Sermon – Opportune Times . . . Rev. Sandy Lacey March 09, 2025
Last Wednesday we began the season of Lent, signified by the color purple you see in the Sanctuary. The church season of Lent is 40 days (plus Sundays) of reflection, examination and penitence leading up to Easter. It is a necessary time before Easter because without it, we cannot fully appreciate the cost of the resurrection story. We must intentionally take some time and energy to sit quietly, listen for God’s voice, and examine our lives. After all, Easter is more than spring flowers, fluffy bunnies, baby chicks, and candy. We began our 40 days of Lent with an Ash Wednesday service in which we are viscerally reminded of our mortality, our smallness before God. It is one of the rare worship services in which we are forced to participate as we are physically marked with ashes and reminded that we are “from dust and it is to dust that we shall return.” We are not immortal. We are human beings created by God and our time on earth is very temporary. We must, therefore, make the most of it. I was pleased to see many of you choose to begin the season of Lent by joining us on Wednesday. Today’s text in the Gospel of Luke has the Spirit accompany Jesus into the wilderness so that he might solidify his identity and what it means for him to be the Son of God. In considering his identity, he discovers there are some traps to avoid – traps of self-reliance, traps of worshiping other gods, and traps of putting God to the test. Right before today’s passage, Jesus’ identity is confirmed by God’s voice at his baptism, saying, “You are my Son and I love you.” All good journeys must begin with discernment, and Jesus does that. After the 40 days of Jesus’ discernment, he will begin teaching and preaching the good news. Jesus knows these 40 days in the wilderness will be formative for him as he begins his ministry. Would that we all take the time to prayerfully discern direction before we step forward! It can cause big problems when we do not take our time for prayerful discernment because it makes us more susceptible to falling into the traps of temptation. Following Jesus’ wade into the water, Luke tells us that the Spirit led him into the wilderness where he was confronted by the devil. The Greek word for devil, diabolos, is anything that “throws you off course” and calls your identity into question. The OT, likewise, uses the word, “Satan”, to refer to the Adversary who throws you off course. So, Jesus has been declared by God’s Spirit to be the “Son of God” and now must decide what that means and how it will be demonstrated in his life, and the diabolos is there to cause disruptions. First, Luke tells us that Jesus has been in the wilderness fasting for 40 days and he is famished. Most of us know that that anything 40 in the Bible is generally code for being a long time, not necessarily for an actual 40 days (even though that is possible too.) What the Gospel writer is communicating to you and me is that Jesus was led by the Spirit into a scary and desolate place for a long time and he refrained from eating during that long period of time. As a consequence, Jesus was very hungry. The first temptation Jesus encountered, therefore, was self-indulgence or self-reliance. He was hungry and since he was God’s son, why not take care of your needs first/feed yourself so that you can help others? “Turn these stones into bread” – God won’t mind – after all, you need nourishment to do ministry, right?” “Since you are God’s son, then turn these stones into bread” as if the devil affirms that Jesus is God’s son but wants to challenge him on how that will be demonstrated. “Since you are God’s son, you can turn these stones into bread and take care of your hunger yourself.” But Jesus remembers the Hebrew story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness with no bread and no water and he remembers that God provided for both their bread and their water. And God will provide for his needs as well. So, Jesus quoted from the Deuteronomy story and refused to indulge his needs. It is as if he said, “there is something larger at stake here than my immediate needs; I must trust that God will provide.” Are we not tempted in the same way? Most of us lean toward the airplane oxygen mask theory – we must place the oxygen mask on ourselves before we help anyone else. On an airplane that probably works; however, we do not live our lives on an airplane. Trusting God to provide, rather than “taking matters into our own hand” is how Jesus understood Scripture and how he will choose to do ministry. The second temptation Jesus encounters is about power. Since you are God’s son, look at all that is available to you – “Great Big Cosmic Power”, the ability to rule over all these kingdoms. “Look how much good you can do, Jesus! Think of all the people you can help. Think of the media outlets you can use. Think of the wars you can prevent. You could be President and tell everyone what to do. Why, you’ll be unstoppable, Jesus!” (Small disclaimer: you would be worshipping me, but that is a small price to pay for all the good you can accomplish.) Jesus tells the Adversary that the end does not justify the means. Lord Acton of the 19th century was correct when he penned the phrase, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But Jesus did not need Lord Acton to know how to respond. His response to this temptation is to again quote from Deuteronomy, that one must worship only God, and the source of all power must come from God alone. God will provide what is needed to accomplish what is good and right – power trips are never part of what God intends, and they never accomplish what was originally intended. In addition, we know that Jesus’ kind of power is the power to serve, rather than to be served. I wish I could say that we do not face this temptation . . . but we do. Give us a little experience and a new leadership position and we are tempted to think we have all the