Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Happy first Sunday of Lent! “Happy” and “Lent” aren’t always two words we hear together in the same sentence. People like Advent, we like building up the anticipation as we await the arrival of the Christ Child. But Lent? Lent is a time of penitence, a time of sacrifice, a time of confession. Yet I think Lent is important. It seems like the world loves a baby in a manger, but we could do without an innocent man on a cross. Let us never forget that Lent is a time to remember what Jesus has done for us.
This Lent we will be focusing on our own emptiness. We will be drawing from scriptures that use metaphors like hunger and thirst to describe the way we yearn for more than this world has to offer.
But just what is Lent? And we are a Mennonite church. Isn’t that a Catholic thing? Today we are going to look at the tradition of Lent, where it started, and by examining our scripture for today, we will try to better understand the symbolism of this liturgical season.
Let’s start on the day before Lent officially begins. People around the world, Christians and non-Christians, often celebrate the day right before the beginning of Lent. In some circles it is called Shrove Tuesday, which means a Tuesday of Confession. Other traditions refer to this day as Pancake Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday, which in French is Mardi Gras. The idea is to prepare for a Lenten fast by making sure that your conscious is clear and to stuff as many calories down your throat as possible before you give something up.
Obviously, Mardi Gras has taken on a different meaning in some cultures, but the root is still the same. Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, and Pancake Tuesday are about getting a little more carnal pleasure before giving something up for the next 40 days.
And for those who say, “I just can’t give up something for 40 days,” fear not. Sunday is officially recognized as a “cheat day.” Sundays in Lent are a mini-Easter, when Christians are permitted to break their fast.
Why 40 days? The 40-day Lenten fast corresponds to Jesus’s fasting in the wilderness for 40 days before he began his official ministry. though I don’t know anyone personally who has tried to do a complete fast like Jesus did. But that’s not the point. In fact, I think that many people miss the point of a Lenten fast altogether.
I recall a conversation that I had with a friend a few years ago. We were together on Ash Wednesday, the official first day of Lent. As we sat at the local Applebee’s, he informed our group that he was giving up smoking for Lent. He thought that was pretty funny, because he didn’t smoke anyway.
Many people give up something like sugar or sweets for Lent. This can be done well, but often it isn’t. Lent isn’t a joke, and it isn’t a diet. It is about sacrificing something so that you can improve your relationship with God and with your neighbors.
I’ll give you an example of what I do think gets to the point of Lent. It is becoming popular to give up social media for Lent. How many hours do we waste each day, week, month, or year checking Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? And as we all know, our interactions on social media are often less than Christlike. So in giving up these things, we hope to spend more time with God, and less time fighting with one another. I also heard about someone who was trying to reduce their consumption of single-use plastics over Lent. For them, caring for creation is an important part of how they connect with God.
Others take the 40 days of Lent as an opportunity to add something to their lives. We’ve all heard the estimates about how long it takes to form a new habit. 40 days is a pretty good place to start. Some people will be more intentional about reading their Bibles or other devotional materials for 40 days. Others will be spend 40 days helping the needy in a new way. Many people try to spend more time in prayer for Lent. Lent isn’t just about giving something up, it is about adding something to your life. And it should always be about improving your relationship with God and neighbor.
Those of you who come from a Catholic background may be thinking that I am missing something: the meat fast. Catholic teaching states that all Catholics over the age of 14 must abstain from the eating of meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and every Friday of Lent.
I think that this practice is a little dated, but that doesn’t mean that it is without merit. Back in the days before you could get a quarter pounder on every corner, meat was considered a luxury item. In many countries it still is. Meat was often reserved for special occasions and times of celebration. For instance, if I asked you what food you associate with Thanksgiving, you might name pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce. But what Thanksgiving would be complete without a turkey? Or July 4th without a hotdog? Wait, there isn’t any meat it a hotdog, but you get the point. Abstaining from meat was a way of giving up a luxury item.
I don’t think we should be legalistic about Lenten fasts. That’s never the point, and nowhere in the Bible are we told to observe a Lenten fast. The command of a Lenten fast isn’t biblical, but neither is toothpaste. That doesn’t make it a bad thing. I came across some great “rules for fasting during Lent” on the Pulpit Fiction website that I want to share with you. Rule 1: There are no rules. But they do offer some guidelines, which include things like: “Remove something from your life and allow God to fill that space,” and “The purpose of the fast is not to follow the rule you laid out. The purpose is to grow closer to God. God is more interested in your heart than this practice.”
Where I see the strength is in the training. For someone like me, a confessing sugar addict, to give up sweets is training me to resist temptation. If I can stare down a cupcake and win, who knows what else I can accomplish? There is nothing sinful about eating cupcakes, Praise Jesus! But when we train ourselves to resist something as simple as sugar, ideally we would be able to resist greater temptations.
Connecting with God, training to resist temptation. When we look at the individual temptations of Jesus, I’m really not sure that they are all temptations. The first temptation is to turn a stone into bread. If I could do that, I would. Elsewhere Jesus multiplies loaves and fish to feed crowds of 4 and 5,000. There is nothing wrong with turning stones into bread. There is obviously something else going on here.
