Luke 4:1-13
Luke wrote his
gospel in a highly organized, pointed way. I would encourage you to actually
look at the layout of the gospel at some point for yourself. But I am going to
take my job as “teaching elder” more seriously this morning and talk you
through some of his organization. The gospel of Luke begins with his prologue
and dedication to Theophilus, Chapter 1:1-4. Luke then begins the gospel
narrative with the infancy stories, explaining about John the Baptist and Jesus’
conceptions and births. That story is told beginning in Chapter 1:5, continuing
through 2:21, the verse where Jesus is named, and then on through verse 39, his
presentation at the temple. All of these verses are for the purpose of showing,
proving, providing the signs that Jesus was the chosen one, that Jesus is the
messiah, the son of God. These verses establish for the listeners Jesus’
divinity. These are followed in Chapter 2: 41-52 by the one story we hear of
Jesus as a boy in which he was preaching in the temple. As I’m sure you
remember, his parents couldn’t find him, and finally when he was found in the
temple, Jesus scolded them for not understanding his role, his job, his
position as a temple leader. In the gospel of Luke, this story again serves the
purpose of showing us Jesus’ special calling and unique place in the history of
the Jewish people. In Chapter 3 John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus,
baptizes him, and then Jesus is marked by the descent of the holy spirit
pronouncing him to be God’s son. Finally, chapter three ends with Jesus’
genealogy. For the Jewish people, this would be like giving his credentials to
prove that he really was a person who was qualified to be the messiah. While
for us in the United States, this genealogy may not seem like an important sign
of Jesus’ kingship, try to understand this as a blood line monarchy. Descent is
important for a king to be considered legitimate. This was especially true for
the divine monarchy. Jesus’ genealogy would have been a critical, crucial part
of identifying and understanding who Jesus was.
Today’s scripture
reading about the temptations of Jesus then follow this genealogy. And in these verses as well, Luke is about
the work of establishing for us who Jesus is. Up to this point, Luke is telling
us that Jesus is in fact the Messiah, the chosen one. With the temptation stories,
Luke tells us what this Messiah is to be like. Or rather, these verses are key
as they lay out in exact terms who Jesus is NOT, what the Messiah is NOT going
to be, despite the expectations and hopes of the Jewish people of the time.
The Jews around the
time of Jesus’ life were expecting the Messiah, and looking for the Messiah.
But they had very specific ideas in mind of what that Messiah would look like,
who he would be, and what he would do. They believed the Messiah would be one
who would rid them of oppression, of poverty, and of hunger. And so Luke tells
us that Satan first tempted Jesus to perform the miracle of making stone into
bread. In this story, Satan tempts Jesus to make the bread to feed himself. But
I think it would have been very easy to justify giving in to this temptation
for the sake of other people. For the ability to turn stone into bread, the
choice to create food where there was none could have been used for the good of
the people; Jesus could have given in to this temptation and chosen to end
poverty and oppression for all people simply by turning stones into food,
necessities, the things people need. But Luke tells us this temptation came
from Satan: this was not Jesus’ job. Jesus was not called to simply wave his
hand and make everybody comfortable. And this story tells us that he resisted
the temptation to do so.
Many Jews at the
time believed the role of the Messiah would be to reestablish the kingdom of
Israel, overthrowing the Romans who ruled over the Jews and all the land of
Israel at this time in history. The second temptation addresses this. Satan
offers Jesus the power of the world, all fame, all authority. Jesus could have
used this gift for good as well. He could have overthrown any power, like the
Roman rule, that was oppressive and dominant, and establish a new rule, led by
himself, that was for good, that was just and kind. But this, too, was not what
he was called to do. We know this again because Luke tells us it is Satan who
offers this. This was not Jesus’ call, and so this temptation, too, he
resisted.
Finally, many
simply believed the Messiah would be a priest who would, through his power,
protect the people, care for the people, warding off all evil that might
threaten their lives or their comfort. And so in Luke, Satan tells Jesus to
test God’s call, God’s love, the power God has given Jesus. He asks Jesus to
jump off the temple, and throw himself into the arms and mercy of the angels.
But this temptation, too, comes from Satan and Jesus resists.
I’m guessing that
all of these temptations, all of these images of the Messiah are ones we would
wish for Jesus to claim as well. We, too, would want a savior who would make
sure we were fed, would lead us as a king, as the President of the United
States and of the world, acting
with justice, thwarting all evil,
leading us as both a political and as a religious leader, doing miracles and
acting with power to insure that all are safe, happy, and secured of God’s
grace even when we do stupid things that might look like throwing ourselves off
of buildings.
But Luke tells us
very clearly this is not Jesus’ call. This is not who Jesus is. He did not
cater to his own needs, he did not reach for power or popularity, compromising
his beliefs or calling, he did not test God’s love for him; and, despite what everyone wanted him to
do, he did not “fix” the problems of the world instantly. Instead he began a
ministry which angered people because it did not support the hierarchy that had
been set up. He began a ministry which eventually got him killed because he
told the truth to those in power about their unjust and evil behavior, and he
called them to change. He began a ministry of good news to the poor, release to
the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed, but
not by ridding the world of these problems. Instead, he worked through the
people themselves, through empowerment, through love, and through calling all
of us to likewise carry out this mission, this plan. He did his work one person
at a time, and sometimes in communities of people. But he never took away free will, he never
took over power, he remained humble yet continued to speak and act with love
and truth.
