First Sunday of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 • Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 • Romans 10:8b-13 • Luke 4:1-13
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where 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. 3The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.' 4Jesus answered him, 'It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’' 5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And 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. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.' 8Jesus answered him, 'It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’' 9Then 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, 10for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’' 12Jesus answered him, 'It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’' 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time."
“Pastor Jon, is Jesus stronger than Pokémon?”
I think we can all agree that kids can ask such funny but at the same time profoundly truthful and heartfelt questions about God. That question was one of the ones I’ve been asked before that I have been reflecting on this past week in light of our texts for today. A few others I have been asked are, “Is Jesus stronger than Zeus?” “Is Jesus more powerful than any superhero?” Yes was always my answer. And every time, the response was hushed amazement: “Wooooow.”
Who are the superheroes that you adore? Perhaps even as an adult you have one. I know for me, when I was six it was all about He-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Superman, to name a few. All the comic book and cartoon heroes that fascinate us all have things about them in common: they all have some special power that no one else has; they have a side kick or cadre; they have some master or teacher who instructs them, and they all at some point have to face evil, and defeat some snarly looking opponent. Usually when they are at their weakest, they defeat them all on their own, which increases their powers even more.
We all have a superhero who shares these qualities, but whose power goes way beyond our imaginations. He too has to go out and face the wilderness on his own, and defeat the devil. Jesus is on a mission to demonstrate the greatness of his super powers. But Jesus isn’t on this mission to win a popularity contest. He’s not been created and marketed by strategists and consultants to demonstrate his greatness so they can successfully rake in big bucks after his victory. He doesn’t come to feed his or our appetites for entertainment. Jesus is in his own class of superhero. He is the Messiah. And there’s only one of these. Jesus has a master, God, who gives him this title of Messiah at his baptism that he now has to prove worthy of.
Jesus has an opponent that he must overcome. If he can pass this test, his name and his power will be legitimized not just in God’s eyes but in our eyes too. Jesus’ test is one he must face alone, hungry and thirsty in the wilderness. And he passes the test in ways so resounding, so humble, and with such integrity, that we cannot call him anything but the Christ. Jesus resists the devil’s temptations in the wilderness not once, not twice, but three times.
When he gets asked to show his Messiah-powers, he resists the temptation to try and speak his own words. He quotes Scripture. He quotes his past. He quotes the memory of his community: “One does not live by bread alone…Worship the Lord your God and serve only him…Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Luke 4:4,8,12)
Jesus resists doing all the things the devil asks him to do to serve himself. But he does do them later in service to us. He doesn’t turn stones into bread on request to be showy, but later on he turns two loaves and two fishes into enough to feed the hunger of five thousand. He doesn’t bow down to the devil in worship and legitemize evil’s power. He makes the devil lie down and worship him—while he is standing risen outside of an empty tomb that’s defeated death for us. Jesus doesn’t leap 430 feet down from the top of the Jerusalem Temple to the bottom of the Kidron Valley below—about the height of the Eiffel Tower. But he does jump across the valley of the shadow of death for our sake.
In saying no to these temptations, Jesus has taken away the suspicion that these temptations are harmless and safe: temptations of turning inwards on ourselves, of lusting for success at any cost, and of doing what’s popular and spectacular. Jesus feels the weight of the temptations we face…when we feel the weight of no one else being able to bear the weight of what we’re going through; when we feel the weight of everyone else saying it won’t hurt anyone to lie about this; when we feel the weight of worrying about what everyone else will say…all these temptations that wrestle with us and seem to crush us with their heaviness…Jesus takes their weight off our backs. Jesus lightens our load.
But even though Jesus has defeated temptation for us, even though he did it—he showed his power—we will still struggle! Yes, even as baptized children of God we will struggle with temptation. This is a struggle we’re all engaged with this Lenten season. But with Jesus taking temptation’s toughness away, we can let go of having to be superhero Messiahs that think we are the ones who have to get the weight of evil off of us. With Jesus taking temptations’ toughness away, we can resist doing it because everyone else is doing it. With Jesus taking temptations’ toughness away, we can be free of worrying that our only way to get ahead is to forget that which is most truly important to us.
Now let me be real with you for a moment. As we all pray “not to fall into temptation” in the Lord’s Prayer, one of the places we most need Jesus to come and take the temptation to save ourselves, to serve ourselves, to drive for power at any cost is…the church. When Jesus defeats the devil and the devil withdrawls, that means we don’t each have to be the star emperors and empresses of the church. That means we all get to be the empower-ers who build the church up together. It’s not we who are in control of the church. It’s not any of us. It’s Jesus.
In some fundamental ways, Jesus taking temptation’s toughness away ushers in a new kind of leadership in the church that it so desperately, desperately needs. The church hungers for leadership that serves others; that builds us all up and that is not dictated by big personalities, that is not desperate for a superstar leader. Jesus leads us by serving us and building us up—by working in each of us personally and as a church collectively, getting us through the temptations of the wilderness to the promised land—so that we can then go public as a church with the sharing of the good news of who it is who got us through.
We have begun Lent, a time where that weight of temptation is heavy. It is close. But Jesus’ release from that temptation is even closer. Jesus is serving us and building us up even in this wilderness, even as we lead ourselves away from the abundant life God offers us. Jesus is building up and fortifying our immunity and resistance to the weaknesses of the wilderness.
In this time of Lent, the church has traditionally gone through a time of called “the catechumenate”, a time of instruction in the life of faith and of retelling of the story of God’s mighty acts in Scripture for those preparing for Baptism. This morning we have welcomed several inquirers into this time of preparation today: Robin Glade who is seeking to be baptized; Matt Mercado who is seeking to be baptized and who with his wife Karen Gustafson wishes to join our congregation; Mike Podolak who is seeking to become a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by affirming his baptism, and who also with his wife Jenifer wishes to join our congregation; and Sandra Welch and her husband George who are preparing for their child Isabelle’s baptism. All of these “catechumens” will be baptized or affirm their baptism at the close of our forty day Lenten wilderness journey, at the Easter Vigil worship service on April 3rd (at 7:30pm—hope you can be there!). When we collectively surround and walk with these inquirers into the faith, we testify to Jesus’ release from the temptation to believe the church is “members only”—that it’s only about us who have been here forever. As we surround them in these forty days with our support, we resist the temptation to believe that these brothers and sisters have not already been a part of the unfolding story of God’s grace for longer than they know. Jesus has taken that kind of belief that defies God off of our shoulders, so he can take it into the wilderness and put it to death on a cross at Calvary. Jesus lightens that load so when we get to the end of these forty days, and we get to the promised land, we can, as we’re told in Deuteronomy today, we can give our “first fruits” of praise that yes, Jesus is greater and has more power than any superhero we have ever known. We will know it when we see this Messiah, this Christ, has carried the weight to build us up and to serve us. We will know it so well that when we get to the other side of the wilderness we as the church will be able to say: “There goes our superhero. There is our Messiah.” Amen.
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