The Choices You Make Reveal Who You Really Are

Luke 4:1-13

Lent I, 2019

Throughout the centuries, many people have attempted to show today’s gospel in art. The artist “Rembrandt drew several depictions of the devil tempting Jesus. In one of them the two look like friends. They appear to be ambling down a country road, deep in conversation. The devil is a half step behind Jesus. His head is skeletal, but there is an urgent, deeply human look on his face. He is reasoning with Jesus, not menacing him. One of his wings is thrown over Jesus’ shoulder in an almost familial manner. He leans in, mouth open slightly, eyes on Christ, speaking quietly, a heavy stone in his hands. He holds the stone out as if it were a gift. ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’”[1]

In this sketch, Satan does not loom over Jesus like some monster. He looks like someone making a reasonable proposition to his companion on the way. This is, of course, the point. Most of the time, the temptations that face human beings look rational and reasonable. Sometimes, those temptations are not between extreme good and extreme evil, cast in stark contrast. Instead, they are often fuzzy. Shades of gray. Boundaries fluid.

We begin the season of Lent with choices. On the first Sunday of Lent, we begin with choices made in Luke’s gospel by the one in whose name we are baptized, the one we profess to follow: Jesus of Nazareth. John the baptizer has baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit has descended on Jesus like a dove. A voice has come from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” All of his life, Jesus of Nazareth has been growing in his understanding of just who he is. On the day of his baptism, his identity is confirmed.

Luke tells us that after Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit at baptism, he is led into the wilderness, where he spends a long time. Scripture says forty days, a phrase used by ancient peoples to mean “a very long time.” Throughout that time, Luke says Jesus is tempted—and “the Greek verb translated ‘to tempt’ in verse two implies hostile intent.”[2]

At the end of the time, Jesus is, of course, exhausted and famished. Suddenly the devil appears, offering a big stone. Here, Jesus, if you are who you think you are, you can turn this big old stone into a nice, warm, fresh loaf of bread. Jesus knows his history. He knows that when his people wandered in the desert for forty years—a very long time—God provided manna. Every day. And while manna was certainly not as delicious as homemade flatbread cooked over a hot fire, it provided basic sustenance. When you are starving, you take what’s offered you.

Except. Except that in today’s gospel, Jesus—who must have really considered changing a rock into bread—said no. Instead, he quotes from Deuteronomy—the book that contains three speeches of Moses to the people of Israel just before they enter the Promised Land. Jesus knows his history. Jesus has learned holy scripture since he was a little boy. No, Satan. I know who I am. I am God’s beloved. I will make better choices than doing magic tricks with a rock.

Of course the devil does not give up. The devil never gives up. The devil keeps circling, watching. . . waiting for just the right moment. . .or sauntering down the road with us, his wing thrown casually over our left shoulder as if he’s our best friend. He speaks quietly. Reasonably. You know, you could have power. And if you had the kind of power I offer, you could do some really good things in the world. Don’t you want to make a difference in the world? But if you don’t have any power, hey, you can’t do much.

Many of us have read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is clear that the writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, deeply understood how seductive power—for good or for evil—can have on otherwise reasonable beings. One ring to rule them all. . .

In The Fellowship of the Ring, it takes time, and several significant encounters and events before Frodo Baggins fully understands the power of the ring he wears around his neck. This ring possesses “a gravitational drag on the character, good or bad, of the sentient beings of Middle-earth.”[3]

Until he really understands the ring’s horrifying power, Frodo either implicitly or explicitly offers the ring to another—to Gandalf, who responds, “Do not tempt me!” (twice) or to Lady Galadriel, the Elf Queen, who responds with bemusement, “You offer it to me freely. I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this.

”Then we watch as the good and the evil fight within Galadriel until finally, somehow, she summons the inner strength she needs to refuse this awful power. She passes the cosmic test. “I will diminish, and go into the West,” she says.

The power of this One Ring remains with the Ring Bearer—who is beginning to understand what a lonely road he faces, what a vast, dark wilderness he travels. “I cannot do this alone,” Frodo protests quietly to Galadriel. Galadriel understands power and its heavy burden. She responds, “You are a Ring-bearer, Frodo. To bear a Ring of Power is to be alone. . .This task was appointed to you. And if you do not find a way, no one will.”

Christians might say that Jesus was our ultimate Ring-Bearer.

J.R.R. Tolkien was a devout Anglican Christian. Tolkien was well acquainted with biblical stories, as well as Celtic myths from Ireland, and the larger concepts of Truth. In fact, it is acknowledged that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis who were friends, both used their literary work—well disguised—to teach great Christian truths to millions of unsuspecting readers. (So J.K. Rowling was not the first to disguise Christian truths in fiction!)

