Luke 4:1-13
Jesus said, I have come that you might have life, life abundant.
Good life … life worth living … life that counts … life that makes a difference … life that is true and right.
To look back and be satisfied that we have fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith [2 Timothy 4:7].
What is the abundant life that Jesus speaks about?
Big question …
The kind of question that drives the Season Lent.
40 days to think deep and hard about our life in Christ.
Welcome to the Season of Lent!
The word “Lent” comes from an Old English word, “lencten,” which means “spring” … and refers to the “lengthening of the days” … you can hear the similarity: “Lent” and “lencten” – the lengthening of the days, spring-time …
Lent has been a time of abstinence … doing without some things … which is always a good idea for any of us, whose lives are so caught up in things.
Lent begins with Fat Tuesday, when folks ate up the larder, cleaned out the refrigerator – because the next 40 days would be a fast …
Lent gets serious with Ash Wednesday, and then 40 days of preparation and thought … 40 days to ponder the life of Christ … 40 days to examine our soul and ask the best questions!
40 days to get ready for Easter.
The church rightly understands the importance of preparation … getting ready to hear the Easter message!
Easter is the summation of our faith – Easter is the culmination of all our hopes and fears … when that heavy stone is rolled away, and the tomb is found to be empty!
A glorious message of hope and peace!
The false gods of empire and religion are exposed for what they are – power-hungry, greedy and jealous! Dealers of death!
They threw the worst at Jesus, and they killed him.
But death has met its match in the matchless grace of Christ our LORD!
But we’re not there yet.
We need to take our time.
Walk slowly.
It’s Lent!
Lots of important things take time.
I’ve been reading a Cajun cook book by Paul Prudhomme … amazed at the amount of prep time needed before the actually cooking sbegin … slicing and dicing and measuring … in some recipes, even a couple of days before turning on the stove!
Lots of important things take time.
How about a wedding?
Or writing a book?
Or a trip to China?
Important things require prep time.
Easter needs prep time … slicing and dicing and measuring, before we turn on the stove.
Before we get to the Empty Tomb, we have some work to do.
We journey with Jesus:
From Galilee to Judea.
From the Mount of Olives into David’s City.
Parables and confrontations.
Teaching and healing.
The rich and the poor.
The lost and the blind.
We journey with Jesus:
From over-turned tables in the temple to the table in the Upper Room.
From Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, to Pilate washing his hands.
Along the streets of crowded Jerusalem to a hill called Golgotha.
Eager crowds, edgy soldiers.
A cross and its nails, and a crown of thorns.
Pain and thirst, agony and death … and a hasty burial in a rock-hewn tomb.
We journey with Jesus of Galilee … the Lamb of God, says John, who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us.
Up from the waters of his baptism.
At the hand of John the Baptist.
The Jordan River … just north of the Dead Sea.
The beginning.
The start of it all.
Fresh and new.
It was all new for Jesus that day.
He was full of the Holy Spirit.
Ready to go!
Ready to save the world.
But not yet!
Something had to happen first.
A test!
The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness.
I’ve been there, in that Judean wilderness.
A real wilderness it is.
One of the most barren places on the face of the earth.
West and south of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.
Rocky and hot.
Tan and brown.
Narrow, twisty, canyons and high cliffs.
Blinding light and dark shadows.
No place for man nor beast!
The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into that wilderness.
40 days of fasting.
40 days of temptation.
40 days to figure it out.
40 days to lay the foundation.
40 days to make decisions.
When Jesus is really hungry, the devil comes to him, and says eagerly, Hey, if you’re the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.
Jesus answers wearily: It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”
The devil leads him now, says the Bible.
Strange that the Son of God should give himself to the devil’s hand, but how else to know the sting of temptation, the temptations we all face …
The devil shows him now the power and glamour of the world.
Gleaming cities and marching armies.
Ships plying the seas and merchants selling their wares.
The devil says, I can give all of it to you, because it’s been given to me. Just bow down to me and it’ll be yours. Easy as pie.
