2022 03 06 Sermon

Sermon for March 6, 2022 Lent 1 C House of Prayer Lutheran Church

Luke 4:1-13; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

If you’re around my age, or older, you might remember a funny series of commercials from back in the 1980s and 90s. They were for Isuzu cars (which are no longer sold in the United States) with their pitchman, “Joe Isuzu”. If you’ve never seen them, you can actually look them up on YouTube—they are good for a few laughs! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_1ASmweXYs Does anyone else remember them? It would be the talk of the lunchroom among my friends whenever a new “Joe Isuzu” commercial came out.

Each commercial would begin with “Hi! I’m Joe Isuzu” and then words would flash up on the screen saying, “He’s lying.” Then Joe Isuzu would proceed to tell lies about how great the car was with a big smile on his face, making preposterous claims. Like: “This car can transport a grand piano.” Then words would flash on the screen saying, “Only if the piano has been taken apart.” Or: “This car only costs 9 dollars” and then the screen would flash, “actually, $6,900”, and things like that. At the end of the commercial, when the true details about the car would be revealed, Joe Isuzu would say, “You have my word on it!” But up until that point, he just had a way of making all the lies sound so appealing.

Well, Joe Isuzu was just some harmless, tongue-in-cheek fun, but he came to mind this week when I read today’s gospel, as the devil appears to Jesus in the wilderness, lying and trying to convince Jesus to buy into some preposterous claims. If this bible story were a Joe Isuzu commercial we’d hear the devil saying “You can turn these stones into bread” and then words would flash saying “He’s lying.” Then he’d say, “I can give you glorious authority over all the kingdoms of the world” then it would say “not the kind of kingdom you’d want to live in.” Finally, the devil would say “Throw yourself from a tall building and God will send his angels to catch you—you have my word on it!” Then the screen would say “Please don’t try this at home.”

Those commercials never had to be made, because Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations, and through the trials he endured, he taught us that even if you’re stranded in the wilderness, faced with the unknown, needing to make sacrifices, unsure of what will happen next, you can still choose the life-giving alternative to the devil’s lies, by staying connected to God. Jesus stayed connected to God by accepting his human vulnerability and trusting God’s way of building people up in the truth and love rather than tearing them down with lies and fear. God’s way is the true pathway to freedom and abundant life.

Even though Jesus struggled through 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, he kept the faith that, even as appealing as the devil’s false promises might appear on the surface, following those false promises would lead only to selfishness and greed, to sin and death. In the short term, the lies might offer a temporary sense of comfort, or maybe even seem to solve a problem. But in the long term, following the lies would erode your soul, create even more problems, and ultimately lead to tearing people apart instead of bringing them together.

This is a cosmic struggle between the way of God, and the way of sin and death. And this struggle manifests itself in very real ways from generation to generation. The whole world is currently witnessing the power of the devil’s lies in a very terrifying way, with the war that Vladimir Putin is waging on Ukraine. He’s turning a peaceful and democratic country to rubble and, according to his warped world-view, he’s insisting that by his word the stones that are left over will become bread. Putin is claiming all authority and glory for himself, not only by attacking the Ukrainians, but also in silencing independent journalism and free speech among the Russian people, and by imprisoning people who oppose him. He doesn’t care how many people he hurts, or how many are displaced from their homes or flee as refugees. He uses his power to make doubt and chaos and lies reign over trust, humanity, and justice—all for what he selfishly perceives is good for himself alone; and even then it’s not truly good for him, as he loses his own humanity and sells his soul over and over again. He has made life better for no one. The Russian people themselves don’t want what Putin is selling, just like no one else in the world wants it.

In contrast, we’ve heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has accepted his vulnerability and stayed with his people in the midst of the danger. Rather than coerce them into doing unspeakable things through fear and intimidation, he is using his power on behalf of his people, to freely remain alongside them—and this has empowered and inspired them and the world, even as Putin turns their cities to rubble.

“One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord,” Jesus tells the devil, which also serves as a good reminder for us. God doesn’t want stones to be turned into bread to satisfy one man’s hunger; God wants seeds to be planted that grow into wheat, which will be harvested to become flour, and then baked into bread to feed many people. This only happens when people live in peace and partnership with each other. And that’s the kind of kingdom Jesus leads us towards; that’s why he resisted the devil’s lies, and that’s why he gave himself for us on the cross. “One does not live by bread alone”—but then sometimes the bread itself become the Word from the Lord. I wonder—as Ukrainian Christians this morning are huddled together in subway tunnels and bomb shelters—I wonder if they are also praying, worshiping, and scrounging up loaves of bread to be able to receive the Bread of Life, the body of the risen Christ himself, to strengthen and sustain them through Holy Communion?

“One does not live by bread alone”—so we look for the Word of the Lord to speak to the stones that are left in the rubble, and turn them into the bread of God’s grace, as God raises up goodness, truth-telling, and mercy in the world. We are seeing this kind of “bread” being shared by so many all around the world today. This includes our partners at Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Disaster Response, and the Lutheran World Federation who are there supporting the Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons (as well as people in many other countries who’ve suffered and fled their own persecutions, including the Afghan refugees in Wisconsin). These partners of ours are meeting the most pressing needs—by sharing the love of the Christ with emergency food, clean water, safe shelter, and medical supplies in the short term, and in the long term helping them to eventually be able to live in peace and safety.

As followers of Christ, in all of our human vulnerability, we can offer our prayers and support, in partnership with God and with each other, to supporting the things that build people up in faith, hope, and love—for the people of Ukraine, for people around the world, for the Afghan refugees, for people in our community and state, and for ourselves. And since we know that Christ has already won the battle over sin and death, we can ask him to plant the seeds of goodness, truth, and mercy in our own hearts, so that by God’s grace, we freely share our bread with others. This is how we find true life. You have God’s word on it! Amen.