Tolkien wrote of temptation in a number of ways, expressed in situations with many characters. The gospel writers did the same—whether it was with Jesus, with Simon Peter, with Judas Iscariot. Jesus passes the ultimate test. Peter fails, when he betrays Jesus, yet he does redeem himself in the end. Judas fails Jesus. He is the first to break that Fellowship. Luke gave us a hint that this will happen: “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.” A better time. Not chronos time, but kairos time.[4] Forty pieces of silver (a lot of silver. . .) seems to have woven its particular evil spell on Judas.

Whether it is the temptation to use power for selfish reasons (hunger), for power, or for idolatry, Satan smoothly uses distortion and lies to convince Jesus to mis-use who he is. “The devil presents wants as needs, falsehoods as truths, mistrust as faith.”[5] Yet Jesus knows who he is. Jesus refuses to allow power, prestige, or personal gratification to thwart him from living fully into who he is, and what God calls him to do.

It is true that powerful people live in every age—from long before Jesus until today. In our time, we can all name powerful people. Some are movie stars. Some have inherited great wealth. Some hold political power. As one writer has noted, “All around the world, people with no power follow despots in order to get some power, people with some power crave more power, and people with more than their share of power and wealth [cheat], [lie], [conspire], [war], and [bully] to preserve what they have.”[6]

Yet this was not Jesus’ way. His was the way of the cross. This simple carpenter and rabbi from Nazareth has shown us how to live best. Through his choices, his actions, his life, Jesus has taught us that God’s kind of strength does not equal our human ideas of strength or weakness. Jesus knew who he was. He acted out of that grounded place.

Yet I wonder whether we Christians today are grounded deeply enough, or know enough about our Christian faith to make wise decisions. Do we really know who we are in God? Do we understand that we, too, are God’s beloved children, just as Jesus was?

As we enter into the season of Lent, I invite you to find out more about your faith, or to deepen your faith. I invite you to join me in working on our spiritual muscles. Many of you work out regularly at gyms, or hike in parks, or do exercise at home. You do this to get stronger, to stay fit, to help yourself stay alert mentally. This takes intention and discipline.

In the same way, I encourage you to work on your spiritual life every day. Every day. Robert and I offer you several ways to do this.

You can come to the Wednesday evening potluck supper and conversations about faith where no question is stupid, and all viewpoints are respected.
You can attend Robert’s 9:00 Sunday morning Adult Forums, to discuss the scriptures of that Sunday.
You can follow the church on our Instagram page or Facebook page or check the parish website every day—where we are following “The Way of Love” with a picture and a reflection.
You can pick up a “Way of Love” calendar today, choosing your own way to live out a particular day. Then share that on your Facebook page, or on your Twitter feed, or on your Instagram page. Who are you in God, anyway? Share your thoughts about that.

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/way_of_love_in_lent_2019_calendar.pdf

Two thousand years ago, Jesus showed us that the choices we make matter. Our choices reveal who we really are. So do not be fooled by temptations, however subtle. If you stop for a moment and go deep inside yourself, if you draw on who you became the moment you were baptized, if you remember that you have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever,” then that will help you make the right choice.

It won’t be easy. It never is. Yet to make the Christ-like choice will give your soul deep peace. Furthermore, I promise that you will find companions on that narrow road to support you, to challenge you, to love you.

Join this Christian Fellowship. And when you get hungry on the journey, you can share the Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven. It is daily. It is eternal. It really is all the nourishment you need. Amen.

[1] Matt Fitzgerald, “Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospels, Luke, Vol. I, Chapters 1-11, Cynthia A. Jarvis & E. Elizabeth Johnson, Editors, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 93.

[2] Alan P. Sherouse, in “Exegetical Perspective” on Luke 4:1-13 in Feasting on the Gospels: Luke, Vol. 1, Chapters 1-11, Cynthia A. Jarvis & E. Elizabeth Johnson, Editors, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 93.

[3]http://alasnotme.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-last-temptation-of-galadriel.html [4] Kairos (Ancient Greek: καιρός) is an Ancient Greek word meaning the right, critical, or opportune moment. The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos (χρόνος) and kairos. The former refers to chronological or sequential time, while the latter signifies a proper or opportune time for action. from www.wikipedia.com.

[5] Kimberly M. Van Driel, in “Homiletical Perspective” on Luke 4:1-13, in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 2, David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, (Knoxville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 47.

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