answers and that our critics and detractors are just jealous. Give us a little power and sometimes we cannot help but throw our weight around a little . . . even to accomplish good things. Power can lead to all manner of evil, from stepping on others to climb higher, to putting others in what we perceive to be their place, to subjecting an entire gender of people to be subservient and meek, to subjecting an entire race of people to think they do not matter and must bow to our superiority. Power is easily a temptation trap and the only power we need to demonstrate is the power to listen and wait for God’s voice and God’s direction. The third temptation Jesus encounters is rooted in the demon of anxiety or our need to be right. “We’re way up here on the top of the Temple Jesus. You remember the Temple, right? God resides here. This is your place too. Or is it? Are you sure you are God’s son, Jesus? We can make sure real quick – just jump off here and has God not said that you will be protected? (The voice quotes Scripture – Psalm 91.) Let’s prove it Jesus; let’s test the waters so that you can be sure.” This will not be the last time Jesus is tempted in this way for he will be tempted by jeering soldiers as he is dying on the cross – “if/since you are the Son of God, call him and ask him to save you or better yet, save yourself!” And his disciple, Judas, will be tempted in the same way as well. It is as if he says to himself, “I will have him arrested and force his hand so that he will have to exercise the power I know he has.” Falling for this temptation did not work for Judas and it does not work for us. Anxiety and fear that leads us to push the limits with God can look like refusing medical care or to be vaccinated because “God will take care of me.” In other words, instead of using good common sense and taking advantage of the healthcare we have been given, we choose to put God to the test. Jesus’ identity is wrapped up in who God is and who God has called Jesus to be. It is his job to reflect God. All three of the temptations that he encounters are self-serving and would not reflect God. And they are temptations that you and I face every day as well. We are likewise created in the image of God. Whose image do we reflect? For Jesus, this wilderness was a time to settle the “being” before he could begin the doing. It was a time of identity formation to help shape his ministry that will come later. Jesus was the perfect human being; he did exactly what was right to help form what his ministry would look like. I wish we could learn from Jesus’ example. It may take us a lot longer for identity formation because of all of our distractions. That is why some people choose to remove some of those distractions during the season of Lent. It will take our entire lifetime to learn how to mirror God’s image and resist the temptation traps that make us self-serving. Fortunately, we have a model, and we have the Spirit to guide us, even in a wilderness for 40 days or 40 years or longer. AMEN.
Last Wednesday we began the season of Lent, signified by the color purple you see in the Sanctuary. The church season of Lent is 40 days (plus Sundays) of reflection, examination and penitence leading up to Easter. It is a necessary time before Easter because without it, we cannot fully appreciate the cost of the resurrection story. We must intentionally take some time and energy to sit quietly, listen for God’s voice, and examine our lives. After all, Easter is more than spring flowers, fluffy bunnies, baby chicks, and candy. We began our 40 days of Lent with an Ash Wednesday service in which we are viscerally reminded of our mortality, our smallness before God. It is one of the rare worship services in which we are forced to participate as we are physically marked with ashes and reminded that we are “from dust and it is to dust that we shall return.” We are not immortal. We are human beings created by God and our time on earth is very temporary. We must, therefore, make the most of it. I was pleased to see many of you choose to begin the season of Lent by joining us on Wednesday. Today’s text in the Gospel of Luke has the Spirit accompany Jesus into the wilderness so that he might solidify his identity and what it means for him to be the Son of God. In considering his identity, he discovers there are some traps to avoid – traps of self-reliance, traps of worshiping other gods, and traps of putting God to the test. Right before today’s passage, Jesus’ identity is confirmed by God’s voice at his baptism, saying, “You are my Son and I love you.” All good journeys must begin with discernment, and Jesus does that. After the 40 days of Jesus’ discernment, he will begin teaching and preaching the good news. Jesus knows these 40 days in the wilderness will be formative for him as he begins his ministry. Would that we all take the time to prayerfully discern direction before we step forward! It can cause big problems when we do not take our time for prayerful discernment because it makes us more susceptible to falling into the traps of temptation. Following Jesus’ wade into the water, Luke tells us that the Spirit led him into the wilderness where he was confronted by the devil. The Greek word for devil, diabolos, is anything that “throws you off course” and calls your identity into question. The OT, likewise, uses the word, “Satan”, to refer to the Adversary who throws you off course. So, Jesus has been declared by God’s Spirit to be the “Son of God” and now must decide what that means and how it will be demonstrated in his life, and the diabolos is there to cause disruptions. First, Luke tells us that Jesus has been in the wilderness fasting for 40 days and he is famished. Most of us know that that anything 40 in the Bible is generally code for being a long time, not necessarily for an actual 40 days (even though that is possible too.) What the Gospel writer is communicating to you and me is that Jesus was led by the Spirit