Seeds in the Sand

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  ³² It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt– a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.  ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  ³⁴ No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. – Jeremiah 31:31-34   

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Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  ²² Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  ²³ Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  ²⁵ Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say– ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  ²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  ³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  ³³ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. – John 12:20-33

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Welcome to Lent, Week 5. Before I head into the sermon, I wanted to mention a few other things happening this week. Today, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day – so happy St. Patrick’s Day! And then Tuesday is the first day of Spring… and Wednesday we remember the birthday of Mr. Rogers; and Thursday we remember the birthday of JS Bach, and Saturday is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Purim – so if you have Jewish friends, wish them a Happy Purim!

Today is also the last of the ‘regular’ Sundays in Lent. Next week is Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week – and as we move forward, drawing closer to the Cross, the darkness and the heaviness of Jesus’ last days begins to gather around us.

Our readings for today focus on the last few weeks of Jesus’ life, and on how the events of those weeks tie in with God’s plan to save the human race from sin and self-destruction, through the Messiah.

Today’s theme – “Seeds in the Sand” – is taken from Jesus’ words in John 12:24-25. In these verses, Jesus is explaining to the disciples that he’s about to die; and while Jesus doesn’t mention the word resurrection directly in this verse, he hints at it by saying that a seed that lands in the soil will bear fruit.

But Jesus is just one seed – so where do the other seeds come from? Well… all of us at some point will be a ‘seed in the sand’; and by the power of God and the power Jesus’ resurrection, we also will bear fruit.

That’s the ‘big picture’ message for today.

Digging into the details, I’d like to start with our reading from Jeremiah. Since about the beginning of this year I’ve been finding myself drawn to the Book of Jeremiah – I’ve been reading it a lot lately! It might have something to do with the fact that worshiping idols was a huge problem in Jeremiah’s time – and worshiping idols, in a slightly different way, is a huge problem in our society as well. So I’ve been reading to see how Jeremiah dealt with it.

Jeremiah was the last prophet in Jerusalem before the city fell to the Babylonians. Jeremiah, sharing God’s word, predicted and then witnessed the fall of Jerusalem.

In Jeremiah’s lifetime, God kept reaching out and reaching out and reaching out to the people of Israel: calling them away from false gods, calling them away from sacrificing their children and their futures to idols, calling them back to the one true and living God. Some who loved God paid attention to Jeremiah’s message – in Jerusalem, people like members of the army, staffers in the palace, everyday people. But the king and the people in power and the religious leaders did not listen. In fact they ridiculed Jeremiah and threatened his life. God gave Jeremiah the job of saying to the king and to those in power, “this is your last chance – the Babylonians are coming! If you value your lives, surrender to the Babylonians. They will take you to Babylon, but at least you’ll be alive!” That was God’s message through Jeremiah.

And they wouldn’t listen.

The short passage we read in Jeremiah (above) sounds like good news. God is saying through Jeremiah:

“The days are coming… when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put my law within them, and write it on their hearts. No longer shall they teach one another, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me.”

This sounds like good news – but the thing is, things didn’t change. The people didn’t listen. These promises of God would be fulfilled at a later time.

Also, these four verses – as encouraging as they sound – are found in between two very dark passages. In the passage before it, God is still asking the people to return to God, and the people are refusing, and we hear Jeremiah speak a word that is usually connected with the birth of the Messiah. Jeremiah says:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children, and refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.”

 We recognize this verse from the Christmas story.  Jesus was born “King of the Jews”; and King Herod – being afraid for his throne – ordered all the male babies two years old or under to be killed.

Jeremiah’s words are indeed looking forward to those ‘days that are coming’ – but they also applied to Jerusalem back then.

Then following our passage, God tells Jeremiah: when the siege of Jerusalem comes, go and buy a field. Again the reason is that better days will come – but not right away. In the immediate future, the Babylonians are coming, and God’s word through Jeremiah is: “those who give themselves up to the Babylonians will live.” In other words, surrender.

These days we don’t fight wars by siege because most cities don’t have walls around them these days. But Jerusalem was a walled city: and attacking a walled city could be extremely costly in terms of casualties. So rather than attack the walls and try to climb over them, an invading army – in this case, from Babylon – would “lay siege” – which was devastatingly brutal. The army would surround the city, and stop any and all traffic coming into or out of the city; and then wait for the people inside the walls to starve to death. When there was no one left alive to fight, the army would simply walk in and take over the city.

You can imagine this meant absolutely no mercy for civilians, for children, or for the elderly. And a siege could take years. The suffering was unspeakable. This particular siege – the siege of Jerusalem – lasted about a year and a half before a handful of people who were still alive finally surrendered. The royal family tried to slip out a side exit, and were captured and killed, except for the king who was blinded and taken to Babylon; and just a few of the poorest people still living were allowed to stay and work the land so it wouldn’t turn into a wasteland. Everyone else still living was deported to Babylon for the next seventy years.

Why did God allow this to happen? Because the people had been unfaithful: they had turned their back on God and God’s covenant time and time and time again; they worshiped false gods, they had done all kinds of evil, including murder; and the people had refused, over and over, to return to the God who loved them. What we see here is the price of loving and chasing after what is not God and what is not worthy of human worship.

These days people don’t usually worship physical idols, or statues, or golden calves – but we have other kinds of idols. And truth be told, even the ancient people didn’t really worship statues so much as they worshiped what the statues represented: the power to grow, the power to give life, the power to give wealth.

Today, in our culture – I used to know a guy who thought American Idol, the TV show, was an evil thing. Personally I think that one’s the least of our worries, although some people do idolize fame and money. But basically the definition of idolatry is making anything (or anyone) more important than God in our lives.

To give a parallel: think about what it means to have a faithful marriage. When we get married, part of the marriage vow is to be faithful to our spouse. With God, when we become believers, our baptism and/or our confirmation includes similar vows of faithfulness to God – spiritual faithfulness. Our relationship with God is meant to last forever. If there’s anything in our lives that we love more than God, or value more highly than God, that thing is an idol.

