February 25, 2007, Lent 1

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13

The Word is very near to you…

There were three men shipwrecked on a small desert island. One day they found a strange looking bottle washed up on shore and when they opened it, a genie came out. And the genie was so grateful he said, “Oh, thank you, thank you so much for freeing me from my prison. For that I will give each of you one wish.” So the first man thought and said, “I’d like to be in the middle of New York City surrounded by beautiful women.” Poof, he’s gone. The second man thought and thought and said, “I’d like to have a million dollars and live in a mansion in California.” Poof, he was gone. The third man thought for a few minutes and finally said, “I’d like for my friends to be back here.” Three wishes… hmmmm.

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The Word is very near you, on your lips and in your heart.

That is definitely true of Jesus in today’s gospel. Each time he was tempted, it was the word of God that sustained him against the temptations that came in the desert.

“The Word is very near you” was the name of a book we read in seminary. It was my second semester and they were trying to teach us how to meditate on scripture – to pray scripture. We had a very unusual group – I guess. I dare say only two or three in our small group were used to sitting before the Lord is silence.

But what they were trying to teach us was to learn scripture and to look at it from a more than academic perspective. I know people and you may, too, who will take a scripture and analyze it to death without ever touching on the way it might affect us – at a primal level.

But scripture is given to us to be useful to us. Not just to analyze it, or to revel in it, or to memorize it, but so that it can be our primary guide on how to live our lives. Look at the example that Jesus gives us here.

Jesus is wandering around in the wilderness. Any idea why it’s called the wilderness? Because of its wild, untamed nature. There is a lack of vegetation, a lack of animals, a lack of those things needed to support life. And it says that he was out there for 40 days, and he ate nothing at all – that in itself should tell you this is a God thing – a miracle in its own right. And when the fast was over, he was famished.

Now Satan appears when Jesus is in this weakened state, just as he appears to us when we are in a weakened state. And he tempts Jesus to do something to fill his empty stomach. He mocks him, “If you are the son of God…” – trying to get him to react – “Of course, I’m the son of God, how dare you to question that…” No, Jesus resists that temptation, just as he resists the challenge. He is being tempted to display and use the power of God for his own personal comfort. Jesus knows that is not why he was given this power and he responds with scripture, “One does not live by bread alone.” He quotes scripture – he uses scripture to defend and explain his position – to stave off the temptations of the devil. CREATURE COMFORTS

Now Satan took him up on the mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth. And he says, “I will give you all that you see, if you just bow down and worship me.”

Listen to that, we don’t always understand – Jesus is being asked to give up heaven in order to have power on the earth. He could have lived in a palace instead of walking dirty roads and sleeping on the ground. He could have been surrounded by all kinds of people to do his bidding. But Jesus knows who he is, and he knows where he belongs and he answers Satan, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” POWER and WEALTH

For the third testing, Satan whisks him away to Jerusalem and places him on the pinnacle of the temple, “If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning your, to protect you…’” Notice here that Satan has listened to Jesus quote scripture, so now he quotes scripture to Jesus. And I’m sure that the devil, being who he is, thought, let’s see him counter this. And of course, Jesus does, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

And it says that Satan “departed from him until an opportune time.” We see temptation arise for Jesus one last time when he asks God, “Father, take this cup from me.” And he over comes that temptation when he says, “Yet, not my will but yours be done.”

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You know, I’ve heard people talk about being tempted like it’s a bad thing. It’s actually something that happens on a daily basis – to each and everyone of us. All you have to do is watch TV, listen to the radio, read the paper or look at billboards to find temptations abounding. It is not a sin to be tempted. We see here that even Jesus was tempted. Where sin happens is where we give in to those temptations.

How Jesus overcame temptation is through scripture – living into the Word of God – remembering what the promises were –

We hear Jesus tell us, “do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

The word of God will be given to us and we see that in Jesus as he responds with scripture when he is tempted by the devil. In order to do that, to be able to respond with scripture in any given situation, you must have at least heard or read scripture. So I commend to you during this Lenten season to spend time in the scriptures, to read the word of God on a daily basis so that when your time of testing comes, you will be able to respond as Jesus did, going into the scriptures to find that the word is indeed very near to you – in your hearts and on your lips. Amen.

Please feel free to email me with comments at nan@doerrworks.com