MEDITATION HINTS for the 1st Sunday of Lent,
March 9, 2025

“Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1-2)

　Before embarking on the unknown and immense task of his ministry, Jesus faced a great trial in the wilderness. This agony is expressed in the phrase “led by the Spirit.” “The Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit. Jesus would have returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit” (4:1), and that same Holy Spirit now leads Jesus into trials. The saying, “Man errs as long as he strives” (Goethe), comes to mind. There were no safety nets or escape routes for Jesus. True strength is unleashed when one places oneself in a do-or-die situation, without considering any escape, and simply moves forward. From this perspective, we can understand why Jesus began his ministry after the trial in the wilderness.

　Jesus’s ministry was not guided by reason and logic, but by sharp intuition and rich imagination inspired by the Holy Spirit. In any era, whether in politics, economics, or religion, it is the leader’s intuition that foresees the future. Jesus’ rich imagination is evident in his many parables, which made his teachings accessible to the common people. However, it was into this rich imagination that the devil intruded, tempting Jesus.

　Imagination is a uniquely human trait, and “imagination is more important than knowledge” (Einstein). Imagination is the architect of the soul. Yet, unrestrained imagination is, like the devil, capable of destroying the human soul. Imagination is a great faculty, full of infinite possibilities, but it also carries great dangers and must always be supervised by the power of reason and will. Jesus was subjected to three temptations of the devil, but he overcame them with divine reason and strong willpower.

　Imagination is not mere fantasy or speculation, but the “creative power” to find solutions within a given mission and create something entirely new. It is the ability to adapt to any era and live robustly and humanely, a capacity beyond simply generating ideas or the intelligence quotient measured by intelligence tests. Jesus’s ministry began with imagination, speaking in parables that were easy for the common people to understand, and was perfected with love for humanity, the central concern of his original mission: “human dignity,” the belief that each individual is more important than any law, system, or ritual. “Knowledge is love, love is knowledge” (Kitaro Nishida). That is, to know something, one must have love for it. Therefore, to know humanity, one must have love for humanity. In this way, Jesus’s imagination eventually evolved into a creative power transformed a mere human world into a world of another dimension: love.

 　　　　　(Contribution by Father Yutaka Akabae)