1st Sunday in Lent, February 10, 2008, “Series A”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Almighty God, your Son fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, but remained faithful to you and to his mission to redeem us from sin and death. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to overcome our weakness, that we might be strengthened in the faith of our baptism, and walk in communion with you. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
In the verses that precede our Gospel lesson for this morning, Matthew records Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist at the Jordan. There, Matthew tells us that as Jesus immerged from the waters, the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven was heard declaring, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am will pleased.”
And the first thing that the Spirit does, is to lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Doesn’t this seem a little odd, that the Spirit of God, that was to strengthen Jesus throughout his ministry, would, before he preached his first sermon, before he called his first disciple, before he performed his first miracle, lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted? And yet, this is what all three of the Synoptic Gospel proclaim. So lets look at our text and try to discern what this event, that precedes Jesus’ ministry proclaims.
First, Matthew tells us that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. That number is significant, not so much because it inspired the time frame for the season of Lent, but because it is reminiscent of the 40 years that Israel wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus. Following the last of the ten plagues, which God inflicted upon Egypt to free Israel from bondage, they were tested in faith before entering the Promised Land.
Israel had just entered into a covenantal relationship with God, who not only freed them from bondage, but also gave them the Ten Commandments as the means by which they might live in relationship with God. During those 40 years, Israel’s faith was tested, that they might trust in God, and become his people by embracing the terms of his covenant.
Thus, Jesus, following his baptism, in which he was proclaimed the Son of God, and before he began his ministry, spent 40 days in the wilderness in which he came to embrace and to trust, in his humanity, the terms of the new covenant that God would enact, through him.
And during those 40 days of spiritual retreat, Matthew tells us that Jesus fasted, and at the end of that time of fasting, he was famished. Well, according to the commentaries that I read on this text, that does not mean that this was the first of Jesus’ miracles. “Fasting” does not mean that Jesus had nothing to eat or drink for forty days. None of us could survive that. Jesus most like ate berries and drank from streams, enough to sustain his life. However, fasting indicates a period of self-denial, in which Jesus came to reflect upon what it meant to live in a covenantal relationship with God. In other words, he trusted God to provide for his basic needs, as he contemplated how he might live his life according to his Father’s will.
Now, it doesn’t sound too odd to me, that God’s Spirit would lead Jesus into the wilderness, before he began his ministry. In fact, it makes a lot of sense. In fact, might each of us be open to God’s Spirit leading us to emulate Jesus during these 40 days of Lent – to spend this time contemplating how we might better live our lives in accordance to the will of God. For we, too, have been baptized into the redeeming grace of God, in which God has claimed us as his own, an adopted child of God.
So lets look at the temptations that Jesus faced, temptations that confront us all. And how crafty the tempter is! Notice how he confronts Jesus. “If you are the Son of God…” “If” Right from the very beginning the temper strikes at the very heart of faith. At his baptism, God had just proclaimed Jesus to be his Beloved Son. Should he now doubt it? Should he have to prove it?
And what about us? Do we believe and trust in the fact, that as a result of our baptism, God has proclaimed us to be his daughters and sons, grafted into the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, and heirs of his kingdom? Should we doubt it? Should we have to prove it?
Inherent in this approach to Jesus is the idea that our relationship with God should grant us special favors. Even though Jesus was famished, had only enough to eat and drink to sustain his life for the past 40 days, he says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Now, I have no doubt that Jesus could have done that. After all, he was able to multiply a few loaves of bread to feed over five thousand people. But he didn’t! Rather, he quoted to the temper a passage from the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Jesus did not use his relationship with God to meet his own personal needs. Here, before he even began his ministry, we are given a glimpse of Jesus’ willingness to sacrifice his own human need in submission to the will of his heavenly Father. He would not use his power for personal gain.
Perhaps God’s Spirit might lead us to ponder this thought as we walk through these 40 days of Lent. Perhaps we might contemplate the fact that being God’s children through baptism, is not intended to satisfy our human hunger for the many things we feel that we need in this life. Rather, by focusing on the Word of God, we satisfy our deepest hunger – that of walking in relationship with God.
The second temptation that Jesus faces is so common to us all. We know the teachings of our faith. And yet, how easy it is for someone to quote a passage of Scripture, and ask us to defend it. Here, the tempter does just that. He cites a passage Psalm 91, and encourages Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple to prove the validity of the text he has quoted.
I have no doubt that Jesus could have done this. After all, Matthew later records that Jesus was able to walk on water in a stormy sea, to calm the fears of his disciples. But Jesus didn’t. Rather, he again quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy, this time the 6th chapter, saying to the tempter, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
How many times I have hear someone mumble as they put their last twenty dollars in a ticket machine, “God, if you love me, let me hit this one, or I’ll be broke till next pay day.” You don’t know how that tears at my heart. And yet, do we not all, in some way, put our relationship with God to the test, asking for some special favor, or hoping that our relationship with God will somehow grant us protection from the woes of human life? Perhaps God’s Spirit can lead us to contemplate this thought during these 40 days of Lent.
Finally, the tempter took Jesus to a high mountain, and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world. This time, without invoking the phrase, “If you are the Son of God,” the tempter simply says to Jesus, “all this I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” This temptation was not seated in the expectation that because of Jesus’ relationship with God, he could expect certain privileges, it was simply the lure of earthly wealth and power, to draw Jesus away from living his life in relationship with God. But again, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, chapter 6, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
Now here is a temptation that strikes at the heart of each and every one of us. The lure of the world, the business of our schedule, the many opportunities that lure us away from our faith and walk in our baptismal relationship with God are enormous. And over the years of my ministry, I have seen these lures take their toll, on the active attendance and participation of the baptized members in the life of Christ’s Church. In fact, my heart was broken this past Wednesday, as only twenty some persons, from three congregations, gathered to begin this Lenten season.
I’m not calling for excuses, or an apology. I’m praying that God’s Spirit might lead us all through these 40 days to truly come to understand what it means to be a child of God, and to live in relationship with our Creator, as his sons and daughters. The temptations that Jesus faced are real. The temptations that we face are real. But we have been given the Spirit of God, and his Word for us in the Scriptures. May we use this time to truly come to grasp what it means to walk through our lives in relationship with God.
Amen.
