Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul, He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. 4Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you, 11 and on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
I have to be honest with you that while I have learned to grow into loving the 23rd Psalm, it has a very strange beginning in my life. It was sixth grade Sunday school and the Kinchners, (who were missionaries for most of their their life in China) were teaching and this is what they did to teach us how to memorize the 23rd Psalm. Once we memorized it, they would literally bring in an individual devil's food chocolate cake, which I thought was a brilliant strategy, and it worked. I remember the day I got my cake. We put it in the bread drawer for ‘safe keeping’, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I kept returning to the kitchen after lunch for another slice and then another sliver and another…. And I remember my mother saying, “You better watch out, Jennifer, because if you keep eating that cake you're going to end up like your fat aunt.”
I've grown to love the 23rd Psalm in spite of this story, and my guess is that this is one of the many psalms that Jesus was praying when He was out in the wilderness all by Himself; along with, of course, what he repeats back to Satan after each temptation: Deuteronomy 8 and 11 and then the third temptation, Psalm 91.
The first response that Jesus gives to the devil is, “One does not live by bread alone.” This recalls not only that God's word was truth, but also recalling the sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness when God was not only present with them, but also provided them bread for the journey in the form of manna. In fact God provided so much manna that they couldn't collect it all and the rest actually spoiled!
As believers, we want to understand and try to rely on God's provision but sometimes we just don't trust in God’s abundance. And I do think that there's a difference in Lent between pushing back on that craving of something we're trying to give up for Lent versus what are we really craving; what are we really hungry for. It's not the devil's food cake. It's not a slice of pizza or your favorite donut. It's something much, much, much deeper.
So right now, I want you to take a moment in this first Sunday of Lent and ponder for a moment, right now, what are you hungering for in this Lenten season, even this day. Take a moment. And, if you haven't done so already, share that with God.
The next temptation from this passage that we need to examine, especially in this first Sunday, is the temptation for power. In this story the temptation that the devil was dangling in front of Jesus was political power, but it was also a parallel for Israel wanting to have freedom, to be able to pray and follow whatever god (with a small “g”) they felt like. They wanted to be able to do anything they wanted and rule over whomever they wanted. They wanted to have as many slaves as they wanted and exert force over even other kings in other lands.
Jesus, of course, rejects this and he refutes the worship of Satan himself, because Jesus knew that power, real power, can only come from one place, the Lord. But we, in our human weakness seek power from all sorts of other places besides God.
So where in your life are you seeking to have power? I don't mean strength as in you can lift heavy things or be able to do things you used to be able to do. I mean the places where you want to have power that's not healthy and helpful. Is it power over someone else that makes you crazy? Is it power to overcome a difficult situation? Is it power over our own egos? What is our mindset as we sit in these pews today? Do we come with all of ourselves, submitting all of ourselves to God and God's word or do we likely come and cherry-pick the things we like, the things we agree with, the music that moves us and leave the rest? Because the call is not to cherry pick. The call is to submit again to God's power, to God's might. To honor the Lord fully and completely seeking Gods’ power and might not our own. Take a moment right now and think of at least one place in your life where you are still seeking to have power that's actually going against God's power.
As we know, Paul says to us in II Corinthians, [God says] “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” And that is counterintuitive to us as human beings, because we want to feel strong and powerful in all ways; strong against those who are aggressive towards us; strong against those who hurt us, (knowingly or unknowingly). We want to be strong against all those things that will make us want to curl up in a ball. But actually turning ourselves over to God fully is exactly what Jesus did by sitting in the desert, wandering in the desert with nothing to eat and only words to pray. That’s where the REAL power comes from.
The third temptation that Jesus endured is the hardest for us to wrap our heads around. Surely Jesus, (nor we would we), would willingly jump off a building and expect that something is going to capture us. No shoot is going to pop out our backpack and we're going to land safely with angels flapping their wings. We, also, rarely ever think even about us putting God to the test. Usually, it's the other way around, especially when we're not getting what we want. When we have a disappointment after disappointment. When we endure hardship upon hardship. When we seem to have multiple difficulties without any relief or break. We perceive that God is testing us to see if we'll remain faithful and, for so many of us, we often, especially in the thick of it, perhaps, interpret that God is even punishing us to teach us a lesson.
