“Journeying to Easter; Week One: Identity”

Psalm 91,      Luke 4:1-13                                                                                    Preached by Rev. Jane Moschenrose

Sermon opened with the song: On Eagle’s Wings... Inspired by Psalm 91. 

Isn’t that a wonderful song?  It uses the words of the Psalm we read a few minutes ago.  We dwell in the shelter of the Lord, we abide in God’s protective shadow for life.  We look to the Lord to be our refuge and rock, we trust God for that.  Therefore we can sing with hope and confidence that God will raise us up on eagle’s wings, bear us on the breath of dawn (whatever that means), make us to shine like the sun, and hold us in the palm of his hand.  We need not fear a thing – nothing can harm us when God is protecting us - neither animal or famine, the terror of the night nor evil intent from our enemy.

This Psalm of trust and confidence has been carried by many who are involved in dangerous endeavors – a copy of the psalm has often been carried by those on the battlefield, and has helped many a person keep their focus off of their fear. 

However, this Psalm has been misused all too often.  Many Christians have misunderstood the context and purpose for which this Psalm was written, and have used it to test God’s protection by deliberately exposing themselves to the dangers described in the Psalm.  This Psalm is not a prescriptive statement from God – it is not intended to be understood and followed literally word by word.  This Psalm is a glowing testimony written by a Levite or priest within the safety of the Temple walls, and intended to be a word of assurance to godly worshipers.  The writer wrote during a time when the reader or hearer of this psalm knew the scriptures well, and would have never isolated one passage from the others.  The hearers of this Psalm would understand that this text had been influenced by the wisdom tradition and comes from that genre.  They would also be very familiar with the writings of the book of Deuteronomy, and would balance this Psalm with Deut. 6:16, where it says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test…”

Familiarity with the Scriptures is vital to understand who we are as God’s people and how God wants us to live.  A strong identity as God’s chosen people is crucial to get through life intact spiritually and emotionally, and such an identity was a strong suit for the Jewish people.  They reinforced their identity as God’s chosen people in every arena of life.  The Scriptures were taught in school, in worship, and at home.  In fact their home lives centered around their religious beliefs and practices; they talked about them throughout the day and into the evening, and as if that wasn’t sufficient, they wore reminders on the corners of their clothing of all the commands of the Lord.

We Christians have not carried on many of the helpful practices our Jewish ancestry offers, and consequently in times of stress, our identity as God’s people might weaken, be blocked, forgotten or washed away by emotion.  If your identity as God’s child is not the strongest part of who you are, if you do not have words of Scripture incorporated into the very fiber of your being, then you will seek out something else in times of stress.  We reach out to that which we most trust and are most familiar with, and that which is most readily available in times of stress.  And if we haven’t learned to rely on Scripture for guidance, edification, and worship, then whatever else is most available and enticing is what we are going to embrace.

The Devil hoped that Jesus would embrace his offers when Jesus was at his weakest point.  The devil hoped that when Jesus was at his very weakest point physically, he would cave and accept the identity the devil was offering.  As we read today’s Gospel lesson, pay close attention to the ways the devil questions Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.  Follow along as I read, from the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 beginning with verse 1.  (READ)

Imagine going from the spiritually high point of your life – being told by God Himself that you are his beloved child, in whom God is well pleased.  You are then led immediately into the worst time of your life thus far, a time of wilderness wandering – a time of feeling very alone and empty.  Forty long days you are tempted by the devil.  During this time of temptation you have nothing to eat, and by the end of the 40 days, you are famished.  You are aware that you’re not the only one who has gone without food for this long – Moses spent the same length of time without bread or water on Mount Sinai while he wrote down the Ten Commandments, and Elijah was sustained for a similar period during his journey to Mount Horeb.  Even if you want to discount the experience by saying the Biblical time frame was different from ours, Scripture surely indicates that the human body’s strength is completely sapped at this point, and the only source of life is spiritual.  Humanly speaking there is nothing left to maintain the person.