So if we have committed our lives to God, what would ever motivate us to do something like bear false witness – that is, lie in court? Or be violent? Or be less than honest in our business dealings? Or withhold friendship from someone who is lonely? Or refuse to give food or clothing to someone in need?

This is why I can barely stand to watch the evening news anymore – because I see our country, and people around the world as well, doing these things over and over: not listening to God, just like the people in Jerusalem wouldn’t listen. I pray God’s guidance and mercy on our world!

At the same time, though – unlike in Jeremiah’s day – we have the advantage of knowing the Messiah. God’s promise to send a Saviour is no longer future tense in our world. Jesus is present tense – always present tense. As we come to the Gospel of John, we see and hear our Saviour Jesus entering into his last days on earth.

Just a few days before, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. As a result, so many people were following Jesus that the authorities in Jerusalem were getting nervous. Among other things, they were afraid the Romans might see the size of this group, think it was a rebellious mob, and react with violence. So the authorities in Jerusalem made plans to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.

At the very same moment, John says, a group of Greeks came asking to see Jesus. This was a sign to Jesus: the time of including the Gentiles had come. Both Jews and Gentiles will be part of Jesus’ kingdom from now on; which also signals to Jesus that his time is short. And Jesus says, “Father, glorify thy name” and God answers, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Now, with everything complete, and every prophecy fulfilled, Jesus says, “the hour has come.” His soul is troubled – understandably so, looking at the cross. Jesus knows what’s coming, and he is distressed by it. But for John – and for Jesus – the focus is not so much on death as on what Jesus’ death will make possible: resurrection, ascension, forgiveness for God’s people, and the bearing of much fruit.

Jesus’ death and resurrection will bring salvation and a gateway into God’s kingdom for many people and nations. Jesus’ ascension will make it possible for all of God’s people to have the Holy Spirit living in us, writing God’s word and God’s law on our hearts; and making it possible for us to live with God forever. Death becomes merely a doorway into an eternal relationship.

This, by the way, is very different than what the ancient Greeks and Romans believed about heaven and eternity. Back then they believed – as many people do today – that the universe is not personal, and that if we have any relationship to a “next life” it will only be as a “fragment of the cosmos” as they might say. There will be no conscious awareness; there will be no reunion with loved ones. The Greeks believed – as some of today’s fiction writers sometimes put it – that we are all “star stuff”: eternal but having no memory.

Christian teaching is completely different. God tells us that the “word was made flesh and lived among us” – not in an abstract sense but in physical reality.

That Word is Jesus: who we can love, and be loved by, in a personal relationship. In Jesus and through Jesus we live forever, not as ‘star stuff’ but as actual people. We are eternal beings, still human – and we will know our loved ones when we see them again; and we will know Jesus when we see Him.

This is what the church has taught, and what God has taught, from the very beginning of time. This is the new covenant that Jeremiah predicted: “they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” This is the fruit that grows from seeds in the sand. AMEN.

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Lent 1: The Wilderness Within

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,  ⁹ “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,  ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.  ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  ¹² God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  ¹³ I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  ¹⁶ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”” – Genesis 9:8-17

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To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.  ² O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.  ³ Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.  ⁴ Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.  ⁵ Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.  ⁶ Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.  ⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!  ⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.  ⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.  ¹⁰ All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. – Psalm 25, Of David

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“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  ¹⁰ And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  ¹² And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  ¹³ He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.  ¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,  ¹⁵ and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” – Mark 1:9-15

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Welcome to the first Sunday of Lent!  Lent is starting so early this year – I don’t know about you but we still have a few straggly Christmas decorations around that haven’t been put away yet!

A lot of people observe Lent by giving things up… and that’s not a bad idea if there are things we would benefit by giving up. But the tradition of ‘giving things up’ for Lent is actually rooted in an older tradition of fasting. We were talking about this at the Thursday night Lenten study the other night – how people a long time ago used to move away from society and fast, or form communities that were like monasteries that practiced fasting. There is something about going without food for a day, or for a few days – that’s a very effective way of bringing prayer to the forefront of life. There is something about not eating – something about telling our bodies to ‘just hush’ for a minute – that brings spiritual life into focus.

The practice of fasting was common in Jesus’ day as well. In Matthew 6:16 Jesus says “when you fast…” (do such-and-such) – but he doesn’t say “if you fast”.  Jesus assumed that people who love God would fast now and then.

In today’s world some Christians still fast; and some fast only from specific foods (for example from meat on Fridays); and some fast from things that aren’t food at all (for example, giving up social media for Lent).

In the church, for the past 1000 years or so, Lent has also traditionally been a time when new Christians prepared for baptism or for joining the church. So it’s very appropriate that Pastor Dylan is in the process of putting together a new members’ class. If you know anyone who would like to be part of that, please let one of the pastors know.

Turning to our scripture readings for today, the general theme – the concept in common between all of them – is wilderness. Unbridled nature. Our reading from Genesis today talks about Noah and the flood; and our reading from Mark talks about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness after he was baptized. On the surface these two events don’t seem to have much in common but as we dig deeper we will find a number of common threads.

Starting with Genesis: In today’s reading we are listening in on a conversation between God and Noah that happens after the flood. At this point in the story, the flood is over; the ark has come to rest on a mountain top; and all the people and animals have disembarked. And God is promising that a catastrophe like this will never happen again. So we’re coming in at the end of the story. We need to back up to the beginning.

One of the most common questions people ask about the flood is: “why would God do this?” Why would God – who loves people and loves creation – wipe out every living thing on the face of the earth?

The reason God gives us was that the hearts of all the people were all evil all the time. I know sometimes our own world feels like that – but the evil we see around us now, apparently, was nothing compared to what was going on back then. In Genesis 6:1-4 we read:

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of heaven saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of heaven went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”

The Bible is describing a group of super-beings, not-quite-human, not-quite-gods – possibly fallen angels – we don’t know for sure. But they were physically large and very strong; and the Bible says these beings caused great evil on the earth, way beyond what mere mortals could do. You and I have never seen evil on this scale.