into a scary and desolate place for a long time and he refrained from eating during that long period of time. As a consequence, Jesus was very hungry. The first temptation Jesus encountered, therefore, was self-indulgence or self-reliance. He was hungry and since he was God’s son, why not take care of your needs first/feed yourself so that you can help others? “Turn these stones into bread” – God won’t mind – after all, you need nourishment to do ministry, right?” “Since you are God’s son, then turn these stones into bread” as if the devil affirms that Jesus is God’s son but wants to challenge him on how that will be demonstrated. “Since you are God’s son, you can turn these stones into bread and take care of your hunger yourself.” But Jesus remembers the Hebrew story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness with no bread and no water and he remembers that God provided for both their bread and their water. And God will provide for his needs as well. So, Jesus quoted from the Deuteronomy story and refused to indulge his needs. It is as if he said, “there is something larger at stake here than my immediate needs; I must trust that God will provide.” Are we not tempted in the same way? Most of us lean toward the airplane oxygen mask theory – we must place the oxygen mask on ourselves before we help anyone else. On an airplane that probably works; however, we do not live our lives on an airplane. Trusting God to provide, rather than “taking matters into our own hand” is how Jesus understood Scripture and how he will choose to do ministry. The second temptation Jesus encounters is about power. Since you are God’s son, look at all that is available to you – “Great Big Cosmic Power”, the ability to rule over all these kingdoms. “Look how much good you can do, Jesus! Think of all the people you can help. Think of the media outlets you can use. Think of the wars you can prevent. You could be President and tell everyone what to do. Why, you’ll be unstoppable, Jesus!” (Small disclaimer: you would be worshipping me, but that is a small price to pay for all the good you can accomplish.) Jesus tells the Adversary that the end does not justify the means. Lord Acton of the 19th century was correct when he penned the phrase, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But Jesus did not need Lord Acton to know how to respond. His response to this temptation is to again quote from Deuteronomy, that one must worship only God, and the source of all power must come from God alone. God will provide what is needed to accomplish what is good and right – power trips are never part of what God intends, and they never accomplish what was originally intended. In addition, we know that Jesus’ kind of power is the power to serve, rather than to be served. I wish I could say that we do not face this temptation . . . but we do. Give us a little experience and a new leadership position and we are tempted to think we have all the answers and that our critics and detractors are just jealous. Give us a little power and sometimes we cannot help but throw our weight around a little . . . even to accomplish good things. Power can lead to all manner of evil, from stepping on others to climb higher, to putting others in what we perceive to be their place, to subjecting an entire gender of people to be subservient and meek, to subjecting an entire race of people to think they do not matter and must bow to our superiority. Power is easily a temptation trap and the only power we need to demonstrate is the power to listen and wait for God’s voice and God’s direction. The third temptation Jesus encounters is rooted in the demon of anxiety or our need to be right. “We’re way up here on the top of the Temple Jesus. You remember the Temple, right? God resides here. This is your place too. Or is it? Are you sure you are God’s son, Jesus? We can make sure real quick – just jump off here and has God not said that you will be protected? (The voice quotes Scripture – Psalm 91.) Let’s prove it Jesus; let’s test the waters so that you can be sure.” This will not be the last time Jesus is tempted in this way for he will be tempted by jeering soldiers as he is dying on the cross – “if/since you are the Son of God, call him and ask him to save you or better yet, save yourself!” And his disciple, Judas, will be tempted in the same way as well. It is as if he says to himself, “I will have him arrested and force his hand so that he will have to exercise the power I know he has.” Falling for this temptation did not work for Judas and it does not work for us. Anxiety and fear that leads us to push the limits with God can look like refusing medical care or to be vaccinated because “God will take care of me.” In other words, instead of using good common sense and taking advantage of the healthcare we have been given, we choose to put God to the test. Jesus’ identity is wrapped up in who God is and who God has called Jesus to be. It is his job to reflect God. All three of the temptations that he encounters are self-serving and would not reflect God. And they are temptations that you and I face every day as well. We are likewise created in the image of God. Whose image do we reflect? For Jesus, this wilderness was a time to settle the “being” before he could begin the doing. It was a time of identity formation to help shape his ministry that will come later. Jesus was the perfect human being; he did exactly what was right to help form what his ministry would look like. I wish we could learn from Jesus’ example. It may take us a lot longer for identity formation because of all of our distractions. That is why some people choose to remove some of those distractions during the season of Lent. It will take our entire lifetime to learn how to mirror God’s image and resist the temptation traps that make us self-serving. Fortunately, we have a model, and we have the Spirit to guide us, even in a wilderness for 40 days or 40 years or longer. AMEN.