Tuesday, March 10, 2026
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Prepare to Bloom
Immediately after his baptism, having received the greatest possible endorsement from God Himself - “This is my Son, with whom I am well-pleased” - we expect Jesus to begin his ministry. He should start at once to heal and comfort and teach. He should do battle with the powers of evil. He should exercise his divinity. But he does not. Instead, Jesus walks into the wilderness where, for 40 long days, he does nothing except allow the fullness of God to gather within him.
He is disciplining himself to do the will of his Father in Heaven.
Satan tries to throw Jesus off the scent of such holiness. He tempts Jesus with self-importance. “Don’t just stand there being hungry,” he says. “You have a mandate from God, and there’s work to do. So turn these stones into bread, and eat, and then get busy.” But Jesus does not. Instead, he feeds on hunger - hunger to know his Father’s business, and then hunger to do it. “Man shall not live on bread alone,” Jesus says, “but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Satan tells Jesus to throw himself off the roof of the Temple, to prove to everyone the truth of scripture, that the angels “will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” This is very clever, Satan quoting scripture to Jesus. But Jesus refuses to be drawn, and he too can quote
scripture at need: “It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Or, as I translate these lines, “I got nothing to prove.”
Finally Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, if he will only bow down and worship him. But the only kingdom that interests Jesus is the Kingdom of God, and he will accept no substitutes. “Satan,” he says, “go away.”
During his time in the wilderness, Jesus does nothing except say “No” to every appeal to his appetite or pride. If we could witness these 40 days, we might think he was wasting time. Jesus performed no miracles, preached no sermons, cured no one. For 40 days, he did nothing. Oh, but what power lies within that nothing. For into that nothingness, in that hungry, hollow space within him, the Holy Spirit was pleased to gather, and thereafter the Spirit never left him. And when, at the end of his 40 days, Jesus re-enters the world, he is a man of unprecedented power and peace.
The lesson is simple. The Holy Spirit comes from God, and from nowhere else. We cannot manufacture it by ourselves. And since we cannot give what we do not have, God must first give us His life, if we wish to share that life with others. This, of course, is the purpose of Sabbath: a day of rest, a day to receive. The season of Lent is, if you like, 40 days of Sabbath.
So, in Lent we take Jesus as our model. But also, as we feel the first stirrings of Spring, I think we might learn from the trees as well. The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word for “length.” The days, you will have noticed, are lengthening. Today there will be two-and-a-half more minutes of sunlight than there was yesterday, and tomorrow will give us two-and-a-half more.
And the trees, though they appear to be sleeping, doing nothing, are fully aware of this. All winter, as their branches have been resting, their roots have been busy, invisibly extending their tendrils through the soil, gathering energy and moisture and minerals. And now, awakened by the sunlight, the buds on the maple trees are signalling to the roots: “Give us what you have.” And so the capillaries under the bark begin to stir, the sap rises, the buds prepare to leaf. And the maple syrup fanatics among us begin to ready their spiles and buckets. And none of this, please remember, can happen without winter, without rest, and without roots.
We also, like the trees, have roots, and we must also let them grow and gather. In Lent, we root ourselves in prayer, in disciplined public worship, in scripture, in music, in praise of God’s created world, and in love for each other. It is only this life gathering within us, largely invisible to others, that makes possible the life we can share with others.
So, right now, turn off your computer. Go for a walk in the woods and discover God speaking to you through the trees. “You belong here,” they will say. “You also are a child of God. So let your roots grow deep, and drink, and fill. And
then prepare to bloom.” Amen.
The Rev. Andrew Horne
Like A Tree Graham Kendrick featuring Steph Macleod
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