God would have been evil if he had not done something about the evil. So God looked around for an honest human being who respected God, and he found only Noah. Noah preached God’s word to the people of his generation for 120 years – and nothing changed.

So God told Noah to build the ark. The people asked Noah what he was doing, and he told them and warned them about the destruction that was coming, and they just laughed at him. Anyone who was living at that time could have believed Noah and gotten on the ark and been saved – but they chose to turn their backs on God and do whatever they felt like.

So God, as a last resort, wiped the slate clean and made a new start. And when the ark, with Noah and his family, and all the animals, finally came to rest on solid ground again, God made a covenant: “this will never happen again”. This is what God said:

“I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,  ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you… that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  ¹² God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  ¹³ I have set my bow in the clouds…” (Genesis 9:9-13)

It has been said that a covenant – or a promise – is only as good as the parties who make it. We know that God’s word is good. As for us –whenever we see a rainbow in the sky, do we remember God’s promise? Do we uphold our part of the agreement, and remember God’s words?

The psalm we read a moment ago is a psalm of lament. It was inspired when King David’s heart was moved because people who knew God refused to keep God’s covenants – not just this one with Noah, but many other covenants as well. David is mourning and grieving over the fact that people are not keeping the promises they’ve made to God. In order for a covenant to be good, both parties need to be faithful.  During this time of Lent, it’s good to think about the promises we’ve made to God – in our baptism, in our worship – and think about how we can be faithful.

One other interesting note on this passage in Genesis: this particular covenant – unlike many covenants in the Old Testament, did not involve any animal sacrifices – because the animals are included in the covenant. The animals are named participants.

We’ll come back to that thought in a little bit. For now, we move on to the Gospel of Mark.

The events we read about in Mark – surrounding Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River – are also found in Matthew and Luke’s gospels. But Mark, as usual, is a man of few words.

Mark starts out by telling us that Jesus came to John the Baptist and was baptized. The question is: why? John preached a baptism of repentance – but Jesus, being the Son of God, had nothing to repent of.

Jesus is standing in solidarity with us – in a way that looks forward to the cross.  Jesus takes our place in both situations. Jesus identifies with us, even though he had no sin that needed to be washed away.  And God’s response to this was, “this is my son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

In doing this, Jesus also demonstrates that confession of sin can be communal as well as individual. That is, it’s possible to confess sin as a group rather than one person at a time. When we pray the prayer of confession in the bulletin on a Sunday, there may be times when we think to ourselves, “I know I’m not perfect, but I’ve never committed that sin” – and this could be very true. But in church we confess as a group. We pray “forgive us our sins” rather than “forgive me my sins”.  Of course we can and should also confess individual sins to God privately. But when we pray together in church we stand in solidarity with each other.

In a similar way, Jesus identifies with us in being baptized, and stands in solidarity with us, and God is well pleased.

Immediately afterwards the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted or tested by Satan. This is another question that people often ask: “Do you really believe in the Devil”?

First off:  I do not think it is wise to spend too much time thinking about evil beings. It’s enough to know the basics. But having said that, probably one of the best books on the subject is CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – which is fiction but speaks a lot of truth!  In the introduction to the book, CS Lewis writes that when he is asked if he believes in the actual Devil, he says:

“…if by “the Devil” you mean a power opposite to God and, like God, self-existent from all eternity, the answer is certainly No. There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. No being could attain a “perfect badness” opposite to the perfect goodness of God…”[1]

But Lewis goes on to say that:

“The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God and, as a corollary, [enemies] to us.”[2]

So Lewis is saying the devil was originally a created being like an angel, and rebelled against God, and is trying to tempt humans to join in the rebellion and disobey God the way it does.

The devil comes to Jesus in the wilderness, because if the devil can get Jesus to fall, to join in the rebellion against God, to do things his own way instead of going to the cross, then God’s plan to save the human race will fail.

But Jesus does not fall. In fact he doesn’t fall for even the tiniest bit of it.

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. The number 40 is significant in Jewish history because the flood lasted 40 days; Moses was on Mt. Sinai for 40 days; and the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land took 40 years. All these sets of 40 included times of testing before something big happened. And now that Jesus has been tested, something big is about to happen again.

One other common thread between these two readings is that the animals play a key role in both events!  Humanity’s fall into sin back in Genesis had horrible consequences for the animal kingdom as well as for people. Before the fall, the animal world was not at odds with itself or with people.[3] In fact, in Genesis we see Adam giving names to all the animals.

The Jewish Torah gives instructions on how to take care of animals. And there’s a passage in Hosea where God says:

“…in that day will I make a covenant… with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.”

That’s God’s promise to the animals of the earth. All of creation – all of it – waits for the redemption of humankind.

Mark says that during the temptation, “Jesus was with the wild animals”.  Jewish scholars point out that “wild animals often assist the heroes of God”; and they point out that “Adam was at peace with the animal kingdom in the Garden of Eden. […] And the New Testament refers to Jesus as the Second Adam, [so it would make sense that] Jesus would enjoy a [good] relationship with the animal kingdom.”[4]

So one side-effect of this whole event is that, through Jesus, the fellowship between humans and animals that existed in the Garden of Eden is being restored. Isn’t that great news?

Jesus tells us later on to share the good news not only “with all people” but “with all creation”. St Francis of Assisi was famous for going out and preaching to animals and to birds. Some people thought he was nuts. But you know what? Those of us who have pets… have you ever mentioned the name of Jesus to them? Have you ever told your pet that God loves them? My cats purr like crazy when I talk like that. Try it sometime with your animals!

Of course we are also called to share the good news with our fellow human beings. What we see in these passages is that being God’s people begins with listening to Jesus. So this Lent, we should take every opportunity we can find to be in God’s word, and listening to Jesus.

Secondly, Jesus calls us to repentance. This does not mean that we are horrible terrible people. It just means that, in some areas of our lives, we need to change direction. Remember the word repent means “to change course” or to change direction.

