Luke
4:1-30
4:1 Jesus, full of
the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the
wilderness, 2 where 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. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered
him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
5 Then the devil
led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And
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. 7 If
you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus
answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve
only him.’”
9 Then 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, 10 for
it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’
11 and ‘On their
hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a
stone.’”
12 Jesus answered
him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When
the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune
time.
14 Then Jesus,
filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about
him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to
teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 When he came
to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the
sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20 And he rolled
up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in
the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to
them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All
spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his
mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” 23 He said to
them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’
And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard
you did at Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no
prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. 25 But the truth
is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was
shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the
land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow
at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There
were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of
them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard
this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got
up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which
their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But
he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
2
Timothy 2:1-9
2:1 You then, my
child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; 2 and
what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people
who will be able to teach others as well. 3 Share in suffering
like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving in the
army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier's aim is to please the
enlisting officer. 5 And in the case of an athlete, no one is
crowned without competing according to the rules. 6 It is the
farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think
over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in all things.
8 Remember Jesus
Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, 9 for
which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained.
The Psalmist says, "In you, O Lord, do I put my trust."
But why?
Why do we trust in God?
What
proof do we have that God is trustworthy?
Or
more specifically,
when
have we encountered times
that
it seemed we could not trust or rely on God?
At the start of today’s gospel
reading from Luke,
Jesus
has just been baptized.
He is filled with the Holy Spirit.
So what happens?
Nothing good, it seems.
He is driven out into the
wilderness by the Holy Spirit,
and
there he stays for 40 days, eating nothing.
And he is weak, and he is famished.
And he is vulnerable.
And here comes Satan, with three
temptations.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you, Jesus?
I
know you are.
Here
are some stones.
If you are REALLY the Son of God,
why
don’t you just turn them into loaves of bread,
right
now, and satisfy that groaning in your belly?
“But wait.
You’re just starting out on your
ministry, Jesus.
Let
me make it easier for you!
Worship
me,
and
I will give you authority
over
all the kingdoms in the world.
I can do that, you know.
“And you know, your journey
is
going to be hard and dangerous, Jesus.
Why not just show people a great
example,
a
sign of God’s saving love,
by
throwing yourself off of the temple,
and
letting people see how God saves you.
We both know, don’t we? - that God – will – save – you.
And in every case, Jesus’ response
reflects his utter trust in God.
Jesus says,
It
is written, “one does not live by bread alone.”
It
is written, “worship the Lord your God,
and
serve only him.”
It
is said, “do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Jesus says, “it is written”…”it is
said”…
because
these are words of scripture, the Word of God.
Jesus, the living Word of God, is
quoting the Word of God.
Jesus trusts in God completely, and
relies on the Word of God to convey that trust.
Jesus is being tempted in the very
same ways that we are typically tempted.
· The first
temptation is about meeting our needs.
o The devil
offers him bread, food, something he desperately needs.
o Who could
blame him for turning a few stones into bread and satisfying his hunger for
that moment?
· The second
temptation is about power.
o The devil
offers him authority, power, control – a choice that could certainly change the
outcome of his journey toward the cross.
o Wouldn’t it
be great to avoid or eliminate those things that create problems in your life,
with the snap of a finger, to make them go away?
· The third
temptation is about protection, safety, self-preservation.
o The devil
challenges him to prove God’s protection for him, by doing something incredibly
risky and completely contrary to God’s will.
o Why not provide proof of God’s love, why not establish a sign of God’s intention
to save your life, so that your enemies will see firsthand that you are God’s
chosen one?
What are we willing to do for food
and shelter, for sustenance?
What are we willing to do to
acquire or maintain our power to control things, to make things go the way we
would choose?
What are we willing to do to
protect ourselves from the potential that bad things might happen to us?
How often are we tempted to not
trust God in these very same circumstances?
Are we able to trust in God in
these things, come what may? And if we can’t, are we more subject to
temptation?
When Jesus goes back to Galilee,
filled
(either again or still)
with
the power of the Spirit
after
his time in the wilderness
and
his time of temptation,
he brings good news to the people
in the synagogue –
the
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy –
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because
God has anointed me,
to
bring good news to the poor,
to
proclaim release to the captives,
recovery
of sight to the blind,
to
let the oppressed go free,
to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
All of this is here and now
fulfilled, this day,
in
your sight, in me.
And they of course like the sound
of that, and they trust in God to fulfill all of that for them. After all, they
are God’s chosen people. And Jesus is their hometown boy!
But wait, there’s more.
He says, it’s not just for you, for
God’s chosen people.
It’s
for all the people.
Jesus
offers two examples from the Word of God,
where
prophets saved and healed
“outsiders”
of the faith.
Interestingly, this is not heard
as
Good News by God’s people.
We read that “they are filled with
rage”.
We can imagine what it must have
been like,
this
angry crowd of faithful believers,
rising
up, driving Jesus out of the synagogue,
all
the way out of the town,
and
up to the edge of a cliff
so
that they can hurl him off.
