Luke 4: 1-13                         

About 10 years ago a very unusual protest took place in, of all places, a convent in N.J. I'm from N.J., which is why it caught my attention at all. It seems that 4 nuns locked themselves in a little 2nd floor infirmary and took a vow of "near silence."

They were protesting some new rules established by a new prioress, Mother Theresa. It seems that Mother Theresa had introduced TV, secular videos, recorded music, bright lights, and (God forbid) daily "sweets" into the convent. The sweets consisted of a tin of candy which was passed around each day.

In the words of one protesting nun, (who, by the way, were among the YOUNGER nuns in the order) the new prioress was turning monastic life into "one big party." So, in order to protest all this ungodliness, they locked themselves away.

I can sympathize. There is a lot in this hi-tech world I would like to get away from - at least occasionally. This is a noisy world - lots of sights and sounds to distract us - noises which can deafen us even to the voice of God.

But there is more than just the outside noise. Have you ever gotten a few hours, or a whole day, to be alone? When this happens to me, and I sit down to be quiet, after I block out the ticking of the clock, the running of the refrigerator, or the far-off traffic noises, there floods into me another kind of noise - the inside noise of all the thoughts and feelings I've been too busy to deal with in the busy-ness of everyday life.


There may be the noise of anger or hurt, as I relive a moment when I was unjustly treated; there is loneliness and thoughts of "where are people when you really need them." There is grief over a loss - perhaps recent, perhaps years ago. There is ambition - daydreams of hopes for the future or just wishful thinking. There is insecurity, wobbling back and forth between "I can" and "I can't."

Ask those who live alone about inner noise, about having too much time to think. Ask those who become ill and must be confined, or those who have just retired. Some people have the TV blaring 24/7 just to drown out the inner noise.

Our inner noise is a part of us - who we are. It must be listened to and dealt with and moved through if we are to move on toward healthy and whole personhood.

Jesus went to the wilderness after his baptism. He fasted for 40 days, and was sorely tempted. The wilderness is not only a real place in the Holy Land, it is a symbolic place where people are tested and eventually molded and shaped into God's people.

Israelites wandered 40 years in the wilderness and during that time confronted their own shortcomings and lack of faith, but it was that experience that gradually transformed them into recognizing themselves as a nation chosen and called by God for a special purpose.

I think Jesus listened to a lot of inner noise during that sojourn in the desert stillness. He knew he was called and anointed by God for a special purpose. But how would he accomplish it?

There were many attractive ways that you and I could have justified very easily.
- He could be a philanthropist who took care of the needy and hungry, a Bread for the World hero, doling out food, enough for everyone. Who could find fault with that?


- He could have political and monetary clout. With his power he could bring peace throughout the land, because all enemies would have to bow down.

- He could be a razzle-dazzle messiah with a flair for the dramatic and the flamboyant, leaping off tall buildings unscathed.

People, many people, would be dramatically helped in all these ways. But these were all egocentric ways and means with Jesus as the hero. How tempting it must have been, and how inwardly noisy that desert must have been for him.

Jesus listened to all that, but after all was said and done, on the other side of the babble was silence, and in the silence of the desert was another voice, God's voice, giving Jesus a clear vision of who he was and how he was to accomplish his task. 

I believe Jesus invited God into all that noise. In so doing, he gained his proper perspective in the wilderness. In the words of the song, "Simple Gifts," he "came down right." Right where God wanted him.

There is a word here for us this Lent.
1. Find a place to be alone. Do it as a Lenten discipline. Wander into your own wilderness and listen to your own noise for a while. Name all those things as your own needs clamoring for attention. Make a list of all those things and recognize those things for what they are.

2. Then move to silent listening and invite God in to give healing, or comfort or clarity or direction or vision - whatever it is that we need to be the people that God calls us to be in our little corner of the world.

3. Go out refreshed with a renewed sense of who we really are.


Jesus withdrew from his busy life with regularity. When he came back to the people, to the world, there was always a miracle performed after this time away.

Because we begin the season of Lent today, and are used to hearing about it as a time to "give something up," symbolic of Jesus' time in the wilderness going without food and drink, let me suggest that Lent is really a time of "taking on" a discipline. I would also like to suggest that one of the most valuable disciplines to take on in this season leading to Easter, would be the discipline of listening to our own noise, and working through it to then hear the voice of God. I think that's closer to what Jesus did. 

Will you join him?