensioned venture. We may feel disorientated by the noise and speed and stress of our world, disturbed by the individualism and greed around us, alarmed by the relentless march towards ecological disaster. As members of the Salesian Family, we are deeply concerned about the impact of all this on our young people the world over. But we mustn't forget that we are God's beloved sons and daughters, and that it is the Spirit of Jesus who drives us forward, and who empowers us as we struggle with darkness in its myriad forms. The ministering angels assure us that God surrounds us on our journey each day with providential and saving love, inviting us to walk on in humble hope.