I said I'd post my sermon when I finished :) Hope you don't find it too boring ....
This gospel passage of Jesus in the wilderness comes immediately after Jesus’ baptism and the voice from heaven declaring that Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus is led from that declaration of love into the wilderness where he is confronted with real questions and temptations about using power to gain instant results.
The three temptations with which Jesus is confronted in the wilderness represent temptations to use his heavenly power during his time on Earth. He is tempted to do miracles to give himself something to eat, to use his authority to raise himself up for personal glory. But he resists these temptations. Instead, Jesus lives as a human. Not as God-on-Earth, using his power to rule over others, but fully human, living under the authority of the Holy Spirit, doing his Father’s will and allowing the Spirit to work through him. “Not my will but yours be done” is not just his prayer, it is his whole way of life.
But the three temptations also represent the way he could have claimed Earthly power. Jesus challenges the assumptions of his time through the humility of his life. Rather than being born in a palace, as the magi expect, Jesus is born alongside the animals, outside of the inn. He rides into Jerusalem, not on a white horse as the priests predicted, leading a grand army as the people hoped, but a homeless man on a donkey. So he subverts the assumptions of the time about Earthly power. Yet, as a man and as a Jew, Jesus does have some privilege within his society. And the temptations are for him to use that privilege to live by the values of his society. He is tempted to alleviate his hunger, his poverty, through a miracle to turn a stone into bread. He could have given himself the material wealth, that would have brought not only comfort but also respect, also an audience for people to wonder at him and listen to his message. But no, Jesus does miracles only to illustrate the forgiving power of God, never for his own material gain. He is tempted to force the angels to act as his servants, to care for his needs. In a society of masters and servants, he is tempted to put himself in the master’s position. And he could have given himself a social position, to again gain Earthly respect and an audience to his message. But no. Jesus becomes an itinerant preacher, a social outcast, and in doing so he reaches others who had been outcast from society, and challenges the discriminatory values of his time. Jesus is tempted to rule every kingdom on Earth, to have everyone bow down before him. To gain status by having dominion over others; to build himself up by pushing others down. But no. Jesus calls out the priests for their hypocrisy, but he doesn’t glorify himself by putting them down, make himself feel better by making them feel bad. Even as a child he was the most knowledgeable speaker in the temple, but he doesn’t pursue Earthly priestly office. Jesus is not governed by the values of his world. He is in the world, but not of the world. He is the servant-Messiah, who meets people where they are, loves them, meets their needs, and challenges them to repent of their sins and come to know God. That is the kind of Messiah he is.
It is the Messiah he becomes in the wilderness. Jesus uses Scripture as a reminder of God’s bigger story and a guide as to how to respond.
In our readings today, we remember the promise we have in God. Psalm 91 speaks to the refuge we have in God, that if we put our trust in him he is our sanctuary and place and safety. It is to God we can turn in times of trouble. In Romans 10 we learn that if we confess that Jesus is Lord in our hearts then we will find salvation. That distinctions between us will not divide us, because God has enough riches for all. As we sung in our hymn earlier, Jesus is the love, the strength and the bliss in our hearts, giving us a loving embrace and leading us to peace and contentment.
Lent is often depicted as giving up things; this week’s readings offer a different perspective. It is not about saying ‘No’ to things but about saying ‘Yes’ to God. Jesus didn’t just say ‘No’ to the devil. He also said ‘Yes’ to who God was calling him to be, and saying ‘Yes’ to God is the true path to glory, the true way to find peace and contentment, the true journey towards safety and sanctuary, not pursuing the ways of the world and seeking material wealth, social status and power over others, and hoping those things will protect us in difficult times. That is a house built upon sand. Out there in the wilderness, Jesus built his life upon a rock –God’s steadfast faithfulness. Jesus’ identity lies not in miracles, power or celebrity but in service – an open hand not a grasping fist. By following his example, we too can say ‘Yes’ to God, ‘Yes’ to knowing his Holy Spirit in our lives, ‘Yes’ to the calling to serve others –because as well as a calling to serve, it is also a calling to true Glory alongside God.
The season of Lent is often marked by giving up something as a means of recalling the fast that Jesus undertook whilst in the desert. But Lent itself isn’t actually about fasting… it’s about another ‘F’ word – formation.
Jesus’ time in the desert, much like the Israelite’s 40 years in the wilderness that he is recapitulating, is about becoming the kind of person God needs him to be. When God called Israel to be the covenant partner, they had to go through a season of learning what that looked like. They had to learn how to trust in God’s goodness, provision, protection, and ways of operating. Their season of formation was a bumpy one – filled with complaint, defiance, insurrection, and other failures. Seriously, read the Book of Numbers, it is a catalogue of errors! Jesus’ time in the wilderness is somewhat less chaotic, but nonetheless significant. He too had to learn to trust in God’s goodness, provision, protection and ways of operating. But where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded.
Israel grumbled about their hunger and thirst and found different ways of trying to grasp at what they wanted on their own terms. Jesus trusted in the provision of the Lord – and accepted hunger as an uncomfortable but endurable facet of his faithfulness.
Despite all God had done for them through the Exodus, Israel kept demanding more ‘signs’ – wanting further proof of God’s existence and goodness. Furthermore, they interpreted the mere hint of danger or suffering as a failure of God and their response was generally to complain rather than take refuge in their proven Saviour. Jesus, however, refused to rely on or demand such signs, and accepted that suffering didn’t mean God was absent or failing but was with him through his trouble.
Israel consistently made alliances with nations and gods other than Yahweh, as a means of protecting themselves or expanding their kingdom. Jesus refuses to ally himself with Satan. Instead, he accepts an alternative form of Kingdom and the alternative mode of faithful ‘suffering servant’ as his approach to building it.
During his time in the wilderness, Jesus experienced the same testing scenarios that Israel had before him, but he remained faithful to Yahweh. Not only that, but he practiced the sort of faith that would be necessary for him to endure the cross: he saw this his discomfort could lead to reliance not doubt, to perseverance not grumbling, to victory not failure. Because of this, he became the Messiah God had been looking for in Israel all along.
In Lent, we have the opportunity to embrace our own formation… to reflect on who God is calling us as individuals as a church to be, to practice choosing God’s way of our own desires, to embrace faithfulness over our own fears, and to become the covenant partners God is looking for.
So we take things up to be closer to God, not give things up. We take up fasting or we do the Lent course with our congregation and spend time in fellowship. We take up supporting Ukraine, supporting the Red Cross and the refugees.
Dry January is supposedly about a time of renewal in the New Year. But January is also a dark and difficult month, a time when we need to be kind to ourselves, not put extra pressure on ourselves. I’m not advocating drinking, certainly not from a Methodist pulpit. But if there’s a time to let yourself go out for a good time with your friends, to get that social support, even if it isn’t the best thing for your waistline or your liver, then January or February is that time. When we have long summer days, and we feel good, that’s a better time of year to set yourself physical goals for better diet and exercise, not in the dark days of winter when it is harder to do, we’re more likely to fail and then just feel bad about ourselves.
So this Lent, let’s think about what we can add to our lives. New ways we can say ‘Yes’ to God. New things to take up, not give up. New ways to deepen our relationship with God.
Jesus in the wilderness was preparing himself for a journey that would lead to the cross. So he was preparing himself for death. But he was also preparing himself for life, for the mission and journey with God that would define his life. So our final thought of the day to leave you with is what can we do to prepare ourselves for life with Jesus this Lenten season.
However you choose to mark this season, may it be one of remembering, knowing, leaning into the goodness of God; may your faith be enhanced, your hope become secured, and your loving become more Christ-like.
Amen