Matthew 4:1-11

Then the the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness. "All this I will give you," the Devil said, "if you kneel down and worship me."

All over the world people are trying to seize power or retain control by whatever means they can. Libya is the country most in the spotlight at the moment. How many people will die in this struggle? How many will be maimed for life? How many will be forced to flee their homes and end up as refugees and for how long?
In our political systems, in our churches, in our work places we see people trying to seize power so that they can rule. We see power struggles all around us. What if we were given it on a plate, without cost to us, without the need to cheat or malign the other?

Jesus is taken to the very top, a very high mountain, where he can look out on all the surrounding kingdoms and he is offered it on a plate, without a struggle, without blood shed. Jesus turns the offer down. Would we have turned it down? Do we turn it down when offered to us in the same way? For a start it wasn't the Devil's to offer anyway, although at times it may seem like the world is under the control of some evil influence. The earth belongs to all the people or rather all the people on earth belong to the earth. From the earth we are born and to the earth we return at death. It is ours to share, to enjoy, to care for and to pass on to future generations. The earth nor anyone on it is ours to possess, to do with as we will, to exploit or abuse.

Jesus doesn't take power, or control, in the way that we like to do, from a position of power and influence. Actually, I don't think he does take power, not over people anyway. Jesus' agenda is not about possession, or about control but about releasing us from our desires to control the other, from our desires to rule over others. The way Jesus does it is by giving of himself freely and lovingly even to death. His way to up is down. His blood shed instead of the blood of others. There is no running over the top of others, no subjugating the beliefs of others to our beliefs, no enforcing of doctrines and dogma, rather he issues an invitation to follow a different way, the way of Jesus. When we look at how we operate in the church are we taking the way of Jesus or are we trying to get our way at all costs? Are we taking short cuts to the top? Do we take the hand of nepotism and therefore run over the rights of equal access? Do we take the safe track turning our eyes from unjust practices?

Lent is known as a time of giving up. How about giving up power or giving away power, for example the need to control our partner, or the need to control the church, or the need to control the people in our particular country?