Luke 4:1-13
If given a choice…most of us are not going to choose a path in life that is filled with difficulty (we raise our children teaching them to avoid it).
- But spiritual depth and growth happen as we respond to the trials…troubles…temptations…
- Testing and fear that arise in life.
- For many of us…it is in those times of challenge that we truly learn dependence on God.
- In such times we find that God graciously provides for our needs in all of life’s seasons.
The Lord be with you…
So…as we begin our forty-day Lenten journey…we intentionally take time for reflection and repentance.
- We do this by following the example of Jesus.
- And…as we meet up with Jesus today…
- We find he was led by the Spirit in the wilderness…where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.
- This is interesting…the Spirit does not just drop Jesus off in the wilderness to fend for himself.
- The Spirit continues to abide with him and enables him to grow stronger through this wilderness season.
As the devil tempts Jesus…he is in a state of utter mental and physical desperation.
- He has not eaten in weeks.
- He is hallucinating.
- He is thirsty and tired.
- He is feeling empty and powerless.
- He feels as though he is about to die.
- He feels vulnerable and alone…gaunt and weak.
- He feels scared.
But…he responds to these temptations rooted in the foundation of scripture and faith.
- First…Jesus is tempted with food…and Jesus says: one does not live by bread alone.
- Then…Jesus is tempted with power over all the kingdoms of the world.
- And Jesus answers: I worship God…not power.
- And finally…the devil tempts him to prove who he is by throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple.
- And Jesus refuses saying that we should not be in the business of trying to test God…or make God prove anything to us.
Now…you and I are not Jesus.
- We are far more vulnerable to being tempted by evil when we are weak and tired and hungry and alone…and most of all…fearful.
- And…fear creates anxiety.
- Our culture is ridden with fear and anxiety and stress.
Studies show that when people are under stressful conditions:
- The anxiety of losing wealth or status…
- The anxiety of illness…or worry over the decline of the middle class.
- The anxiety of poverty…or the fear of terrorism or war…
- People are less likely to love the stranger.
- In other words…when you and I are in the wilderness of perceived powerlessness…
- We adopt xenophobic…prejudiced and intolerant…tendencies to fear those different than us.
We adopt tendencies to scapegoat…to blame…to become more tribalistic…
- And surround ourselves with people we perceive to share the same values and the same characteristics.
- So…it should come as no surprise that we are most apt to be tempted by power when we are feeling powerless.
- We are tempted to believe we can control terrorism and violence through religious persecution.
- We are tempted to believe that our comfort level and safety is more secure…
- If we move to a geographical place where there is little racial…ethnic and economic diversity.
- We are tempted to believe that we can control an insecure economy by hoarding our own wealth…
- And by excluding and demonizing various groups of people like immigrants…welfare recipients…or any considered “other.”
That is…we are less likely to welcome the stranger when we are afraid.
- We are most vulnerable to being tempted by evil when we see the world in terms of scarcity…
- Rather than abundance.
- When we see people in the world as objects to be feared and despised…
- Rather than as God’s own beloved.
And so…we exploit the worst stereotypes we can think of about each other…
- So that we can no longer see one another.
- So that we can no longer see God in one another.
- And yet…Jesus reminds us:
- It is written…Worship the Lord your God…and serve only him.
- Which means simply:
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart…with all your mind and with all your soul…and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
OK then…we all face fear.
- But…we are asked to abide and live by the law of Love…
- To transform fear into beauty.
- I think that is one of the reasons why we come to church.
- So that we can use our fear to make something beautiful together.
- We as a Faith community do this through Good Gifts…and DayStar Life Center…World Hunger…Disaster relief…Lutheran Social Services…I could go on and on with this list…
- That is how we use our fear to make something beautiful.
We also use our fear to make something beautiful when we apply God’s grace to our very selves.
- We need to begin our Lenten journey knowing we are beloved children of God.
- Because voices other than God’s voice try to tell us our worth.
- Because the voices of professional advancement try to tell us our worth.
- Because the voices of various ranking systems in society try to tell us our worth.
- Because the voices in our own head try to tell us our worth.
- And when these other voices do that…may we again remember our baptism.
Remember that we have renounced the Devil and all his empty promises.
- Remember that we are marked with the cross of Christ.
- Remember that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
- Remember that we belong to God.
- Because nothing…nothing else gets to tell us who we are.
Lent gives us a time to live into this baptismal identity we have been given.
- A time to come clean about those things that tempt us.
- Lent can be a time when we flip the script on some of the harmful…inherited stories of our very own lives.
- This Lenten journey is a time when we can allow ourselves to be honest and vulnerable.
- It is a time when we can consider the way we try to hide our pain and our fear and the brokenness that shapes our being.
- Lent is a time when we find the freedom to confess the messiness of our lives.
Jesus’ receptivity to God’s grace shows us the way to turn toward God…
- Rather than away from God during our trials and temptations.
- And in turning to the grace of God…
- We will encounter a faithful God who leads us through the wilderness to new life.