In a way I kind of think of repentance as being almost like spring cleaning for the soul.  I’ve been doing some major spring cleaning in my office lately – getting rid of stuff I don’t use to make way for some built-ins. As I’ve been doing this I’ve been finding things I haven’t used in a decade or two… and I’ve also been finding about two decades’ worth of dust that flies into the air every time I move something!! Makes it tough to breathe.

That’s kind of how things are with our souls as well. We need to let the fresh air in. We need to clear out the stuff we don’t need any more – the habits that aren’t working for us any more. And we need to re-focus our attention on God and what God is calling us to.

Whatever disciplines we decide on for Lent – whether it be fasting or prayer or volunteering or giving – whatever God is calling each of us to do, we need to be doing that. It will be different for every person, but we will be going through Lent together and we can encourage each other as each one of us focuses on hearing and doing God’s word and God’s will.

The end result will be a closer walk with God, which will bring joy to us and our loved ones – and to our animals. In the name of God, I invite you all to the observance of a Holy Lent. AMEN.

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[1] CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p. vii

[2] Ibid

[3] CMJ

[4] CMJ

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Lent 1 – Temptations

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.  ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;  ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;  ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'”  ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die;  ⁵ for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.  ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. – Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3:1-7  

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  ² He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.  ³ The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  ⁴ But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”  ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,  ⁶ saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'”  ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”  ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;  ⁹ and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'”  ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. – Matthew 4:1-11

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Welcome to the first Sunday of Lent!

Lent is traditionally a time for self-examination – what we might call “spring cleaning for the soul.”  Some people believe in ‘giving things up for Lent’ – and while I don’t think that’s a requirement I don’t discourage it. Lent is more like a time for drawing closer to God.

I discovered something the other day: the word ‘Lent’ is an Old English word meaning ‘lengthen’ – as in, this is the time of year when the days get longer. I think that fits, because even though Lent tends to be a dark season, spiritually and emotionally, at the same time it is leading to the light.

The season of Lent was created hundreds of years ago. Forty days were chosen to reflect a connection to other important Biblical “forties” such as:

• Moses was on the top of Mt. Sinai for 40 days receiving the Ten Commandments
• Elijah was 40 days on the top of Mt. Horeb
• Israel was 40 years in the wilderness
• Jesus was 40 days in the wilderness being tempted

Lent was also a time, for many hundreds of years, when people who had come to faith were taught what it means to live the Christian life – basically a six-week-long new members’ class, which culminated with people joining the church on Easter Day.

Lent is also a time of repentance – a time when God deals with evil and sin. God hates sin (not the sinner!) – but God hates sin because it damages God’s good creation. It destroys the people God loves.

We tend to think of sin as a generalized evil – in culture, in politics, in evil actions like mass murder. But sin as it’s defined in Scripture is not systemic – except when sinners get together and create systems with foundations in wrongdoing (which does happen far too often).

When I think about what sin does in peoples’ lives, I often think of that guy back in 1972 who took a hammer to Michelangelo’s Pieta in the Vatican. The immediate visceral reaction was “WHY???” Why would anyone do something like that to such a masterpiece? There’s only one of those in the whole world and it’s so beautiful and it’s irreplaceable. Why???

[photo:Reuters: The Pieta: damage done, and the repair work completed]

Every human being on the face of the earth is a masterpiece greater than the Pieta: beautiful and irreplaceable and there’s only one of each of us. God made us unique and priceless. And sin damages God’s masterpieces – the works of art that God made when God made you and me and every other person on the planet.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once famously said:

“the line between good and evil runs through every human heart.” So Lent is a time to tend to our hearts, to tend to our relationship with God, and to restore the work of art that God has made in each one of us.

I heard something this past week that made a lot of sense to me. The quote was: “Repentance is not groveling – repentance is insight.” The author went on to say that we change course in our lives when we have become convinced of something new.

There are a lot of things in this world that we don’t know. All of us are still learning, and there are a lot of things we haven’t experienced yet. When God’s truth comes into our lives in some new way, it changes us – and we change course because of it. That’s what repentance means: to change course.

King David once prayed: “cleanse me from my secret faults O God.” David understood that people are complex creatures, and there are things we don’t even know about ourselves. So David asks God and trusts God to teach him what he needs to know, and to restore the parts of the masterpiece that David can’t reach.

Our scripture readings for today talk about how sin got started, and how Jesus confronts temptation.

The first reading, from Genesis, gives us the story of Adam and Eve – a very familiar story. Adam and Eve – the first human beings – were created perfect: without sin, and in perfect relationship with God. God’s creation was, as God said, “very good”.

God gave his new humans the ability to care for other living things, including the animals and including each other. God walked with them in the garden, and they probably talked and ate and laughed together, unselfconscious and unafraid. In the beginning all was peace and all was good.

And then the snake showed up. He started asking the people nebby questions about “what did God tell you?” and “oh no, God got that wrong…”.

God’s word had been: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Gen 2:16-17)

I’m not sure Adam and Eve fully understood the meanings of some of these words. They certainly understood the ‘do not eat’ part, but at that point they had no experience of ‘evil’ or of ‘death’. These were new concepts. Did they have working definitions of these words? We don’t know.

Meanwhile the serpent is suggesting that God is being less than truthful. The serpent says: “You will not die” – calling God a liar – and he also says, “God knows when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil” – in other words, God’s holding back on you. God’s afraid you might become too powerful, might even compete with him…

Yes, this forbidden fruit will give Adam and Eve knowledge they don’t have. Yes, they will know good and they will know evil. They will also learn that they are naked – which was never a problem until now: not for God, and not for them.

But God has not been lying… and God has not been holding back… and God is not afraid that people might compete with him if they gain too much wisdom. God is not insecure. God is a loving parent who wants good things for the children.

The tragedy is Adam and Eve did die that day. Not physically, not right away. But the people they had been before they ate – innocent and walking in the garden with God – those people ceased to exist, and would never be back. They were changed. They now had a terminal illness that could not be healed on this earth. There was no ‘undo’ button on that apple. Once it was eaten, the damage was done.

What kind of madman would take a hammer to such masterpieces?