We are called to
follow in Jesus’ footsteps. We are called to be his disciples, and to do the
work that he has begun. That means that in the face of similar temptations, we,
too are called to resist and to follow Jesus’ way instead. We too are called to
resist the temptation of feeding ourselves first, of seeking power and fame and
popularity, of testing God’s love for us, but also, of taking the easy way in
the face of the great needs and oppression of those around us. We are called to
remember in everything that we do that the ends do NOT justify the means, that
the way we get where we are going is just as important as the end result. And taking
away people’s freedom, people’s choices does NOT get us where we are called to
be. Acting, even to save the world, must
be done with love rather than hate. And we are called to resist the temptation
to say that it’s okay to grab for our own needs because we can use them to do
good for other people.
The
truth is that I think all of us are tempted by the same things. And as people
of faith, we tell ourselves that we want these things to serve and care for
others. If we only had enough food, comfort, power, popularity, wealth, surely
we could change the whole world for the better. But these temptations sometimes
cause us to face hard day to day decisions that are not always in the best
interest of others, of our communities, of the world. For example, we might
have the face the choice to do something in a job that is questionable, but we
do it because we need to support ourselves and our families. We might justify
doing something questionable because if we don’t have a job, what use can we be
to anyone? Sometimes we debate between what we believe we need for ourselves
and our families and giving to those who are truly, deeply in need of basics.
This is a temptation I believe we face every single day. Do we give to those
most in need, who are struggling to simply survive? Or do we use what we have
for ourselves and our families. We don’t want to be afraid that we or our
families won’t have enough. And we sometimes lose sight of the fact that somehow
our ideas of what is “enough” expand based on what we actually have. Similarly,
how many times do we keep quiet, keep our mouths shut about important values or
things we hold dear in order to not “upset” people when maybe we are called to
do exactly that? To take a stand for something we value?
These are things I
struggle with as well. As pastors we talk about this. As I’ve mentioned before,
the larger Church across the country is shrinking at an alarming rate. Across
denominations our churches are dying out. We can’t, therefore, we tell ourselves,
or perhaps Satan or evil or temptation whispers in our ears, afford to speak
the truths that we hear in scripture, that we read there every day, when we
fear it may alienate people in our congregations. People might get mad at us if we said when we
really know, think, or believe. So we fail to do it. Francis of Assisi actually
put it another way when he said that people of God should never be put in
positions of high authority in any institution because our job then becomes
preserving the institution rather than telling the truth. But this is not what
we are called to do. How is the church relevant if it isn’t looking seriously
at what the scriptures say, are and do? How are we doing our jobs by failing to
speak those hard truths that many would rather not hear?
--
A colleague of
mine wrote, “So I asked my three year old boy ‘Honey, if we were at a store,
and Dad and I were in one aisle, and you were in another aisle, and there was
candy, and the devil said, “You should take some!” What would you say back to
the devil?’ A genuinely sweet grin lit up his entire face and without
hesitation he replied, "Oh! I would say thank you!" It is far easier
than not for us to say, "Thank you," when temptation comes calling. (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the
Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year C, Volume 2: Lent
through Eastertide.)
But as we know,
giving into temptations is a slippery slope.
There once were a couple of kids who wanted ice cream. The ice cream
truck was coming, they could hear it coming up the street. So they asked their
mother for money for ice cream and she said no. But they REALLY wanted the ice
cream, so they were scouring the house for money but couldn’t find any. But
then they found their mother’s wallet. And they took the money and used it to
buy ice cream. So now they’ve done two things wrong. They had ice cream when
their mother said no. They stole money to get it. But then the mom saw
chocolate on their faces and asked them if they had had ice cream. And they
added to their mistakes by lying about it. She knew they had, so then the next
question was where did you get the money and they lied about that as well. One
“sin” or mistake or error led to another, and another and another. Eventually
one of the brothers gave in and told the truth. The other became angry and
punched the one who told. Another wrong-doing. And it goes from there.
In this world
where there are hungry people, where there is oppression and injustice, where
people are fleeing their countries because of genocides and other acts of mass
violence, the bigger temptation, the biggest evil, is apathy, is inaction, is
passivity. The biggest temptation for all of us is choosing to take care of our
own and to not think that care for those who are out there is our job. But we
are not called to be passive. We are not called to solely take care of our own.
We are called to act out of love, for ALL people. That love should affect
everything we do. Where we shop, paying attention to what stores are paying
fair wages to people in this country and abroad. What we buy, paying attention
to who has made or grown the things we buy, the food we buy and if they are
treated fairly, if the land is being treated well. What we do with our money,
who we vote for, how we talk to people, how we talk to strangers. All of these
things, every choice we make should be informed by Love. Hard? Of course. For
all of us. But that is the call. Anything less is giving into temptation.
The truth is that
all of us become tempted, and all of us fail at times. The good news though is
that God gives us more and more chances every day to make different choices.
The good news is that God gets it because Jesus, too, was tempted. And the Good
News is that Jesus models for us what to do when those temptations come. Jesus
responded to his temptations by quoting scripture back to Satan. To put it in
more modern terms, Jesus responded to the temptations that he faced by re-grounding
himself in what he believed, in his relationship with God. And he models for us
similar choices. Prayer helps. Confession helps. Meditation helps. Remembering
what you believe, what is important, where God is in your life and that God
calls us to love others because in doing so we are made whole. Remembering
that…all of that can help reground us. Staying present so we are focused on
what needs to be done now, right this minute for the good of the one in front
of us, for the good of God’s creation. And again, that can be done best with
God’s help. We pray each week, “lead us not into temptation”. But we will find
ourselves tempted, and when we are, the prayer needs to be continued, “(and
when we are tempted), deliver us from evil” both the evil of others AND our
own. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment