Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, UCC
February 21, 2010
First Sunday in Lent

Scripture Lesson:  Luke 4:1-13

TRUE TO EVERY TEST

"If you are the Son of God ..."
(Luke 4:3, 9)

Prelude

The season of Lent reaches deep into

the history of our Christian faith. 

It emerged as a season of

orientation and instruction

for people seeking admission

and desiring the company of Christians.

Once upon a time, faith was not fashionable,

but rather a sharp statement

of personal conviction and communal affiliation.

Lent was part of the initiation process

that would lead to confession that Christ is Lord.

When the church surmised it was not wise

or prudent to make haste in issuing

church membership cards, Lent emerged.

The prevalent thought: 

it was better to practice full disclosure

about the cost and joys of discipleship,

with no surprises buried in the fine print of the

church's constitution. 

If you are curious and interested

in this Christian movement, enroll during Lent.

You could circle the date anticipating

a graduation exercise, baptism, which was already

on the calendar on the eve of Easter. 

In our time, Lent invites both those

well weathered in faith, and those who are new

to the adventure, to ponder fresh the vows that

define life in the church, the body of Christ.

When we baptize, when we confirm,

when new members are received,

we always return to the promises;

these we share as vows:

... to be a disciple of Christ;

... to follow Christ;

... to resist oppression and evil;

... to show love and justice,

... to witness ...

as best we are able.

There is yet more!  We further promise:

to grow in the faith,

and to be faithful to the church covenant,

to celebrate the presence and

further the mission of Jesus

in all the world (see Book of Worship, UCC).

Lent is a season with gravitas, and we welcome it!

It is a serious matter this faith that defines our lives,

and being eager and wanting to follow Jesus,

there is a lot we have to cover!

          *****                   *****                   *****

Our theme this year:  "Do Not Hold Back." 

This word is recorded in Isaiah the prophet,

chapter 58:  "Shout out, do not hold back! 

Lift up your voice like a trumpet!"

Isaiah poses a challenge:

that we examine and correct our ways,

that our lives (willfully errant or ignorantly aimless)

be realigned in accord with what is known and trusted

to be the will of God.

If we see what Isaiah saw,

a crisp, clear, high-definition picture emerges

of a people who had the form,

but not the power, of faith;

they had ritual,

but it engendered no response;

they confessed a relationship with divinity

acknowledged as Creator and Deliverer;

but there is a disconnect; they are unplugged;

there is no charge from the Source and Supplier of life.

A similar word is mentioned in the New Testament letter of II Timothy,

which anticipates the day when

"people will be lovers of themselves ...

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

holding to the outward form of godliness

but denying its power..." (II Timothy 3:1, 4-5).

Form without function;

a veneer without vitality;

a façade without substance. 

It is not an old problem, is it? 

Just this week the junior senator from Indiana

indicated his time in the U.S. Senate would end with

his term.  No plans for another race.  The assessment

was exceedingly blunt:  "dysfunctional ... brain dead

partisanship ... (the system needs) ... a shock ..."

to restore its life (interview, MSNBC, February 16).

Isaiah delivered a shock to an ancient system

that needed to be righted.  Once righted,

then good things begin to happen:

then light break forth like the dawn;

then we will soar into heights of life,

the goodness and mercy God desires. 

The time of righting begins with the word:

Do not hold back!    

Do not hold back as we visit the lessons that will

lead us into Jerusalem, into the shadows of the cross,

into the death of Jesus,

into the fullness of his eternal love.

          *****                   *****                   *****

This morning, as is custom, we have as our lesson

the temptations of Jesus (Luke 4:1-13).

Take note:  there is a portion of inserted material,

a listing of Jesus' ancestors, that completes

the 3rd chapter of Luke.  The material is important if

we really like reading a litany of what father

begat what son.  The lineage is traced from

the father of Jesus, Joseph (as was thought),

through the great King David,

to Abraham,

to the beginning.

To Adam, identified in Luke

as son of God.

This table of ancestors follows  

the word that sounded at Jesus' baptism:

You are my son, the Beloved,

with you I am well pleased. 

Luke impresses upon us:

Jesus, the beloved, is linked with the ages,

even with Adam,

son of God.

And then, full of the Holy, and being led by the spirit,

Jesus heads off into the wilderness.

There he is tempted. 

There he encounters

the one who speaks:

"If you are the son the God ..."

The temptation in this instance,

and in the following

verses, comes to test Jesus,

to see if he can withstand the one whose delight is

to trouble and divert; the test is to see if Jesus

can stay true to the identity God has given.

(1) There is the test to see if Jesus, in his hunger,

will see to his own physical needs; Jesus resists,

recognizing we need more than bread for life.

(2) There is the test to see if Jesus will compromise

his worship, if he will forfeit forever in exchange for

glory and gain today.

(3) There is the test of trust: if you are the child,

jump from the heights and believe God will protect

you from all harm, even from death itself.

There was comment this past Wednesday during Bible Study,

that if the Tempter always came as the snake, as the One

who slithers and hisses, we would always have enough

sense to avoid and thwart the wiles.  Temptations, though,

are rarely so transparent.  Usually they are quite charming,

aren't they?  And often they come with promises

our deceptors never mean to keep.

A comment:  there are some vintage temptation scenes in the scripture.

