Year C

Luke 4:1-13

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

Season to Be Intentional

You know what I like best about the season of Lent, Lent always brings the church, us, back to the basics, to those things that are essential to our faith, because it asks us to remember who we are, how we came to be and what we have been called to do. Lent asks us to consider what it means for us to live out the faith we hold in our hearts as we revisit the meaning of the cross and get ready for the in-breaking of God’s radical grace, abundance and new life in the defining miracle of the resurrection. The texts in Lent will force us to reflect on where we as a community and as individuals stand in relation to the center of our faith by inviting us to a process of self-examination, repentance, and forgiveness, as we remember that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

As Christians, our defining moment and event is the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus and when we forget it, we forget who we are. This season will do us little good if we don’t take the time to remember this and remember why we do what we do. Actually, Episcopalians take this notion of remembering pretty seriously. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” and we do every week, because the body and blood of Christ reminds us of who we are. They remind us of the cross, passion and death that Christ endured for our salvation. If we are truthful with ourselves, we know we often forget that God loves us and that Christ died for each one of us. So on this first Sunday in Lent each of the readings will touch on the themes of remembering and calling on God.

In the reading from Deuteronomy which is Moses farewell address to the Israelites, he recounts the mighty acts of God on behalf of the people of Israel as he calls them to give thanks for God’s blessings and deliverance. At the same time, Moses warns them of temptations as they enter the land of Canaan. This reading is a summary of the story of God’s promise of fulfillment for Israel after forty years of wandering in the desert and it is the climax of the exodus story. The exodus story has become for the Jewish and Christian community, one of the essential identity stories in the “remembering” of who we are and in “remembering” our covenant with God. We are all heirs to God’s enduring promise.

To show that they remember God’s blessings, the Israelites are to bring offerings to God’s dwelling place from the first of every harvest that they gather. This offering of first fruits, known as the Festival of Weeks, acknowledges that the land and its bounty are gifts from God. For the people of Israel, the wilderness was a “great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions.” But it was during their forty-year journey in the desert that Israel come to understand its call as God’s people. The desert became a place of revelation, transformation, searching and discovery.

Following the example of Moses, Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from his baptism in the Jordon and was led by the Spirit to spend time in the wilderness, forty days to discover who he was; and to discover what he was called to do. This period of preparation and self-discovery in the wilderness was a time of revelation, transformation, searching and discovery through fasting, prayer and a time of testing and when Jesus emerged from this time, he knew what his mission was. We see that the Spirit’s anointing of Jesus in baptism and his faithfulness to God amid testing is Jesus’ preparation for his mission. Luke assures us that at no point, is Jesus separated from God’s presence. The temptations are tests to see whether even good things can lure Jesus from a focus on God’s will thereby forcing a decision over what it means to be the Son of God. Jesus refuses to define his ministry with the kind of power we tend to idolize.

It would not have been a bad thing for Jesus to turn a stone into a loaf of bread. It could help his hunger and imply that he can turn many stones into bread to feed the many hungry people of Israel. Jesus replies with a quote from Deuteronomy in reference to the experience of Israel in the desert when the Lord God provided manna. The test for Jesus is to be the new Moses for the people. Jesus knows that even though bread is good, he is not willing to forget what it means to be Jesus.  Luke then portrays the devil in the role of “ruler of this world” who can hand over the world’s kingdoms. The known world at that time was controlled by Rome and its empire. It could only be good for Jesus’ people. Jesus knows that genuine power can only come from God and only God is to be worshiped.

Finally, the devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem where his ministry will climax in his death and resurrection. It is also where the church will begin. The devil quotes from Psalm 91, which promises God’s protection to those who are righteous and the devil challenges Jesus to test it! Again Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy which recalls Moses warning that God should not be tested, as Israel had tested God in the past and failed in their trails. Through all of this, Jesus does not lose his focus on God’s will and mission and he emerges faithful, true and strengthened in his identity. Though he refused to turn stones into bread, he does feed the hungry. Though he refused the world’s political power, his focus was on proclaiming God’s empire of justice and peace, and though he refused to jump off the temple to see if God will save him, he goes to the cross in confidence that God’s will does triumph.

In each of the temptations, Jesus refers to scripture and Israel’s wilderness experience as a source of strength in the struggle with evil.  As we walk with Jesus, we can see that being chosen by God does not mean we will never experience trials and temptations. But, Jesus shows us the way to turn to God, in prayer and in the word, rather than away from God during our times of trail and temptations. Sometimes it seems that staying faithful is work we have to do on our own. Yet, we read of the Israelites making their vows together. Paul, in the Epistle, speaks to a community that calls on the name of the Lord together. We can help each other in this journey as we wait for the fullness of salvation.

Today the texts invite us to be intentional about our faith and open to God’s love and will, and when we are faithful we encounter a faithful God who leads us not only into the wilderness, but also through the wilderness and like the people of Israel and our Lord, the desert can become a place of revelation, transformation, searching and discovery. The forty days of Lent provides us with an opportunity to set aside time to remember who God is, and what God was willing to do for our salvation. It is to be a time of transformation, searching and discovery so that when we emerge, we will have a good idea of not only who we are but what we have been called to do as individuals and as a community who confesses Christ as Lord and savior.