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In our reading from Matthew, the same madman tries to use his hammer on Jesus – and fails.

As we pick up the story in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has just been baptized, and God has said “behold my son in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is now led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested before he starts his public ministry. This is the time when Jesus learns what it will mean to be the Messiah and the Savior of the world.

It’s also where Jesus redeems the mistake Adam and Eve made. He faces the tempter and remains faithful. Jesus proves himself trustworthy in every way.

As we look at these temptations, we see that Jesus disarms temptation with Scripture, particularly the Law of Moses. The whole point of Israel’s forty years in the wilderness was to learn to trust God for their everyday needs. There was manna provided every day. There would be water; there was enough to eat.

Jesus doesn’t enter into any arguments with the devil. Jesus doesn’t debate. He just says “this is the word of God and I stand by it.” Jesus disarms temptation by trusting God even when no one is watching.

Here’s the scene that Matthew describes:

Matthew tells us Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days without food – which is about the max a human body can withstand. So for Temptation #1 the tempter hits him where it really hurts. He says: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”

Bread is what Jesus desperately needs right now; and as the Son of God, Jesus is capable of doing miracles. So would it have harmed anything if he had made a few loaves of bread?

Well… yes. It would have: because as a human being, and as our savior, Jesus needed to deal with life the way human beings do. We human beings can’t conjure up bread. We have to trust God for everything we need. Jesus needed to trust God as we do: for care, for guidance, and for food. Jesus has learned the lesson of the manna in the wilderness: God knows our needs and God will provide.

Jesus knew what God was calling him to do. This moment has a direct connection to the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prays “please take this cup from me; but not my will but thine be done.” Jesus was human in every way, but he trusted God’s love. Given the choice between trusting his Father God or looking out for #1, Jesus chose God. Therefore he answers the tempter in the words of Moses – words that are available to all of us:

“God fed you daily with manna ‘in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD’.”

Temptation #1 defeated.

For Temptation #2, the tempter tries something that might strike us as a bit weird. He takes Jesus to the very top of the Temple building, “to the pinnacle”, and he says: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”  ⁷ Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The nature of this temptation is subtle. God’s word, in the mouth of the tempter, becomes a litmus test for faith. In my experience, making litmus tests for faith is one of the clearest indications that a Christian organization has lost its way. For example some churches make speaking in tongues the litmus test: if you can’t speak in tongues you’re not a true Christian. Other churches use politics: if you don’t vote for this cause or this person you’re not a true Christian.

The underlying message in each of these scenarios is: “scripture says you need to do [whatever it is] to prove your faithfulness… or to prove God’s word. As God’s children we are called to believe that God loves us, and to trust that love. As Jesus says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Don’t ask your Father, ‘How much do you love me?’

We are loved, deeply loved, by God. We can trust God’s love; there is no need to test it. Temptation #2 defeated.

Side note: the scripture passage that the tempter tosses at Jesus in this temptation is familiar to many of us. The line “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” was quoted in a song that many of us know, called “On Eagles Wings”. The man who wrote this song uses the quote correctly, in an appropriate context.

“Eagles Wings” was written as a funeral song. The priest who wrote it, Fr. Michael Joncas, went out to lunch with a good friend one day, and when they returned home they received word that his friend’s father had passed away suddenly. Joncas wrote this song for his friend’s father’s funeral. The song is amazingly moving when heard in the context of a funeral. (It’s a good song just for church too, and many people have come to love it that way):

“…and he will raise you up on eagles wings

Bear you on the breath of dawn

Make you to shine like the sun

And hold you in the palm of his hand…”

It’s a hymn that really brings hope and comfort, especially in times of grief. Fr. Joncas gave us, by his example, the right use of this scripture passage: hope in the darkness, when times are difficult… not an invitation to tempt people to test God. [end of side note]

Temptation #3 – The devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world throughout history if he will only bow down and worship the devil.

What a terrible moment this is for us mere mortals! These two superhuman beings talking about our fate and the fate of our world like they’re just chatting over coffee. We sit by almost like spectators hoping that Jesus won’t let us down.

Was the devil actually able to offer Jesus these things? I mean, was this a legit offer?

To some extent, yes. The devil has the upper hand in this world for now – which is why we have so much suffering and violence and war and hunger and inequality and pain in the world. The devil is offering Jesus what looks like a shortcut around the Cross, offering Jesus the world in exchange for worship. The catch is this: the devil is offering the world the way it is now – unredeemed, broken. And that’s not what Jesus is after.

Jesus has something better in mind: the kingdom of God, which is described for us in the book of Revelation, that glorious vision. Bringing us into God’s kingdom will cost Jesus dearly – but Jesus wants us in that kingdom where there is no more pain or suffering or sorrow. And he says so. Temptation #3 defeated.

So what does all of this mean for us today?

During Lent we start by looking at temptation. All of us are tempted, in some way, at some time. And the temptation is usually to try to find an alternative to the discipline of living God’s way.

Temptation for us becomes twice as powerful if we are suffering. We may be tempted, if we are ill, to try unproven or unhealthy remedies. We may be tempted to relieve suffering by doing things God has said ‘no’ to. We may be tempted to discouragement, or to despair that anything will ever change. We may be tempted to just give up and settle for this broken world, not even try for anything better. We may be tempted sometimes to wonder if God really loves us – and God really does love us.

Bottom line, we all have choices to make. Many of our choices boil down to: will we do things God’s way? Or will we try to take a shortcut?

Our enemy wants to drive a wedge between us and God. Our enemy tempts us to trust in our own strength and cleverness rather than trusting in a God we can’t see.

I find it helpful sometimes to pray the prayer David prayed: “cleanse me from my secret faults oh God.” I also find it helpful to remember that Jesus’ answers to the tempter don’t just expose the lies; they also declare the gospel – the good news – that God loves us, that God loves all people, even the lost; that God will provide for our needs; that God is with us.

During this Lent, as we are encouraged to fast and to give and do good things – that’s only a small part of the season. Our focus is not so much on us, as on what Jesus is doing.

