This is the sermon I preached at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20–21, 2010, for the First Sunday in Lent.
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Readings
Deuteronomy 26:1–11
Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16 (antiphon v. 11)
Romans 10:8b–13
Luke 4:1–13
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Prayer
You call us to return to you, Lord God, and to leave behind all that keeps us from giving ourselves fully to serve you. Reach out to us with your Word, so that we may turn to face you and to give you glory; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Message
One of the milestones
in my time as a Boy Scout
was a weekend my Dad and I spent together
at Camp Bashore.
We had both been tapped out
to undergo the Order of the Arrow Ordeal.
It was an honor to be selected
for membership in this organization
that recognized leaders
and promoted the ideals of scouting.
The weather was favorable the weekend
we went to the camp.
No rain fell, although we did feel the brunt
of Pennsylvania’s renowned triple-H weather:
Hazy, hot, and humid.
We slept in a tent
and spent the weekend
working on service projects
to improve the camp.
Part of the ordeal was to be silent.
Another part—basically—was to go without food.
For breakfast on Saturday, we were each given a raw egg
and a paper drinking cup.
If we built a fire,
we could boil the egg
in the water-filled cup.
It actually does work.
The water keeps the cup below its burning point,
so while the rim does char a bit,
the egg will boil in the water inside the cup.
The problem for me
is that, to this day,
I only eat eggs either scrambled or in omelets.
I just can’t stomach hardboiled eggs.
I remember being really hungry that day
and finding some wild strawberries
growing in a meadow.
We worked hard all day Saturday
and had a light meal Saturday night,
so our fasting really only lasted one day.
That’s a long ways away
from Jesus’ forty-day sojourn in the wilderness,
his fasting and his temptation by the devil.
But even so,
if you can recall a time in your life—
even if only for some hours or days—
when you sojourned in a mental, emotional, or physical wilderness,
when you were cut off from others,
when you went without sustenance and support,
when you were left alone, in silence,
with only your thoughts and fears,
with just your prayers to God,
then you can appreciate the ordeal
that Jesus underwent in the wilderness
in those weeks between his Baptism and his ministry.
This is a bond we share with him,
just as he does with us.
This is part of the wonder of the gift
that Jesus, the Son of God,
is fully human, just as he is fully divine.
We can be reassured by knowing
that he knows what we face
when we endure times in the wilderness,
when we are tempted,
when we must undergo the ordeals that come to us.
That’s why the writer of Hebrews reminds us:
“For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who in every respect
has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15, NRSV)
That means that when the devil comes to us
and tries to lure us into satisfying our appetites,
we can lean on Jesus and his witness
when he said to Satan:
“It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” (Luke 4:4, NRSV)
And when we face a temptation
to give our allegiance to forces and powers other than God,
we can trust that Jesus has stood his ground
in the face of the devil’s allure.
So we can live by the same word he lives by:
“It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’” (Luke 4:8, NRSV)
And then, when in our secret and diabolical thoughts,
we say to ourselves,
“If God wants me to follow him,
then I need him to prove himself to me.
I need him to show me a sign.
If he passes this test,
then I will be his servant.”
That’s the test that the devil proposed to Jesus.
And in reply, he stood firm with a faith
that we can rely upon when we grow weak,
when we find ourselves tempted.
So with Jesus, we can reply to the devil:
“It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Luke 4:12, NRSV)
These are the temptations we face in the wilderness of our lives,
those times when the devil lures us so reasonably
to seek support from other forces than God,
to honor other authorities than our Lord,
to trust our own judgments rather than his Word.
But maybe the most insidious temptation
is the one that beguiles into wishing
that the paths of our lives
did not take us into the wilderness in the first place.
It’s not that it’s wrong to wish for the demise of the devil,
but when we wish not to face the reality of challenges to our faith,
we display a human weakness in our trust
in the power of God to make good
on the promise of the cross of Christ.
We may not see how Christ will emerge victorious
over sin, death, and the devil,
but we have all the reason
to trust that God in his power and love
can see the path to victory,
that the wilderness of the devil will, in the end,
give way to the kingdom of God.
And in the meantime,
which is often a mean time,
we live only by the grace of the Father’s sustenance,
sent to us in the wilderness in Jesus’ name through his Holy Spirit.
We are washed by the waters of new life,
our minds and hearts are guided by the Word,
our hunger is satisfied by the bread of heaven,
and our thirst is slaked by the cup of salvation. Amen.