And at that point, the devil tempts Jesus to regain physical strength by using his supernatural power, IF he has any.  When Jesus is physically as weak as he can possibly be and still be alive as a human being, the devil questions his identity as the Son of God.  “IF you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”   None of us would blame him if he had used his supernatural resources to take care of his most urgent, essential human need, would we?  But Jesus recognizes that the suggestion to use his supernatural powers for self-satisfaction was an abuse of those powers.  Such a temptation is a favorite of the devil, isn’t it?  People abuse their power in the interests of self all the time.  They have inappropriate sexual relationships because they can; they steal from the company because they feel above the law.  If they are pulled over for a traffic violation they scream “do you know who I am?!!”  The abuse of power is one of the most common temptations we fall into.  But as for Jesus?  He wouldn’t hear of it.  He knew that physically he had no strength with which to fight – notice that he doesn’t say, “Well, I’ve gone 40 days without food, I can surely go one more.”  No, Jesus does not trust the devil and he does not rely on human physical endurance.  Instead he goes to the Scripture, whose guidance and direction he can trust.  He responds to the temptation by quoting Scripture: “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.”  He relies on the power of God’s Holy Word for sustenance.  He acts out of his identity as God’s Son, and he relies on Godly power, not the abuse of power.

Well, Jesus wins round one.  But the devil notes that God hadn’t done much for Jesus thus far – God’s Spirit had led him into the dreadful wilderness, after all.  How many times haven’t we blamed God for our distress?  “Why did you do this to me, God?  What have I done to deserve this?”  Jesus actually could have rightly blamed God for this one.  The devil thought this was the perfect opportunity to get Jesus to change alliances.  “Forget that God who does nothing but cause you trouble, Jesus!  To you I will give the glory and all authority over all the kingdoms of the world.  All you’ve got to do is worship me, and it will all be yours.”

When you are at your weakest point, do you change your alliances?  Do you turn away from God and toward something else – something material, or physical, or easier?  We all have default mechanisms – we all have automatic responses that just come out or take over when we are most vulnerable.  What are yours?  Do you eat, drink, buy stuff?  Do you turn inward, or lash outward?

Jesus automatically turned to scripture – that’s what he first thought of and that’s what came out of his mouth when he was most vulnerable.  He answered the devil by saying, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.”

Round two: Jesus, 2, Devil 0.

Finally the devil decides to tempt Jesus by using the resource and relationship that Jesus relied upon and trusted the most.  Jesus relied upon and most trusted the Scripture and his heavenly father.  So the devil used Scripture and the relationship that Jesus trusted completely for the third temptation.  The devil took Jesus to the highest point of Jerusalem, and said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”

Whoa.  The devil is pulling out all the stops here, isn’t he?!  Isn’t it interesting that the devil knows our deepest needs, longings, vulnerabilities, and loves and uses that for his own purposes?  He says to Jesus, “That which you rely upon makes these promises.  So test that out – if your God is all He promises to be, he will come through for you!”

How often haven’t we fallen for this temptation!  We feel like, “If God really loved me – if God was really powerful, really trustworthy – if God was really here – then He would do X Y and Z to assure me, to give me a sign, to prove Himself.  He would come through and save me from this mess I’m in.  It says right in the Bible that He will do so.” 

But once again, Jesus remembers who he is and to whom he belongs.  He answered, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”   

And then the Scripture says, “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

We are not told what other temptations the devil tested Jesus with – the Bible says that he was tempted for the forty days prior to these three temptations, and he may have tempted Jesus more after these three.  But the devil realized that Jesus was going to resist any and all temptations.  So he left him “until an opportune time.”  “I’ll be back, Jesus.  I’ll be back.”

We know that Jesus managed to resist temptation all of his life, because he 1) was firm in his identity; 2) was steadfast in his mission and purpose; 3) was faithful in maintaining and relying upon the resources God provided.

Which leads to the question for us today: How well positioned are you to resist temptation?  How firm are you in your identity as a child of God?  How steadfast are you to the mission and purpose for which God has placed you on earth?  And finally, how faithful are you in maintaining and relying upon the resources God has provided – namely, study of Holy Scripture, personal relationship with God and active participation in God’s family on earth?

As we journey together through this season of Lent, may we live as Christ lived.  May we use power appropriately, worship only Yahweh God, and trust God enough to not put Him to the test. 

Let’s pray about these things.                                                                                             

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