Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was
led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
After fasting
forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
The
tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these
stones to become bread.”
Jesus
answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every
word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil
took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the
temple.
“If you are
the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will
command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered
him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the
devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and their splendor.
“All this I
will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to
him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your
God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil
left him, and angels came and attended him.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People
of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Message Preparing for the Journey
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and
the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock
and our Redeemer. Amen.
What do you
usually pack when you are preparing to go on a journey? A toothbrush? A water
bottle? A travel guide? A backpack?
IF you are flying, do you check the
flight details on the airline website over and over again, to make sure there
are no delays or cancellations?
Before you leave, do you unplug all
of your electronics and shut off all the water valves in your house?
We usually have a lot of things to
do before we head out on trips. A lot of
things to check off our list. A lot of little things to take care of so we don’t
worry about them when we are away.
Imagine doing all of that work, all
of those tasks, and then arriving home again. What if we just skipped over the trip,
skipped over the vacation or the business trip and our mind and bodies just jumped
to our return home. The days away would be a blank or a blur. Nothing good
remembered, nothing bad happened, just nothing.
I think I would feel pretty
disappointed if I missed all the “meat” of the journey….if I forgot everything
that happened on the trip and just had to deal with unpacking the suitcase
after I returned home.
Jesus spent 40 days in the desert….40
days praying and talking to God….40 days spent getting ready to do his work of
ministry to the world. ‘
The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit,
led Jesus out to the wilderness. Jesus
fasted for 40 days and nights and was therefore quite hungry. After sleeping on the hard, rocky ground, he
was probably quite tired. Jesus was in an arid wilderness for 40 days, so he
was probably quite dirty.
And, while he was tired, and dirty,
and hungry, Jesus’ temptations began…turn these rocks into food if you are so
hungry. Jump off of this building to
test if God will save you. Worship evil in exchange for the world.
If Jesus wanted
to skip over the meat of his life, if he wanted to skip ahead to the end, he
had the power to do so. He could jump off a building and the angels would have
reached out to save him. He could have had everyone in the world instantly
adore him. That would have been the easy thing to do, the easy way out.
But, Jesus used
his 40 days in the desert to fortify himself and get ready for his work. He
knew his work wouldn’t be easy. It wouldn’t be fun. It wouldn’t be a breeze. But,
he was born for such a time as this, Jesus was born for his redemptive work to save
the world. And, he knew he wasn’t’ going to get an easy happy ending, with everything
neatly tied up in a bow. He knew he wouldn’t be popular. He knew people wouldn’t
like what he said and they wouldn’t like what he did. He knew he was going to
become a threat to the Roman authorities and the people with power. Jesus knew
he would die on the cross even before he started his work. He already knew the
outcome of his ministry when he was in the desert. But, he did it anyway.
Jesus came to
earth as the Messiah. He came to free us from our sin. He came to teach us
about God, and to teach us that no matter how badly we mess up, God loves us
and forgives us.
Jesus’ work was
too important to skip over. He didn’t succumb to temptation, he couldn’t
succumb to temptation because we needed him. And, God loves us so much that
what we need is important to God.
Like Jesus,
sometimes we have second thoughts about doing difficult and hard things. We
know it is easy to cut corners. We know it is easy to cheat. We know it is
easier to be selfish than it is to be generous. But, God calls us to do
difficult work on God’s behalf. We are called to love each other, to love
people that are easy to love and to love people that are hard to love. We are
called to forgive other people when they do us wrong and to forgive ourselves when
we mess up. We are called to repent and to admit when we make mistakes. We are
called to work for justice in the world – to help people who are struggling, to
help people who are bullied, to help people who have less than we have. God
calls us to be generous and to work to make our world better, to work for
peace, to work for kindness.
We are invited
to spend the next 40 days considering how we have lived our lives so far, and
how we are going to do better from now on. We know things may be difficult. We
know that everything won’t come out smelling like roses. But, we are called
upon as Christians to always strive to make the world more and more into the
world God wants – a place where people live in peace, a place where people have
enough to eat, a place where all people live in safe homes in safe neighborhoods,
a place that more and more resembles the Kingdom of God.
Let us joyfully go about the
task at hand.
May it be so. Amen.
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