Speaking of being taught a lesson….I forgot to mention later in the year in my sixth grade Sunday school class, I'd forgotten all about the cake and the kindness of what they did. I was regularly misbehaving week in and week out looking for attention, looking for a laugh, looking for something else because I felt bored. The teachers didn’t throw me out—that happened in the seventh grade class. But in the sixth grade class, they invited me to their home with my mom to have a conversation and say, “Okay, what's really going on for you? What's really happening that you are cutting up in class and not being able to participate in the lessons?” And the truth came out. It's something I can't share, because it's a personal family but they helped me get to the truth in a way that wasn't shaming. I was rescued and changed because of God’s power through these kind teachers.
But we do wonder if God punishing us or is the devil just over-active, looking to poison our understanding of
who God is? Fred Craddock, a Lukan scholar, (who was also a professor and a gentleman). Humble in every way, says “being committed to the way of God in the world doesn't exempt us from struggle.” Darn.
Teresa of Avilla, who was a devout Christian and a companion of John the Cross, too, had her struggles with God, even though she prayed day in and day out—(that was her sole responsibility in life). But one time she was riding in the back of a carriage--a horse-drawn carriage—and the horse got spooked. And she was thrown from the carriage and somehow the reins got caught up in her legs. And she was dragged for something like 600 feet and she broke her leg. And when the horse finally came to a stop, she was quoted as shaking her fist at the heavens and saying to God, “If this is the way you treat your friends, it's no wonder you have so few!”
That's what we do, right? We revert to being children when things have gone bad or not gone our way. But Theresa also said that God has a deep heart for all of those who struggle and stay the course. But God has a deeper heart for those who abandon God, because they're still childlike in their faith, unable to see God's activity in the midst of the suffering.
But, then again, Craddock says, “You know what? Give Satan his due. His timing was perfect. Jesus had just been baptized. He hadn't preached a sermon. He hadn't cast out a demon. He hadn't healed a single person. He was alone. He was starving. And he was poised to begin His ministry and what would be the shape it would take”. If it was me, it would have been very short-lived.
We, too, are at the beginning of our Lenten journey, yet again. I've been looking back at the number of bulletins and the number of years that we've been celebrating Lent together. And, of course, the last two years have been really rough, especially in Lent, because we had so much suffering. And we all know what it's like to be tempted. We're tempted not to observe Lent consistently when we get tired. We're tempted to fight invitations to go deeper in our faith. We're tempted to make excuses about how some of these things are too hard. We're tempted to resist God's purposes, even when we know God is speaking right to us and we know exactly what it's about. We're tempted to still speak and act in ways that make us feel good and make Satan awfully proud. Again, Craddock says scripture shows us, that “all throughout the canon…” (meaning the entire Bible) “there is in us and among us strong opposition to love, to health, to wholeness, to peace. And, if Jesus struggled, well, who is exempt? “
Temptation in the wilderness and in our lives is real, but it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is over in section seven having a coffee break. Craddock says, “Rather, the Holy Spirit was the one the qualifying power of God in the midst of Jesus’ contests.” So what's in our way to be transformed during this Lenten season and dealing with our fears, especially our fears that God won't show up and change us?
I had a great prayer to end this sermon. I was sure it was on my desk at the office, but on the way here I listened to Kirk Franklin. He is a wonderful gospel singer. You can look him up on YouTube. And he sort of raps in the middle of his choir singing and he says, “I dedicate this song to recession, depression, unemployment. This song is for you.” And then his choir comes in and says:
Today's a new day, but there is no sunshine, nothing but clouds and it's dark in my heart, and it feels like a cold night. Today's a new day, but where are my blue skies? Where is the love and the joy that you promised me? Tell me it's going to be all right. I almost gave up, but a power that I can't explain, fell from heaven like a shower. I smile! Even though I hurt. See I smile. I know God is working and so I smile, even though I've been here for a while. I smile. It's so hard to look up when you've been down. Sure would hate to see you give up now. You look so much better when you smile.”
And then he says, “Every day ain't gonna be perfect, but it's still gonna have purpose.”
May each day in our Lent have purpose whether we're happy or not, because the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us. Thanks be to God! Amen.