Jesus is stepping into the ultimate battle between good and evil, which will be fought, literally, in his own body. Jesus will win the victory for us.

Let’s use this time of Lent to draw closer to him and learn to know and trust him even better. Because as the apostle Paul has said:

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-21)

This is the promise of our God and Savior. May we be blessed with a holy Lent. AMEN.

Preached at Fairhaven UMC and Spencer UMC, 2/26/23

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Lent 2: Under the Wings

“At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  ³² He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.  ³³ Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’  ³⁴ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  ³⁵ See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’” – Luke 13:31-35

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We are entering now into the second week of Lent; and our theme today is Under the Wings, taken from the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading for today.

Jesus says he longs to gather all of us ‘under his wings’ like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. This verse always reminds me of watching our local eagle family on the internet – which, btw, this year’s eggs should be hatching in just a few days! Granted, eagles aren’t the same thing as hens, but they are quite tender with their young, gathering them under their wings especially when it’s raining or snowing. If you ever get the chance to watch the live stream I recommend it.

So how do we go about staying under Jesus’ wings? The phrase ‘under the wings’ is actually found near the end of our reading, so I need to go back to the beginning for the context.

The big picture context: during Lent Jesus is preparing his exodus from our world. Just as Israel went through the exodus in the Old Testament, leaving slavery behind, Jesus is going through his own exodus: out of this world and back to God where he came from; and when Jesus makes this exodus, he will set the human race free from slavery to sin and death.

Our reading today picks up in Luke 13:31 which starts with the words “at that very hour” – which of course begs the question “at which very hour?” The verse refers to the very hour in which the disciples asked Jesus (v 23) “Who will be saved? Will it only be a few?”

They ask this in response to Jesus’ teachings in chapter 13. Jesus taught quite a lot that day: just some of the teachings include the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree, The Parable of the Mustard Seed, and the Parable of the Leaven. The Parable of the Fig Tree (v 6-9) teaches us that God is looking for fruitfulness in our lives; that we, as God’s people, need to bear spiritual fruit like peace, love, joy, patience, and so on; and also bear fruit in our daily lives by doing some of the same good things we see Jesus doing, like helping other people. Jesus warns that any tree that is not fruitful will be cut down.

The other two parables (v 18 & 20) compare the Kingdom of Heaven to very small things: a mustard seed, and yeast. These parables teach us the Kingdom of Heaven often arrives unnoticed. God’s kingdom doesn’t call attention to itself; we have to watch for it. The Kingdom of Heaven slips in unseen, but then it grows. The mustard seed is one of the smallest, but the plant can grow many feet tall; and bread doubles or triples in size when we add yeast. In the same way the Kingdom of Heaven slips quietly into life and into our communities – and then it grows. (Illustration: mustard seed)

So if the Kingdom of Heaven requires fruitfulness, and yet starts so small as to be almost invisible, it makes sense the disciples might ask: who then can be saved? And how can we know? How can we be sure?

Jesus gives two answers starting in verse 24 when he says: “strive to enter through the narrow door – for many will try and will not be able.” But he also says, in v 29 & 30, that “people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.” This refers to all the non-Jewish nations who had not yet heard about Jesus; and Jesus is including us in this. Jesus also says that “some are last who will be first, and some who are first will be last.” How we measure things here on earth is not necessarily how God measures things. God sees the hidden work; God sees how the seed grows.

When Jesus had said all these things, it was at that very hour some Pharisees came and warned Jesus (verse 31) to get out of town because Herod wanted to kill him.

Does this strike you as odd – that Pharisees would warn Jesus his life is in danger? If so you’re not alone. People who study the Bible for a living disagree over exactly what this verse is telling us. We know Jesus and the Pharisees often had words; and we know some of the Pharisees had taken part in (failed) conspiracies to kill Jesus.

But there were also some Pharisees who believed in Jesus. We don’t hear about them as often; but Nicodemus was one. We meet Nicodemus in John chapter three and we also see him at Jesus’ burial: he helps care for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. There were other Pharisees who believed too, who joined the early church after Jesus’ resurrection. So some of the Pharisees were sympathetic to Jesus. Personally I believe this was an honest warning spoken by Pharisees who were quietly on Jesus’ side.

And don’t you love Jesus’ answer? “Go tell that fox for me – ‘Listen up: I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’”

There are double and triple meanings all through Jesus’ words here, and any way you take them, these are words Herod will not be happy to hear. First off calling him ‘that fox’ – in our day to call someone a ‘fox’ is either a comment on cleverness or a comment on attractiveness. Not so in ancient Israel: in Biblical times, according to Jewish scholars, calling someone a ‘fox’ meant they were to be considered “an insignificant person who lacks real power and dignity, and instead uses cunning and deceit to achieve his goals.”[1]

Jesus then continues: ‘I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow’ – in other words, ‘I am doing God’s work, I am performing miracles, and I am overcoming the works of Satan’ – which would have irritated Herod because Luke tells us back in Chapter 9 that Herod had been trying to see Jesus. Herod had heard about Jesus’ miracles and he wanted to see a miracle. But Herod wasn’t interested in seeing people being healed; he was more like a spiritual sight-seer. He wanted to see something cool.

BTW Herod never did get to see any of Jesus’ miracles. When Jesus was finally brought to Herod after his arrest, Jesus did nothing and said nothing. Jesus, the man from God who loved all people and showed God’s goodness to everyone, had nothing to say to Herod.

Back to Jesus’ words: “… on the third day I finish my work.”  This could be taken a couple of ways: it could mean ‘the time is getting short’ and Jesus’ death is just around the corner; it could be a hint at Easter, the third day being the Resurrection. Either way, it means Jesus’ work is almost done.

But then Jesus goes on and says: “³³ Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’”  Jesus will die: but not in Galilee where Herod is king. Jesus will die in Jerusalem, as so many other prophets have; and he will die under Pilate, not under Herod.