Eve faces off against the beguiling serpent in the garden. 

The garden is paradise, but the paradise is never said to be perfect. 

Always there is a snake in the garden,

always the possibility of deception leading

to death in paradise.  The scriptures do not speak,

there is no solid teaching anywhere that I can find, of a perfection

in the past.  Paradise?  Yes.  Perfection?  No. 

That's what we learned, in part,

just this past spring from

Rita Nakashima Brock.

A second classic temptation is Job, who is tested with loss of family,

wealth, health, personal dignity, reduced to ashes and only his

defiance in the face of the world and its cruelties. 

Will Job curse God and life and die? 

This is the drama, the test. 

In Job we learn you don't need to fear the devil

as much as you better be careful of friends

who come to share sympathy and speak counsel,

who do not see your good in the time of your suffering.

These two stand out: Eve/Job.

Yet, look closely.  Is there a character anywhere in the Bible

who is not tested in some way, shape, or form?  

Indeed, isn't even God tested,

to see if love and mercy

and life will prevail over the options

of vengeance and curse and death?

There is no exemption from times of testing in our lives. 

There is no immunity in the faith journey that would

excuse us from living in prayer,

equipped with faith, hope, and love. 

Luke spells it out clearly.  Even Jesus was tempted,

tested to see if he would remain true to the identity

God had pronounced upon his life: child of God.

One step further:  Jesus was tempted, tested,

to see if he could live in the vision voiced by Isaiah,

to see if he would not hold back,

but give most fully of himself as himself.

          *****                   *****                   *****

Jesus contended, as do we, with a

"tyranny of the they." 

Jesus had circles of "they," each voicing

their assessment of who he was,

and who he should become. 

They say I'm not right in the head.

They say I've got a soft heart.

They say I don't abide by the law.

They say I take the law too seriously.

They say I should lead the charge.

They say I should call down fire.

They say I'm the child of a carpenter.

They say I should mind my own business.

They say I shouldn't be so quick to forgive.

They say I'm a curse.  One who deceives.

They say I'm not who God says I am.

They say I should work miracles and welcome

my celebrity status, become a successful Savior!

They say to trust in the Lord, and God will never,

ever forsake. 

They say I won't have to die.

All this needs be sorted out by Jesus.

It's all quite complicated, isn't it?

That's why I think Luke has Jesus in the wilderness.

It an uncluttered duel of the soul.

It's the "you" that exists within me;

it's me facing off against the "theys;"

it's the one in me who wants me to be less,

against the one in me who God wants for more. 

We can't be all "they" want us to be.  That's identity confusion.

We rest best in the status God fixes.  That's Gospel clarity.

Shakespeare had it right. 

Polonius speaking to his son, Laertes,

giving a blessing before he sets off into the world:

To thine own self be true (This above all!). 

Good advice.  Sound, inspired counsel. 

A timeless truth, that we see embodied in Jesus.

Jesus was aware of the "they."

Who do they say that I am?

He posed the question to Peter.

And then he personalized it.

Who do you say that I am.

Christian faith is always as personal as it is social.

The two never cancel, they co-exist, in dynamic tension.

Personal - social. 

Stay true to your personal identity.

Stay true also to the social application.

Don't deny others what God's grace affords you.

          *****                   *****                   *****

There is another angle to the theme of temptation

that I need mention. 

There is a temptation we face

to abandon the basics of faith. 

And this, too, I hope we resist.

In this church, good liberals though we may be,

we do not abandon the commandments;

we do not abandon the creed(s);

we do not abandon the covenant(s);

we do not abandon the grace that first taught our

hearts to sing.

In the Revelation, the angel of the church in Ephesus

speaks:  I know your works, your toil, and your patient

endurance ... but I have this against you:  "you have abandoned

the love you had at first ..." (Revelation 2:4).  And the angel continues:

"To everyone who conquers I will give the permission to eat

from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God" (2:7).

As we would not abandon the first love,

so would we work through every time of testing,

holding on until we feast upon the tree of life

and the promise of paradise is delivered!

          *****                   *****                   *****

CONCLUSION

H. Richard Niebuhr once noted, faith in God serves to promote

a "permanent revolution of the mind and of the heart,

a continuous life which opens out infinitely to ever new

possibilities" (Radical Monotheism and Western Culture).

This is faith at its best, for our good, our health,

our salvation.  This is faith fit for Lent.  And we should not hold back.

Now - here is where it gets interesting.

This faith takes us to death.

Circle temptation number three faced by Jesus.

I mention this often as I have struggled with its meaning.

I sometimes think the church swallows

the deception that is posited. 

Psalm 91 is quoted.

God will take care of you. 

All will be well.

God will shield from all harm,

protect from all danger.

It is not true in any literal sense.

It is not true in any "providential,"

predetermined sense.

Jesus rejects the temptation,

and so, too, should we.

And we do so knowing, trusting this.

Christian faith takes us to the cross.

Through the cross. To the empty tomb.

Christian faith then invites life in a

permanent revolution of the mind and of the heart,

belief that God's love opens ever new possibilities.

This is faith that enables us to say, fear not!

This is faith that equips us to say, hold not back!

This is faith that keep us true to every test,

that takes us through hosannas now,

even into the most distant shores

and hallelujahs that sing forever.

Amen.