I think it is helpful to remember that Jesus is consistently shown throughout the New Testament to be the sinless redeemer of the world. Where humanity has failed, Jesus has succeeded. In the book of Genesis we find the story of Adam and Eve. They lived in the Garden of Eden, and all of life was good. They had one rule: there was one tree from which they couldn’t eat. Then comes the serpent, and he tempts the first human beings to break the one law that they had. Adam and Eve failed, giving in to temptation. Jesus overcame temptation and was victorious.
What other notable stories do we have in the Hebrew Bible? The Great Flood? That event took place because the entire world was sinful. The Exodus? They wandered in the wilderness because they sinned. And maybe you can remind me, how many days did it rain during the Great Flood? How many years did the Hebrew people wander in the wilderness? 40. I assume that when the people hear that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, they are going to think of these other famous 40’s and be reminded of their own failures.
In Romans 5, Paul describes Jesus as a second Adam, only this time, Jesus got it right. Just as sin entered the world through one man, so too had God’s grace entered the world through one man. His name was Jesus.
The first temptation is for Jesus to turn stones into bread. Again, there’s nothing wrong with turning stones into bread. I say if you can do that, go ahead and do it! But this gives Jesus a chance to refer back to the Hebrew Bible. And notice that all of Jesus’s rebuttals to Satan’s temptations are scriptures from Deuteronomy. Even more specifically, they are all references to Israel’s years of wandering—and failing—in the wilderness.
In verse 4, we find Jesus’s response to temptation 1: “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” This is a part of a larger passage of scripture from Deuteronomy 8. Here are verses 2-3:
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
This temptation never was about bread. It was about humility. It was about our relying upon God, the source of all things that are good.
The next temptation involves the devil taking Jesus to the top of the mountain and offering Jesus power over all nations if he will just bow down to him. Does this mean that the devil has power over all kingdoms, nations or governments? That’s debatable. It seems like the devil is offering Jesus a shortcut to power. Jesus is offered a crown without a cross. But Jesus needs to consider what kind of messiah he is called to be. Verse 8, “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’””
This is also right out of Deuteronomy 6. Verses 12-13: “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.”
How did the Israelites do at that? *Cough, golden calf. Cough.* The temptations of Jesus, and more specifically his response to these temptations, reveal that not only can Jesus overcome temptation, he succeeds where human beings had failed.
So obviously, the point of the story is that Jesus is good, humans are bad. You’re going to sin, so go forth and sin boldly! No, probably not. No, I think this story and the entire season of Lent are helpful reminders that we are failures, but there’s still more to the story.
The final temptation involves the devil taking Jesus up to the highest point of the temple and daring him to jump. I’m pretty sure the devil even called him chicken, trying to egg him on a bit. Maybe not, but what does the devil do? He quotes scripture to Jesus, which just goes to show how much we can twist scriptures around to say whatever we want it to, especially when taken out of context.
I’ve always assumed that this temptation was about Jesus doing something miraculous in front of the Israelites so that they would believe in him. If you were coming out of church today and someone jumped off our roof, only to stop inches above the ground and hover there for a bit, you would take notice! But let’s look again at Jesus’s response in verse 12 and its original context. “Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”” This comes from Deuteronomy 6:16, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”
And now I want to know about Massah! This story comes from Exodus 17, where the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness and they complain to Moses, accusing him of bringing them out into the wilderness so that they, their children, and their livestock will die of thirst. Verses 6-7:
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”
When Jesus was tempted to throw himself off the temple, this wasn’t to show other people who he was. This was an effort to make Jesus second guess his own identity, and to second guess if God was really with him. If God saved him from this terrible fall, it was proof that God was with him.
I came across a new mini documentary series on Netflix called “Losers” this week (Rated M, this isn’t for everyone). At this time there are eight episodes about various athletes who failed at their particular sports. And it wasn’t just like some kid losing his ball game at the Y. We’re talking about world-class athletes failing and failing miserably. And yes, they took this failure hard, but they didn’t let their failure beat them. They found other ways to excel.
The heavy-weight champion of the world is knocked out in his first match as the champ by a scrub who didn’t even deserve to be in the ring with this guy. The champ begins writing play and screenwriter. And English soccer club needs to score one goal to not be removed from the league, and they only have time to score because their best player is bit by a dog during the match and they score in the extra time. A basketball player is kicked off I believe three different college teams for behavioral issues and drug and alcohol abuse before finding his home on a traveling performance team like the Harlem Globetrotters. And yes, there is a golf story too. I didn’t watch that one, but some guy fails.
I think that there are two reasons why someone might watch a show called “Losers.” Some people are going to watch this series because they like to watch other people fail. They get their daily dose of schadenfreude, joy from other people’s pain. But then there are those who will watch because we can relate. We get it, because we too have failed. We have missed the big shot, we lost the girl to someone else. Our coworker got the promotion. And every now and then, it is good to see something good come out of our failures.
This is just as true for our religious, spiritual, and ethical failures. We’ve failed, I’ve failed. In Lent we remember our failures, not to dwell on them and feel guilty. In Lent we remember our failures to emphasize that something good has come along. Where we have failed, Jesus has succeeded. Now something better is out there for us, and we know it. We hunger for more. We hunger for God and his kingdom.
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