As Jesus thinks ahead to his final journey to Jerusalem, he laments over the city. He says: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

In this short Gospel passage, then, we hear about three desires:

• The desire of Herod to see Jesus dead
• The desire of Jesus to care for Jerusalem and God’s people, to gather them together and protect them
• The desire of Jerusalem and God’s people to avoid being gathered

Which raises a question for us today: what do we desire? What do we long for? And if we achieve what we desire, what will be the cost?

Jesus warned his disciples that the cost of following him meant taking up our crosses and going where he leads. Of course this is metaphorical: not every Christian is literally going to die on a cross. But it does mean the road won’t be easy. The journey will have its share of pain and suffering. There will be times when we will be asked to make sacrifices for the sake of others. And if we try to avoid these pains, we end up avoiding the road to eternal life.

Jesus also thinks long-term. (Jesus thinks in terms of eternity!) If we’re going to follow Jesus we need to do the same. We need to be thinking: if I do this, what might happen a year from now, or five years from now, or 20 years from now? What are the things that really matter for a lifetime, or for eternity? Followers of Jesus think ahead because Jesus does.

Jesus knows why he’s preaching and healing: he’s in a war against evil and death. He is demonstrating God’s power and love, even though he knows the resulting popularity with the common people is carrying him closer to the cross with every passing day.

What Jesus longs for, what he desires, is to gather his people together under his wings. He warns Jerusalem that if they say ‘no’ and refuse to be gathered, “their house will be left to them desolate.” This prophecy came true in the year 70AD when the Romans attacked Jerusalem and left nothing standing and no-one living.

But the Old Testament prophets also promised the time would come when Jerusalem would return to the Lord; that the time would come when, in the words of Zechariah, “they will look on him whom they have pierced” and say “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

All of us today who take shelter under Jesus’ wings will one day discover that we are standing in God’s glory. This is the promise the apostle Luke gives us today, along with the question: are we willing to be gathered under the wings of our Lord, even though it will cost us? Will we take shelter under these glory-filled wings?

Let’s pray: Lord thank you that you don’t mince words with us; thank you for being honest about what it takes to follow you and what it costs. Thank you for being honest with us about your desires, and especially your desire to gather us together under your wings. Help us Lord to say ‘yes’ and come close to you and take shelter. Thank you for inviting us. AMEN.

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church and Spencer United Methodist Church, 3/13/2002

[1] CMJ commentary

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Lent 1: The Temptation of Jesus

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,  ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.  ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”  ⁴ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.'”  ⁵ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  ⁶ And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.  ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”  ⁸ Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'”  ⁹ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,  ¹⁰ for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’  ¹¹ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'”  ¹² Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”  ¹³ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.” – Luke 4:1-13  

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As we head into this journey of Lent we head into a season that is both challenging and encouraging. It’s a challenging season because once again we witness the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It’s a challenging season because we are reminded of our faults, and we are called to confess our sins to God. It’s a challenging season because we are reminded, in the words of Ash Wednesday, that all of us “are dust and to dust we shall return”.

But Lent is also an encouraging season because the days are getting longer, and by the time Easter comes the flowers will be blooming. It’s an encouraging season most of all because Jesus will break the chains of sin and death and set us free. Like Israel coming out of Egypt and out of slavery in the Old Testament, we will be led out of the grave and live.

I got a note in the mail this past week from a pastor friend who said: “Lent is my favorite season of the church calendar [because] God’s people are given an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus.”

What an inspiring thought! For me personally I’ve always felt like Lent is kind of dark and heavy, but this year especially – as we begin to pull out of COVID just a little bit – I find my pastor-friend is right. The best thing about Lent is we get to know Jesus better, and there’s nothing more wonderful than that.

As we begin our journey of Lent, the first milestone is Ash Wednesday, in which we are reminded of our own mortality. The second milestone is today, the first Sunday of Lent. Today we have the opportunity to observe Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by the devil, and we see what Jesus does and how he responds.

Jesus has just been baptized, and he had barely started his public ministry when the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness. In the wilderness, Jesus will have the opportunity to work out and put into words his calling and ministry. Jesus is very clear, from start to finish, that he is not just another prophet, but is the Son of God.

Meanwhile, during Lent, the contemporary church tends to focus on repentance and resisting temptation. One of the great things about today’s reading is it reminds us that our ability to repent and to resist temptation is rooted in our relationship with God. This is true of Jesus and it’s true of us as well.

So let’s dig into this passage.

Jordanian Wilderness

Luke tells us Jesus is now “filled with the Holy Spirit”.  Jesus has always walked with God throughout his life, but when John the Baptist baptized him, scripture tells us the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus in the form of a dove and in power. This was seen by all the people who were there. The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus for ministry – and the Holy Spirit empowers us as well. The people watching also heard a voice from heaven saying, “you are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)

Directly after this, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where the Bible says he was tempted for forty days by the devil. The Spirit sometimes does lead us into places of testing, though God will never allow us to be tested beyond our strength. Testing, like exercise, may not always be pleasant but it makes us stronger.

The fact that the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness is significant. Jesus has been led into a place similar to the place Israel was in, back in the Exodus. There is a great parallel between Israel’s liberation from slavery and journey into the Promised Land, and Jesus leading us out of sin and death into God’s Kingdom. This parallel will be repeated over and over in the Gospels and the New Testament.

So Jesus in the wilderness represents us, because we live in a wilderness. (If there’s any doubt of that, ten minutes of watching the evening news will convince us otherwise.)

As it was for Israel, and as it is for us, the wilderness is a place of temptation. It is a place where we are always in a position of having to choose between what’s right and what’s wrong, between doing things honestly or using questionable means.

Let’s take a look at how Jesus handles temptation.

First off, Luke tells us Jesus is fasting. Luke doesn’t comment on this except to say that Jesus is fasting, but leaders of the ancient church taught that fasting has a way of focusing one’s attention and one’s sense of purpose. It sort of gathers up all the inner resources and strengthens them.

Church members sometimes ask me about fasting, and for those who may be curious about it, I think fasting does strengthen us spiritually. Some notes:

• Make sure you’re healthy enough to do it. Any question, check with your doctor.
• It’s possible to do little “mini-fasts” like not eating meat for a day or two… or fasting from a single meal.
• If you choose to fast, drink LOTS of water.
• When fasting, the first day is the hardest – after that the body adapts. A few days is usually not difficult to do if we’re healthy.

