Readings: Luke 4:1-13; Deuteronomy 26:1-11
As we know this is the first Sunday of Lent, a period of waiting, reflecting, of repentance – of turning away from sin and turning towards God, of following the experiences of Jesus before his death and resurrection. And we begin with our reading today, right at the start of Jesus’ ministry, he has been baptised, he is full of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit leads him into the ‘wilderness’ where he was tempted by the devil.
And we read that he is tempted over 3 things particularly:
- Through food – Jesus has not eaten for 40 days, he was famished, the reading tells us.
- Through the offer of power – the devil says you can have all this – the realm of the devil – if you just worship me
- And through testing God, throw yourself down and God will save you, the devil teases
Now I wonder if any of these remind us of anyting else in the Bible?
Firstly, we see the devil here talking to Jesus, a sense of almost whispering in his ear, persuading in tone, ‘oooh Jesus you must be hungry’. Or ‘wouldn’t you like to have all this power, I can give that to you, you know…’
What the devil does is take the truth and twists it with plausible lies. There’s an echo of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There the devil twists God’s words to confuse Eve. Plausible but not true: ‘Did God really say you can’t eat from this tree?’ Eve is confused and says ‘God says we can’t touch it’ – God did not say that. For the first humans the temptation of the devil was too much and they ate of the fruit not knowing the conesquences of their actions. Which ultimately drew them away from close relationship with God.
Jesus however, often thought of as the second Adam, is not only fully human but also fully divine, he knows God’s truth because he is God. It is a step towards redemption for humanity that he resist the devil’s prompts. Previously humans fell prey to the devil’s temptation, lies and confusion, but Jesus resists. Humanity now resists the devil.
Let’s also think about another time in the wilderness. The Israelites were wandering for 40 years. They asked God for food and God gave them manna, a bread like susbtance, but they complained at God’s provision.
They were told not to worship idols and yet the moment Moses’ back was turned they made an idol – the golden calf.
And they constantly tested God.
Sound familiar? bread; worship; testing God.
They too were turned away from God’s truth.
Jesus is God’s first born son, as Israel was referred to, he now has to deliver Israel, God’s people, from the grip of the enemy, the devil. To bring liberation for the people not from slavery, or from dodgy rulers, but from the ultimate enemy – the devil. From a broken relationship with God. And how does he do so? By using God’s word, and all from the time of the Israelites in the wilderness.
The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’
Luke 4:3-4
Which comes from:
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.
Deuteronomy 8:3
When the devil is offering the world to Jesus:
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
From Deut 6:13.
And then: throw yourself down so God can save you and here the devil has perhaps picked up on Jesus using God’s word so he does the same – directly quoting Psalm 91:
“He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”,and“On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Again twisting God’s words. The devil is so predcitable, the same tactics time and again.
But Jesus says:
Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
From Deut 6:6
God’s word is Jesus’ defence to the devil’s schemes and we know the Bible tells us God’s word is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, Hebrews 4:12
I wonder how often we feel tempted? Sometimes we might have something specific in our lives, but often it is the same as Jesus faced – a voice in our ear, twisting God’s truth just a little, just enough for us to doubt or to think a behaviour is ok and God won’t mind. Just enough to draw us a step away from God.
And don’t think you’ve never been tempted or never succumbed – the unkind word we justify to ourselves because, well they were unkind to us, or they wronged us. The not giving or not sharing of what we have because, well we need it, we can’t spare it, what if we need it for a rainy day? The things we do when no one else is there to see or hear…
But if we can resist – the truth is that all these things the devil offers we get in Christ free of charge.
Jesus gives his own body for us – the bread of life, we need not what food the devil can offer because Jesus has given us the ultimate sustenance. Which we receive again every Sunday at the Eucharist.
We need not human approved authority and power, because Jesus gives us authority in his name, over the devil himself – in Luke 10 we read him saying to the disciples:
He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.
Luke 10:18-19
And we need not test God because we are heirs to God’s kingdom anyway, we have become children of Christ. (1 John 3:1). And we are given it in abdundance (John 10:10).
In Jesus’ time of temptation he draws closer to God, using God’s word as his weapon, as his defence. And how did he do that? Well he had just spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying. You know in the Bible and I’ve talked about this before, the wilderness is a place of encounter. Think Moses seeing God in the burning bush out in the desert; Hagar escaping into the wilderness and meeting El Roi, the God who saw her, for example; the wilderness is a place people meet with God. Jesus too spent 40 days in the wilderness just being with God, fasting and praying, building himself up before he was tempted.
And it can be the same for us, the more time we have spent with God, in God’s word, the easier we will find to resist temptations when they come our way.
Lent is a perfect opportunity to seek God more, to build up our own defences, to sharpen our swords. Get into God’s word, find space to wonder in God’s presence. Worship with abandon.
Not sure what to do? Here’s some suggestions:
Lent course obviously
At Tues mass we are going to spend our sermon times doing Lection Divina, a time of refelcting on scripture.
Or you could try the Lectio app which offers a time of Lectio eachd day just 10 mins.
We are hosting some different times of worship and prater at church – why not try something new?
One I heard recently – 5 mins of quiet/listening to God each day
A practice/ routine is good; And I suggest find something that encourages you to reflect not just read and walk away.
Jesus used the temptations of the devil to reveal the truth of God. He was filled with the Spirit, seeking God and preparing himself. Temptation is our opportunity also to reveal truth and not succumb to the lies of the enemy.
So this Lent let’s aim to prepare ourslevs so we too can reveal the truth of God.
Amen
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