Jesus answers: It is written, “Worship the LORD your God, and serve only him.”
The devil then takes Jesus to Jerusalem, the center of Israel’s religion, and they stand on the pinnacle of the temple …
The devil says, Hey, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, show off a little, you can be a celebrity - and God’s angels will guard you … you won’t even stub a toe!
Jesus answers, It is said, “Do not put the LORD your God to the test.”
And with that, the devil leaves him … until an opportune time … as the devil leaves, I have the “Terminator” moment in mind, I’ll be back!
Can we learn from Jesus?
Jesus might well have said,
I’m hungry, and my appetite is raging right now … how can I take care of anyone else if I don’t take of me? So many stones – could be a lot of bread! I could feed the world. I’m gonna go with my hunger! It’s me that counts! If I don’t take care of me, who else will?
He might have said that … but he didn’t!
Jesus might well have said,
All the kingdoms of the world? So easy? … Ya mean I don’t have to call disciples and die on a cross? … there’s a shortcut? … just a small compromise: bow down to someone other than God? What could be wrong with that? Think of all the good I could do, if I had all that power and all that wealth. I’m gonna go for it. No fear! I wanna be on top of the heap! And I promise, I’ll do good with it!
He might have said that … but he didn’t!
Jesus might well have said,
If I throw myself down from the pinnacle of the temple – what a stunt! I’d be a celebrity. I’d be on YouTube in 15 minutes. Folks would want my autograph. I could influence them and tell them important things. I’d be on TV; I’d have my own reality show. I could write a book; I could get an agent, and he’d get me endorsement contracts. I’d be rich and famous. And I promise, I’ll do good with it!
He might have said that … but he didn’t!
Jesus says no to the lies, and yes to the truth.
And that’s why we call him the way, the truth and the life!
Can we learn from Jesus?
Can we learn from this story?
It’s our story, too, isn’t it?
Jesus was tempted to be full of himself.
To center on his appetites and his needs.
To be number 1.
But Jesus fights the good fight.
It’s not about me.
It’s not about my needs.
It’s not about my appetites and my comfort.
There is something bigger and better to life than the world according to Garp, or Tom, or Jim, or Mary, or Susie.
There is something bigger and better to life than the world according to Wall Street or Main Street or My Street.
The world according to God.
Jim Wallis has written a new book, and I recommend it to all of you …
Rediscovering Values On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street: a Moral Compass for the New Economy.
Wallis sees our economic ills as a moral crisis … Wallis is adamant: we’ve been asking the wrong questions, and it doesn’t make any difference how well we answer the wrong questions – wrong questions always lead us to wrong places!
Wallis writes:
For some time now, we’ve been asking the wrong questions. Television, magazines, and our popular culture, in ad after ad, have asked us: What’s the fastest way to make money? How do you beat your coworker for the next promotion? Is your house bigger than your neighbor’s? Are you keeping up with the Joneses? What do you need to buy next that will truly make you happy? What is wrong with you and how could you change that? What should you protect yourself from?
Wallis goes on:
Advertising has preyed upon two of our deepest human emotions, greed and fear – what do you want and what are you afraid of? Sometimes the ads answered questions we hadn’t even thought to ask, about the whiteness of our teeth and the style of our clothes, but once we saw the answers they gave us, we began asking the same questions [pp. 2 – 3].
I challenge you during the season of Lent - pay careful attention to advertising … be thoughtful, critical, look for lies … the lies are abundant! Lies thrown at us by the devil … lies that play upon our appetites, our desire for power, our fascination with fame and fortune.
If I have one message for you today, it’s this … be the church of Jesus Christ! Learn from him in the wilderness …
Read this story a couple of times this week, read it throughout Lent … work with it, pray your way through it … learn to say No to the lies, and a giant Yes to Christ!
To live an abundant life, rich in the things of God, and balanced and true in the world of things.
Welcome to Lent!
40 days to figure it out!
Amen and Amen!
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