Think about that.
I wonder if Jesus was thinking
about
the
devil’s challenge to him, -
jump
off the top of the temple!
leap
off the top of this cliff!
let
them see how God protects you!
But, as we read, Jesus takes a
humble approach.
He turns, and enters the crowd,
this
crowd of people who are ready
to
force him off a cliff.
He enters the crowd,
and
passes through the midst of them,
and
goes on his way.
When I imagined him doing this,
it
made me think about one of the ways
“the
force” gets used in the latest Star Wars movie,
and
has actually in some of the earlier movies too,
in
order to change someone’s mind,
to
change a situation.
Our heroes are in a tight spot,
and
they invoke the force,
and
say something like
“you
will release my handcuffs, walk away,
leave
the door open, and drop your gun”.
And their stormtrooper guard,
in
some force-created trance, will reply,
“I
will release your handcuffs, walk away
leave
the door open, and drop my gun.”
And our hero is off to save the
galaxy for another day.
Is this what Jesus did?
Did
he hypnotize the people in the crowd
so
that they wouldn’t touch him,
so
they would let him get away?
That’s not what the scripture
indicates.
Instead, it says he passed through
the crowd
and
walked away.
Sounds pretty humble to me.
Sounds pretty trusting to me.
He trusted in God completely, come
what may.
When Paul writes to Timothy
in
this second letter that we heard a portion of today,
he
is not looking much like a winner,
like
someone who is reaping God’s blessings.
He is in prison, “chained like a
criminal”, as he puts it.
He is near the end of his life,
and
he is giving Timothy final instructions
for
how to carry on without him.
And he is not really offering a
prediction
of
sunny skies ahead for Timothy either.
He says, be strong in grace, the
grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Share in suffering, like a good
soldier of Christ Jesus.
Stay focused on obedience in your
discipleship, no matter what that brings you.
Live your life to please God.
Live a life in line with Christ’s
commandments.
Do the work of discipleship, the
hard work,
even
though it will bring suffering,
not
release from suffering.
Trust in God, come what may.
And Timothy, says Paul, you may be
chained as a criminal,
like
me, as a result.
But the Word of God is not chained.
The Word of God is freedom.
The Word of God is our basis for
trust,
complete
trust in God.
The Word of God is our response to
temptation,
our
only response.
The Word of God is our strength in
grace.
The Word of God is what helps us to
step away
from
the relentless, lifelong drive
to
achieve,
to
accumulate,
to
conquer and control,
to
be protected from all harm –
to
give in to these temptations.
It takes trust in God to step away
from temptation.
Because, we may go hungry in our
lives.
We may not have enough.
We may not be saved from harm or
illness or persecution.
We may not see clear signs that God
is trustworthy.
A contemporary theologian, David
Lose, observes
that
temptation is closely related
to
insecurity and mistrust,
and
suggests a way to help us see
the
link between trust and temptation,
and
the way that link either chains us or sets us free.
You will find pencils and 3x5 cards
in the pews.
I invite you to take a card and a
pencil,
and
label one side “trust”.
Now write something down on this
side of the card
that
is important to you,
and
for which you feel confident of God’s support. Maybe it’s the love of your
family,
or
a job that pays the bills,
or
your relationship with God.
It should be something that matters
to you,
something
you do worry about,
and
yet you trust God with it.
It shouldn’t be a “given”,
something
you never worry about.
Write this down on the side of the
card
you
have labeled Trust.
(pause)
Now, turn the card over,
and
label the other side “Mistrust”.
On this side, write down one thing
that
is difficult for you to trust God with right now. Maybe it’s a particular
relationship,
or
a job or school decision,
or
something challenging at work or home,
or
an uncertain future.
(pause)
Now, take a moment
and
compare the two things you have written down
on
either side of your card.
Why is it easier to trust God with
one of them
and
not the other?
What makes the harder one different?
Do you think they really are
different?
Do
you think, perhaps,
that
you might be able to trust
more
than you thought, on the difficult one?
(pause)
I invite you to do one of two
things with this card.
Either take it with you,
and
plan to carry it around for this coming week,
taking
just a moment or two each day to pull it out,
so you can give thanks for what you
trust,
and
to pray about the thing
you
are having a hard time trusting God with.
And if you do this, and you are
willing,
please
email me and tell me what it’s been like
to
lift these challenging things up in prayer.
And your other option is to put the
card in the offering plate,
so
that I can pray about these things for you
in
the coming week.
Trust is at the heart of Jesus’
relationship with God.
Trust is at the heart of our relationship with God
and
with each other.
It’s not always easy, and when
trust is missing,
temptation
is right outside the door.
But when we are in community,
when
we support one another,
we
can go out from here,
filled
with the Holy Spirit,
ready
to trust God,
to
trust in the unchained, living Word of God,
and
in so doing, to resist temptation.
In the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
