MK neither wastes words nor minces matters. Baptism! Theophany! Testing! Proclamation of God's Rule! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! All in 7 verses in English. Most of us are a lot longer winded these days, more's the pity!

Jesus has been in the margins, somewhere, unknown, for 30 years or thereabouts. Now he slips through the crowd to the Big Dipper (himself marginalised like all genuine prophets), only to find himself emerging into the Divine Limelight. Throughout his ministry, human limelight is always an issue with Jesus, according to MK. He doesn't ever seek to strut the stage as would-be Messiahs do. (How many of them can we list, from our own experience, or TV?) In Jesus' day, even those 'looking for the consolation of Israel' are looking in the wrong direction, with a few exception like Simeon & Anna 30 years before. And a few faithful, discerning souls who can recognize Jesus as the human face of God.

In Baptism, Jesus demonstrates that his heart is directed totally & completely towards God, &  accepts the discipline true Messiahship entails. In Theophany, God, Source of all being, endorses him in the Role. In Testing, Jesus shows he can do it. In Proclaiming God's Rule, Jesus shows he's correctly judged the issue at the heart of all issues.

In Lent we traditionally focus on Jesus being tempted, & throw a few petty temptations of our own into the ring for good measure. Let's move away from at least some of that beginning with using the equally valid & more positive translation 'testing' instead of the old negative 'tempting'? To credit any initiative to the 'devil' is to deny God's Rule, in Jesus' case, & our own. To allow any 'devil' to call the tune is not on! As Jesus demonstrates during his testing. As we can, by grace, demonstrate in a more positive direction in our keeping of Lent. (I've recently been shown a popular course for a 40 days programme with an approach to 'temptation' showing what I believe is a very ugly God I would want nothing to do with!) We can do better than that. Jesus shows us better than that!

Back to the Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! bit: (1) Assuming most of us were baptised as hapless infants, have we grown into that baptism? Let it really happen to us? (2) In some meaningful way have we 'heard' & do we still, 'hear' God calling us his beloved son or daughter now? (3)Are we facing up to the 'devil' in ourself, including our own demons, & voting, firmly, & consistently, for God as the answer to every testing? (4) Is God ruling in me? Or am I simply a usurper, a god of my own making, rather than a subject glorying in the fact that God has made me in his image?

Something for us to proclaim:  i) Now is God's time! It's always God's Now time.ii) God Rules, OK?!  iii) Turn our hearts back & our lives around in the direction of God. iiii) Looking for Good News? Jesus says, "Believe me, I'm it!"