Father Snort

There is a song which my son sings from Vacation Bible School last summer that says, "I want to be like Jesus." I've often heard this idea that we want to be like Jesus. I understand the sentiment, but we may not actually want to try to be like Jesus. As we observe our Lenten fasts, we realize that our fasting was inspired by Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness fasting and being tempted by Satan. We aren't really trying to copy or be like Jesus in our fasts, however. Jesus' fast and trials with Satan were his task and his story, not ours. His story is that of the eternal Word of God becoming human to unite us with God. His fast and his story was that of the cosmic struggle between creation and the forces of darkness, and Jesus defeated the forces of darkness. That was his story to tell. Our stories are not of cosmic victory over the forces of darkness, nor are they supposed to be. Jesus was God incarnate. We often can't go 40 days without diet coke and chocolate. Lent is not a time to c