Sermons

Getting Ready

Elizabeth Caldwell                           Third Presbyterian Church  McCormick Theological Seminary               Luke 4:1-14
February 29, 2004

We face them every day, don’t we, no matter what our age – choices, questions, offers, suggestions, temptations which require us to consider the things we say yes to and the things we say no to:

§ How much money do we need to live? How much do I keep for myself?
§ How much do I give to the church and to other organizations to which I am committed? or
§ My friends want me to go out and have a beer with them and they told me, “we can get you a fake id, come on, it’s ok, your parents won’t find out.” or
§ You’re in the fourth grade at school and it’s lunch time. You see several kids you know being really mean to another kid and then you see this kid walking away crying. What do you do?
§ Or one that’s in the news this week, you’re a college football coach and you’ve heard about how prospective recruits are being entertained off campus, what do you do?
No matter what our age, we struggle with making good decisions and living with the consequences of our decisions, is not always easy.

The Sunday before Ash Wednesday is called transfiguration Sunday in reference to how Jesus changed before the very eyes of Peter, John and James. You may remember how in that story in Luke 9, the disciples hear a voice from the cloud telling them, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him.” It’s like the voice from heaven that Jesus heard at his baptism, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” God is saying to Jesus “I am well pleased with the decision you have made.”

Now here we are the first Sunday in Lent and the reading from the Gospel places us in the very earliest part of the story of Jesus ministry, following his baptism. It’s a vivid story, in some ways a fight between good and evil, but really it’s a story about a choice about being, what my life is worth.

I can just imagine, Jesus, as he begins to think about that to which he is called to be and do, how he is to live out of his baptism. And how in this story we see how he is led by the Spirit away from people into a place where he is alone. And there the devil appears with three incredible temptations and Jesus responds with three quotes from Deuteronomy.

In this gospel reading, we are dealing with the humanity of Christ. We see him trying to decide who he is:
§ Am I a great ruler or a suffering servant?
§ Am I an incredible magician or one who will heal people’s wounds, hearts and souls? How do I reveal the creating, saving God to these people?
And we hear the dialogue between Jesus and the devil.
“If you really are God’s Son, you can do anything, so make that stone into a loaf of bread.” – The temptation to Jesus to use his power to get something he wanted – in this case bread because he was so hungry from not eating. And Jesus said, One does not live by bread alone.

“Here are all the kingdoms of the world, you can be in charge, all you have to do is worship me, and it will all be yours. The temptation to have everything we want. And Jesus again quoted from Deuteronomy, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.

And then the third temptation: “If you are the Son of God, then throw yourself down from this top part of the temple. The persistence of the temptor is interesting because the third time, he finally gets it about Jesus and quotes scripture to him that says, “God will command his angels concerning you, to protect you. – the temptation to show off, to use skills and powers to make others envy who we are and what we can do. And Jesus responded: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
And with that, the story ends leaving us wanting to know more, “the devil departed from him until an opportune time.”

There are forty days in this season of Lent, just like the 40 days Jesus spent alone in the wilderness. Like Jesus, it is a time of getting ready, ready to move through these forty days, remembering the stories of Jesus and thinking about the ethical challenges we face. Sometimes they are not nearly so clear as the ones presented to Jesus by the devil. As one commentary writer has suggested the temptation story doesn’t offer a list of ethical instructions telling us how to face every challenge that comes our way today such as:
§ the temptation to forget our baptismal identity
§ to try to be successful rather than faithful, becoming dazzled by the riches of the world
§ to make compromises where the call is to say no
§ to avoid the path of sacrifice and suffering

This reading from the Luke’s gospel is telling us two things. It is first a
Christological statement – at the beginning of his ministry, it is clear that Jesus is the Son of God. He realizes that his ministry will be full of temptations. The ones offered by the devil are only the beginning.

I don’t know about you, but when faced with a temptation or an important decision, I probably am not able to quote a specific text like Jesus did when the devil invited him to use his powers to turn a stone into bread. I may not remember Deuteronomy 8: 2-3 where the Israelites were being reminded to remember the stories of their identity as God’s own people.
“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you, nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord…Keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.”

And this story also provides an example for us to follow. Faced with great temptations to his identity and his call to be the Son of God, Jesus knew he was not alone. He was “led by the Spirit.” The same Spirit that was with him at his Baptism, is here, and is with him at the Transfiguration. Jesus was apart in this story but he was never alone. God’s presence was always with him.

So in this season of Lent, try the incredibly risky opportunity offered in this text, living with two questions:
§ Who is Jesus Christ for you, this day? On the mountain at his transfiguration, a voice came from the cloud that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him.”
§ And what is God’s spirit leading you to be? Like Jesus, the waters of your baptism have marked you forever for a life of faithful living in response to God.

In his book, Growing in the Life of the Christian Faith, Craig Dykstra
has described 13 practices of faith which he believes to be “practices that place people in touch with God’s redemptive activity, that put us where life in Christ may be made known, recognized, experienced, and participated in. These practices “are means of grace.”
Worship
Telling the Christian Story
Interpreting Scripture
Prayer
Confession of sin
Encouraging others
Being in service and witness
Suffering with neighbors
Providing hospitality and care
Listening
Struggling to understand the context of life
Criticizing and resisting the powers of evil
Working together to create social structures
which sustain life in accord with God’s will
Like, Jesus, we are not alone. God is always present with us in these practices.
Jesus’ story is our story when we struggle to understand and prepare ourselves for living life as a Christian.

One of my favorite authors and poets is Kathleen Norris. She wrote a poem called the “Mysteries of the Incarnation.” The second part of this poem is called “Imperatives.”
Look at the birds
Consider the lilies
Drink ye all of it

Ask
Seek
Knock
Enter by the narrow gate

Do not be anxious
Judge not; do not give dogs what is holy
Go: be it done for you
Do not be afraid
Maiden, arise
Young man, I say, arise

Stretch out your hand
Stand up, be still
Rise, let us be going…

Love
Forgive
Remember me