Rev. Debbie Cato
Deut. 26:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13
Fairfield Community
Church
March 6, 2022
Let us Pray: God of the wilderness places in our lives,
it can be hard to hear you in the desert. It can be hard to hear you, so we
ask: make everything quiet. Pause the chaos. Still the rushing. Ease our racing
thoughts. Give us ears to hear your Word for us today which promises that even
in the desert you are full to the brim. We are listening. We ache for your good
news. Gratefully we pray, amen.
Temptation
Today is
the first Sunday of Lent and the lectionary has us starting with the temptation
of Jesus – at the very start of his ministry.
John just baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. Luke tells us that , “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.” Forty days is a
long time to be tempted!
Forty is an important number in the Bible. It’s mentioned 146 times in Scripture! The number 40 symbolizes a period of testing or trial. During Moses life, he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God chose him to lead his people out of slavery into the Promised Land.
Moses spent forty
days and nights on Mt. Sinai – twice, receiving God’s laws.
And of course, he spent 40 years leading the Israelites out of slavery and into the Promised Land.
The prophet Jonah warned the Ninevites for forty days that they would be destroyed because of their sins, and they repented, and God saved them.
Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb.
Jesus appeared to his disciples and others for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead and before his ascension. Forty days.
There are forty days of Lent, starting with Ash Wednesday. Forty days of testing and trial. Forty days of repentance and drawing closer to God. Forty days of understanding what our faith means to us. Forty days of letting go of things that stand in the way of our relationship with Christ. Forty days of getting closer to God. Forty days of walking to the cross with Jesus so that we can truly understand the grace and hope of the resurrection. Forty days to help us understand the joy behind the Hallelujah on Easter morning when we shout together, “He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!”
We can learn important things about temptation from Jesus’ forty days of temptation. First, Luke says, “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.” Did you hear that? Jesus was both full of the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit. Whoa! What’s up with that?! No one could be more full of the Holy Spirit that Jesus, right?! This is so incredible to me.
We believe in the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three God’s in One. So, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have a pretty close relationship! But this very Spirit, a very part of him, leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil! This is amazing to me.
Jesus is the very way of God, He is God, but he is about to enter his ministry and he has to be bullet proof. He has to be ready because he will be tested at every point in his ministry.
Why should we think that being committed to the way of God in the world exempts us from this same struggle? In fact, it is those who are most engaged in the way of God who experience most intensely the opposition of evil. If Jesus struggled, why should we think we are exempt?[1]
Jesus’ temptations teach us that real temptation summons us to do something that much good can be said. Stones to bread – the hungry hope so; take political control – the oppressed hope so; leap from the temple – those longing for proof of God’s power among us hope so. Real temptation is an offer not to fall, but to rise.[2] That’s why it is so tempting. It can sound like such a good thing to do.
When Satan tempted Eve in the garden, he didn’t ask her if she wanted to be like the devil. He asked her if she wanted to be like God. 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,[a] knowing good and evil.”
Temptation is an indication of strength, not weakness. We are not tempted to do what we cannot do, but what is within our power. The greater the strength, the greater the temptation.
But I think Jesus’ temptations; his forty days of fasting and time in the desert teaches us even more. Even in the desert, Jesus expands our definitions of a full life. It’s not the life the Tempter presents: a life defined by excess power, control, or reign. Jesus sees beyond this facade and says, even in the midst of fasting, “One does not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4). Excess is not abundance, but there is more. There is a fuller life we are called to live.[3]
Even in the midst of struggle, oppressive forces, hardship, and grief—God’s promises spill over, like the bounty of the first fruits from the ground. Even in the desert, we are called to the riverside to be washed by grace. Even in the desert—in spaces cracked dry of life and flourishing—and even when we have felt deserted— abandoned and alone—God promises to be with us.[4]
Images are coming out of Ukraine of Christians gathered in train stations and bus stations worshiping God and praising God in the midst of warring attacks from Russia. Images of courageous Russian citizens protesting the attacks on Ukraine in the streets of Russian. Images of the fullness of a life in Christ standing up to oppressive forces, believing in the promises of God even though they are living in their own desert; their own desolation. These are images of God’s grace washing over people under siege.
Lent invites us into our own wilderness journey. It’s a patient walk of exploration which we inevitably escape on Easter morning. Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia, a presbyterian pastor and vice moderator of General Assembly, says: “But if I were really honest with myself (and with all of you), I would say that we are never leaving this desolation. These doubts are rooted in the limitations of who we are as human beings, falling short of transformation over and over again. But what if it isn’t about getting out of the desert? What if we are called to dwell in our doubts, fears, anxieties, and brokenness? What if we are meant to stand in solidarity with those trapped in their own wilderness experiences? I wonder if we can imagine making a home right here, a place existing in the tension between desolation and burgeoning possibility. In the desert, we cast aside the temptations of this world and actively engage in the promise that abundant love will always have the final say. The desert may very well be right where we belong.”[5]
In the desert, we cast aside the temptations of this world and actively engage in the promise that abundant love will always have the final say. The desert may very well be right where we belong. What do you think about that?
Last week we talked about mountaintop experiences and how we can’t wait for those to happen. God moments happen in the ordinariness of life. Life on the plain, the valley, perhaps the desert, the wilderness. In my experience, much of life takes place in desert places. Places where I’m most unsure, most uncomfortable, most insecure. Where I need God the most. I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Dependence. That’s my star word. We are meant to be dependent on God.
Not high on the temptation of living life on our own. Doing what we think is best. Living “the good life” because we have the resources, the ability, the wherewithal. That’s the temptation.
Lent is here to help us see the temptations in our life and let them go. To be comfortable in the desert. Dependent on God and reminded of His promises and his unconditional love for us.
What do you need to let go of that is in the way of your relationship with God in the next 36 days? For me it’s my independence. My quick thinking and decision making. My “I know best.” “I know what God wants.” I need to spend more time in prayer each day rather than jumping into everything I need to get done. That’s my biggest temptation – everything that needs to get done. My Lent commitment is spending time with God. Just being with God rather than doing for God. It’s called Centering Prayer. Just sitting and listening. It’s hard. But I’m committed to trying every day. And then time in scripture. Not working on a sermon or a Bible study but just listening for God. Every morning before I jump into work. It’s a commitment. It takes a chunk out of my day. But it’s something I should be doing and you know, it brings me tremendous peace. A peace that lasts all day. I feel God’s presence stronger all day.
What is it for you? Will you do something during this season to let God in and see how your faith might grow? It’s all between you and God. A fuller life awaits us all. Do we have the courage to open ourselves up to what He offers? Do we have the patience to sit in the desert? Amen.
[1] Luke.
Interpretation: A Bible
Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Fred
Craddock. P55.
[2] Ibid. P56
[3]
Full to the Brim.
Sanctified Art.org First Sunday
of Lent.
[4]
Full to the Brim. Sanctified
Art.org First Sunday of Lent.by Rev.
Larissa Kwong Abazia
[5]
Full to the Brim. Sanctified
Art.org First Sunday of Lent.by Rev.
Larissa Kwong Abazia
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