Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Wilderness Companions -- A Message for March 6, 2022

 


Luke 4:1-13

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 

2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 

5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 

6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 

7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 

9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 

10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 

11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 

12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Prayer for Understanding

Take my lips, O Lord, and speak through them. Take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

            If you watched a lot of cartoons when you were a child, you will be able to easily recognize the devil – In the 1963 Merry Melodies Cartoon, called “Devil’s Feud Cake,” Yosemite Sam makes a deal with the devil to bring Bugs Bunny to him. The devil is red in color, horned, has a tail, and is carrying a pitchfork. Very easy to recognize.

            Even in the Adam Sandler movie “Little Nicky,” the devil, who is little Nicky’s dad, has a bunch of horns and pointed ears. He looks pretty ‘devilish.”

            It would make things simpler for us if we could identify the devil, the tempter, on sight.  All of our internal alarm bells would go off – a booming voice would repeat “Keep Away….Keep Away…Keep Away.” We could run and hide. We would know to do the opposite of whatever that scary guy suggested.

            Luke wrote his Gospel in Greek.  In Greek, the name he used for the devil is diabolos.  This word means “slanderer.” A slanderer works to harm another person’s reputation. In the desert, when Jesus was tempted by diabolos, he was encouraged to take actions and do things that were against his best interest – Jesus, use your power to make these stones into bread – Jesus, worship me even though this is God’s world, not the Devil’s world – Jesus, test God’s power by throwing yourself off of this height even though testing God is the opposite of what we are supposed to do. The devil, the tempter, was working to weasel into Jesus’ head and convince him to do the opposite of what he came to earth to do.  

            The strangest line in this section of Luke is the final sentence we read: “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”  This is an ominous statement. But, we know, Jesus encountered a lot of opposition when he did his work.  His mother and brothers tried to drag him home to Nazareth. The Sadducees and Pharisees constantly peppered Jesus with questions, some of which were intended to trick Jesus into saying something against the Law of God.  Many of the Temple Authorities in Jerusalem were threatened by Jesus and his teachings. The Romans were concerned Jesus would commit sedition and lead an insurrection against their government.  Every time people worked to oppose Jesus, every time people worked to oppress Jesus, was it Diabolos’ opportune time?

            We know temptation does not come embodied as man with red skin, horns, and a tail. Temptation comes in many, many forms.  Sometimes temptation is the food we shouldn’t eat because we are allergic to it or we have a medical condition that makes us unable to digest it correctly. Sometimes temptation is picking on our kids or bullying people who are weaker than us. Sometimes temptation is spending money on things we don’t need. Sometimes temptation is spending too much time playing video games or spending too much time on the internet. Sometimes temptation is not being loyal to the people we have promised we will be loyal to. Sometimes temptation is not apologizing for the things we do wrong.

            Temptation is not always easy to recognize at first. Sometimes we fall into temptation – we think we will do something a little or for fun and whatever it is ends up consuming our attention or lives – drinking too much – gambling to excess – taking too many pills.

            Temptation is difficult for us to resist. And, that is where faith helps. Jesus was human like us. He had temptations too. And, when he was in the wilderness, Jesus was able to resist. Jesus knew what it felt like to have to make difficult choices, to make the choice to do the right thing, to not succumb doing the thing that would be easier. Jesus held out.

            Part of our work in the season of Lent is to think about how our faith intersects our lives. It is time to take stock of what has happened so far and what we need to do next.  This is our time to confess. This is our time to ask God to help us. This is our time to consider what is separating us from God, what is keeping us from living more and more the way God wants us to be. This is our time to ask God to help us resist Temptation, to resist doing the activities that preoccupy us and keep us from growing closer to God.

            In this season, we are invited to examine our hearts. We are invited to pray and talk to God what we find there. And, we are invited to ask God to help us to do better and to help us to let go of the things that keep us from deepening our faith.

            May we do so in love. Amen.


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