Which leads me to Luke’s next comment: Luke says Jesus fasted for forty days. This is an extremely long fast: dangerously long. Luke comments “Jesus was hungry”. This is the body’s signal that a danger zone has been reached. Strange as it seems, people who fast generally aren’t hungry most of the time, until that danger zone is reached. When hunger returns, food must be given soon to prevent death. Modern medicine tells us that, when fasting, physical weakness usually begins at 30-50 days and death at 43-70 days. Jesus is now at Day 40. He’s right on the edge.

With Jesus in this weakened state, this is where the devil begins to tempt. The same is true for us: we are tempted most when we’re at our weakest.

It’s hard to imagine the kind of creature that would try to take advantage of someone at death’s door. Scripture describes this creature as a ‘devil’ or a ‘deceiver’ or a ‘slanderer’. This creature is totally lacking in empathy, is interested only in itself, and is without mercy or kindness.

It’s hard for us to imagine a being like this. CS Lewis once commented that when he was writing The Screwtape Letters, in which he writes about a demon trainee, that he had difficulty with it – because here on this earth, no matter how bad things get, we are always surrounded by God’s goodness: in nature, in food, in clothing, and in family and neighbors and friends. It’s difficult for us to imagine what a total lack of goodness would be like. But a total lack of goodness would describe this character Jesus is talking to.

And the accuser comes at Jesus with three temptations.

The first one is: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  What a cruel thing to say to someone who is starving! The cutting edge of this temptation is the word IF. ‘IF you are the Son of God.’ As if God wasn’t taking proper care of his own son. As if God was lying when God said “this is my son who I love.” As if Jesus is delusional because he believes he’s the Son of God.

There are people in this world who think Jesus being the Son of God is a delusion. They’ll say “oh Jesus was a just good man” or “Jesus was just a wise man”. Scripture doesn’t give us that option. CS Lewis said it well:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. […]A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. […] Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to….”[1]

Jesus answers this temptation with Scripture. He says: “One does not live by bread alone…” This is the first half of an Old Testament verse that reads: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”  The devil has been tempting Jesus to not trust that God will provide – which is absurd. God provides for Jesus, and for all us, with overwhelming goodness.

In addition to this, in the ancient world (even more so than today) a son was a father’s representative. A son’s identity and honor and status were rooted in his family’s honor and status.[2] Where you saw the Father you saw the Son, and vice versa – not just in terms of family, but legally and in the public eye. So God the Father would never abandon or even harm the reputation of his Son.

In the second temptation the deceiver shows Jesus, in an instant, “all the kingdoms of the world”.

• For anyone who has ever seen the original Star Trek episode City on the Edge of Forever, the time portal is a brilliant illustration.
  
• For the rest of us: Many Bible scholars believe the devil was talking about the power of Rome. But the original language says “the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the inhabited world…” which in those days would have included the Aztecs and the Vikings and the Ethiopians and the Chinese and any number of other cultures that existed back then.

The devil shows Jesus all of this – all the earthly powers that ever were or will be – and he says “I will give you all the glory and authority of these great earthly powers – for it has been given to me – and I can give it to anyone I please. It is yours, if you will worship me.”

There is some question as to how the devil got his hands on all the world’s power and glory – or is he lying? Could be either way. Could be what he’s talking about is the fact that Adam and Eve messed up, and ever since then our world has been in rebellion against God – which plays into the devil’s hands.

But imagine if Jesus had said ‘yes’ to this temptation and joined forces with the devil. Our world would never have had another ray of hope. Our world would have become a place of misery without relief. We would have no savior. We would all just be pawns in a game.

The ultimate truth is everything belongs to God. The devil is either lying or in error. Thank God, Jesus loves us too much to abandon us. Jesus knows how much God the Father loves us. Jesus knows we are made in God’s image, and we are children of God, and we are therefore his brothers and sisters. Jesus will not abandon us, not even for all the glory and power the world has to offer.

The third temptation is a little puzzling. In this one the devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem, to the very top of the temple, and says to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down – for it is written ‘He will command his angels concerning you’… and ‘on their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Once again the devil speaks that word ‘if’ – calling into question Jesus’ sonship, questioning if God is really his Father. On top of that he’s quoting scripture! But the devil’s challenge is just odd. What would be the point of doing what he suggests? Is the devil tempting Jesus to say ‘hold my beer’?  Jesus gets to the heart of the matter with his answer. He says: “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Don’t tempt God. Don’t call love into question.

The saying Jesus is quoting comes from Exodus. At one point during Israel’s journey in the wilderness, the Israelites were running low on water. They complained to Moses: and in this case they not only accused Moses but they accused God of wanting to harm them. The people said: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt—to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” And they said, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Moses named the place Massah and Meribah, which means “testing” and “strife”. And it made God angry.

So Jesus is saying ‘don’t test God’. Don’t put God on trial. Don’t see how far you can push God. Don’t think to yourself, “If I’m really God’s child I can do whatever I want!” Jesus is not about to lord his sonship over us the way Roman emperors do. Jesus is not going to take advantage of his position to do something silly or to show off. Neither should we.

For Jesus, living humbly as a human being among other human beings is his calling and his choice. Jesus considers it an honor to be one of us.

At this point the devil leaves him – scripture says, ‘until an opportune time’. That opportune time will come on Good Friday, when the devil will tempt him to abandon his mission and save himself from the cross. But that day is not yet. For the next six weeks, we will walk with Jesus as he ministers through Galilee and Jerusalem and Judea.

To prepare us for that journey, in the words of a Lenten prayer, let us pray together: “O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the Promised Land. Guide us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”[3]

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[1] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952

[2] Ruth Ann Reese, Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-luke-41-13

[3] Arland Hultgren, Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-luke-41-13-2

Preached at Carnegie United Methodist Church and Hill Top United Methodist Church, March 6 2022

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