Sermon Identity Test Luke 4: 1-13 Deacon Heather Feltman Bethlehem Lutheran Church March 10, 2019

Transcription

1 Sermon Identity Test Luke 4: 1-13 Deacon Heather Feltman Bethlehem Lutheran Church March 10, 2019 Our gospel text for today, this first Sunday in Lent is the final episode of Luke s introduction to Jesus public ministry. Jesus hair is still wet from his baptism, and he has heard the voice from heaven say, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased! and with those words still echoing in Jesus head the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness. This is the story in which each one of us finds out what being the Son of God really means. This is the bible story in which Jesus proves who he is not by seizing power, but by turning it down. God s Beloved will not practice magic. He will not ask for special protection or seek political power. As much as it may surprise everyone, including himself, Jesus will remain human, accepting all the usual risks that this entails. It is the only way we will learn what Son of God really means. The Son of God is not someone who is related to God by rising out of his humanity, but rather someone who is so beloved by God for sinking deep down into his humanity even when he is taunted by the devil. Page 1 of 6

2 It is someone who can listen to every good reason in the world for becoming God s rival but remaining God s child instead. This encounter in the wilderness is a test. A test to see if Jesus is ready to get on with his ministry not so much a test of who Jesus is, but how Jesus will live out his identity as the Son of God. There they are, the characters of this scene: Diabolos, otherwise known as the Devil, and Jesus, otherwise known as the Christ. They've had plenty of time to get acquainted. Forty Days already. Forty, the same number of days that Noah and his family waited out the flood. Forty, the number of days Moses fasted on Mt Sinai as he wrote down the words of God's covenant. Forty, the number of years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, tested by God in preparation for their arrival in the Promised Land. Forty, the number of days of this season of Lent as we journey with Jesus toward the cross. Forty years, forty days Forty: a time of waiting; fasting; preparing; testing. And all of it in the wilderness. Jesus has not stumbled into the wilderness accidentally, as if he's lost due to faulty GPS directions or water being in his eyes after his recent baptism. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit "was leading him" there. Intentionally. On purpose! The Holy Spirit, in all her wisdom, leads Jesus to this place for the preparation for ministry. Page 2 of 6

3 And, like all good ministry, this one is grounded in the Word of God. Both Jesus and the devil have a fondness for God's word in the Scriptures, they quote them a lot. Obviously, they had really good Sunday school teachers And as Jesus earthly ministry unfolds for us during this Lenten season the meaning of Jesus baptismal commission is revealed: yes, he refuses to turn stones into bread, though we do see Jesus feed the hungry. Yes, he refuses political power, but the proclamation of God s Kingdom of justice and peace breaking into our earthly existence is the focus of his public preaching and teaching. Yes, he refuses to jump off the temple to see if God will send his angels to catch him, but Jesus goes to the cross confident that God s will for life will trump the world s decision to execute him. It is not about avoiding death, but about living into the fullness of life. These are the tests of the wilderness the tests of Lent; the tests of our lives. The tests that Jesus in, with and through the power of the spirit enables us to meet. Perhaps the one parallel between Jesus testing in the wilderness and the tests of our own lives is the identity test whose we are, who we have chosen to be, and who God has called us to be. It seems to be a truth that is tested often. In fact, every, single, day. Page 3 of 6

4 Every time Jesus quotes a scripture from memory in the desert he begins with, It is written. For Jesus, the Scriptures were written on his heart so that he could draw on them in the time of need. It s like what we hear from God in Jeremiah, I will put my law within [the house of Israel], and I will write it on their hearts (Jer. 31). What is written on your hearts? This becomes so important in the wilderness because this is what you and I will lean on in hard times. This is what we remember when everything else might be lost or out of our reach. What is written may be our lifesaver. What is written may be the drink we need in the parched land. Of course, there is selective memory and even amnesia. Of course there is temptation, struggle, loneliness, and loss. But in remembering the Word of God, the Scriptures, we are ultimately remembering God, remembering from where we come, remembering that, as St. Augustine says, The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home. We remember that we are remembered. We remember that our home is with God and as we remember these love letters, these Scriptures, as Jesus did, we are reminded that God remembers us even as God writes his holy signature of love on our hearts through the Spirit. Page 4 of 6

5 We have holy company in the wilderness and hopefully we realize that we are never actually alone though we may at times feel otherwise. It is written and we are part of the story God has been writing on the canvass of the universe since its inception. We are in our own chapter and it includes a wilderness, but the wilderness is not forever. Just as Jesus returned to his home after the wilderness we are on our way home too! This is a story about Jesus identity, but insofar as you and I belong to Jesus, it is a story about our own identify too. There are plenty of times when we too are tested to believe that some other identity may be just what we need. That devilish voice in our head says things like, If you are a child of God, shouldn t things be going a bit smoother for me? If you are really a Christian, I mean shouldn t I be happier, healthier, richer, safer? But you and I now know what to say back to that voice, right? Away with you, Satan! I would rather be a hungry child of God than a well-fed player on your team! And if you and I can imagine saying that, then chances are very good that we will hear another voice in our heads before long, ten thousand times more beautiful than the first one. Page 5 of 6

6 We will hear: This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased! and our ears will be ringing from the sacrificial love heard in those words! Thanks be to God! Amen. Page 6 of 6