​In our Gospel lesson today we read about Jesus’s Temptation in the wilderness.  Almost immediately after his baptism, Jesus is lead into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast and pray for forty days after which time he is tempted by the Devil.  I don’t know about you but if I were writing this story I would much prefer the Spirit to lead Jesus away from the Devil and not towards him. 
 
    Good thing then that I am not the writer of this story. For if Jesus had led a life of privilege  and been shielded from the Devil he never could have understood what it’s like to be you and me. Filled with the Spirt of God, Jesus is able to resist the Devil’s testing and in doing so brings glory to God.  .
 
    The good news is that the secret to Jesus’ success in resisting temptation is no secret at all.  His secret weapon is our secret weapon and comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit which we received at our Baptism.  Filled with the Spirit, Jesus shows us that the only way to resist the devil is to trust in God and to make it a priority always to do things His way.  In Matthew 6 Jesus tells us to,     

In today’s Gospel we find perhaps the best
advice you will ever receive.
 
  What are you like at listening? In our modern busy world most of us are not that good at listening any more. The problem is not that there isn’t anything to listen to. If anything there is probably by so much going on around us that we simply no longer have time to stop and listen. And even when we do stop there is often so much noise that it can be hard to know where we should begin and even harder to screen out all those things that perhaps we shouldn’t be listening to.
   But whatever life might be throwing at you right now why not try taking the advice that God gave to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. 
“This is my son whom I love. Listen to Him.”
   It’s really not as hard as you’d think.  Take some time to stop and listen to Jesus this week and don’t be surprised if when you do, that you see some of his glory revealed to you too. 
 
  Till next time.   Andrew