In the old legends, the hero was recognized as such from an early age. Mark’s Gospel gives no information on Jesus’ early years, but all Gospel references to what follows Jesus’ baptism draw attention to His unique status. First, however, He is put to the test. We are told that Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He was tempted by Satan. We are also told that He was with the wild beasts. It was commonly believed in the ancient world that the wilderness was where evil spirits and demons lived. Jesus was also looked after by angels. In today’s Gospel story, the issue is whether Jesus, the beloved Son of God will trust His Father where the nation Israel, the children of God, did not. Mark doesn’t explicitly tell us the outcome, but we are told that Jesus emerged triumphant from this test and, after John’s arrest, proclaimed: “The kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.”
Perhaps our own test, especially during Lent, is to ask ourselves if we really believe that the kingdom of God is at hand and that it really is good news for us. The goal of Lenten repentance is to change our mindset to accepting God’s good news, and letting it make a difference in lives. After all, the English word “repentance” comes from a Greek word that literally means “a change of mind”. We are called first to change the way we think about God’s kingdom and Jesus’ good news before we try to change our behavior. This change of mind is what Lent is really about.