2023 02 26 Sermon
Jesus’ Way through Life’s Uncertainties
Matthew 4:1-11; Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Lent 1 A
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
In over 20 years as a pastor, I’ve never had to cancel Ash Wednesday due to bad weather until last week. And in my 48 years of life, I also don’t remember an Ash Wednesday ever being canceled due to weather. (Now, the pandemic is another story—but even then we didn’t cancel it, we just found different ways to observe it. So that’s kind of what we’re doing today, too.) Now, if you think about it, Ash Wednesday always falls in the winter. Odds are, if there is going to be an event that you need to cancel, it will more likely be in the winter. That it’s only happened to me once comes out to a mere 2% of the Ash Wednesdays of my life! That’s about as close to a sure thing as you can get. Even so, the ashes themselves that we wear on our foreheads are a sign of the uncertainty that comes with being human. Life is by nature filled with uncertainty, which is why a day to acknowledge this is important. Life probably has more uncertainty built into it than we usually think about.
You could get an ice storm, decide to walk to the mailbox and then slip and break your hip. You could fall off your bike on a calm sunny day and break your arm. You could take a hike in the woods, trip on a root, and break your elbow. Well, these are unpleasant enough, but these uncertainties are once-in-a-while accidents. Other uncertainties are more devastating—like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, with over 46,000 people killed. When they woke up the morning of those earthquake they had no idea how uncertain it would be for them to even live another day. Their family and friends who survived are uncertain how they can possibly rebuild their lives. The death toll there was made worse, in part, by things like builders taking short-cuts in their construction methods, and concrete makers mixing unsafe materials into their concrete, and government officials failing to implement earthquake recovery plans. In other words, the consequences of the earthquake were made worse by human sin.
The prophet Joel spoke a Word of the Lord into the uncertainty of life. He told of a “day of the Lord” that is coming, what today we might call “an act of God”. Joel spoke with haunting imagery, warning of—“a day of darkness and no light, a day of clouds and thick darkness; like blackness spread out upon the mountains, a great and powerful army comes…”. If you read the previous chapter of Joel (chapter 1), you’ll see that his warning is most likely referring to a plague of locusts in his country, which would be devastating to their food supply and economy. You want to talk about the uncertainty of life? A plague of locusts will do it!
Joel’s words still resonate today because we still live with many uncertainties—from natural disasters and the effects of a changing climate, to man-made tragedies, to personal accidents and illnesses and death, to gun violence committed throughout society.
The theological reason for all this is “sin”. Sin is our separation from God. Sin can happen knowingly or unknowingly, as the result of an individual person, or from the effects of larger systems that we are part of, which no one person controls but which we are still responsible for dealing with. Sin is the harm we cause to ourselves and to others, and the harm we suffer that we did nothing to deserve. Sin can be caused by a “good” person or an “evil” person. Sin is ever before us, all around us, because we live in a fallen world. Even though God created everything good, and even created human beings in his own image and called us “very good”, we human beings find it impossible to fully live according to the blessings God intended for us. “I want things my way, instead of God’s way”—this is the silent voice plaguing every human heart.
I want things my way instead of God’s way. This was also the voice Jesus heard when he was tempted in the wilderness. It was the voice of Satan, trying to persuade him to choose what’s good for just himself over what’s good for everybody. But this voice of temptation came wrapped in an attractive package. You’re hungry, Jesus? Just turn these stones into loaves of bread; if you’re the Son of God then you know you can do it. Go ahead and jump from the rooftop of the Temple, Jesus, and command the angels to catch you before you hit the ground; if you’re the Son of God, you know you can do it. I bet that it will even attract people to your ministry—they’ll be very impressed by such a dazzling display of power. Look at all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus. Look at all the valuable resources you could take for your very own. You could live like a king’s wildest dream! Just bow down and worship me first. That’s all I ask, then all of this will be yours. Besides, who’s gonna know?
Who’s gonna know? Maybe the 349 million people in the world who are facing acute food insecurity. Maybe they would know. (This is up from 287 million people in 2021). [https://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis.] Or maybe the 15% of Milwaukee County residents, including 26% of kids in the city of Milwaukee, who are uncertain about their next day’s food. We can’t tell them to just turn stones into bread, but we can be their advocates for better ways of providing access to the plentiful food that the Lord has provided on this earth. The hungry are not looking for all the riches of the world, or dazzling displays of power, but simply enough to eat so they can be who God created them to be.
Jesus knew, when the devil tempted him, that he had to be true to whom his heavenly Father sent him into this world to be. In each of the temptations, Jesus humbled himself, and in doing so he claimed his true identity by choosing “God’s way” instead of “my way”. Who’s gonna know? God’s gonna know. And ironically, it wasn’t by throwing himself from a high rooftop that brought the angels to catch him. As the gospel of Matthew tells it, after Jesus had resisted the temptations by humbling himself before God, and then the devil left him—that is when the angels suddenly came and helped him, because he humbled himself instead of putting on a dazzling display of power.
This speaks to the human experience of facing temptation. The temptations of the devil are attractive; they’re alluring things that sound good on the surface, but are actually bad for us. The big three temptations that Jesus faced were “I am what I do” (like, turning stones to bread); “I am what I have” (like, possessing the riches of the world); and “I am what others think of me” (like, by putting on a dazzling display of power). Each one of us faces these temptations in different ways, and for each one of us one of them will probably rise to the top, again and again. When you’re in the middle of facing temptation, it can feel like you’re all on your own. So do you try to make it through on your own? Or do you try to turn to the promises of God to give your strength?
As they were for Jesus, the angels of God, the helpers of God, are there all around to lend their aid—and our job is to share their message of grace and mercy that (in the words of the prophet Joel) the Lord your God is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive. The ashes on our foreheads remind us that we cannot eliminate the uncertainties of life, and therefore we need a merciful and compassionate God, whom we know in the crucified and risen Jesus. Lent is the season where you get to follow Jesus out into the wilderness, so to speak, by intentionally taking up spiritual practices—like repentance, fasting, prayer, and works of love—these things will help you turn to God for help, through faith and trust; so that the next time you face temptation, or the next time the uncertainties of life feel overwhelming, you’ll know who you can turn to. Amen.