God in the wilderness

Gospel
Lk 4:1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered him,
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
“I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve.”
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

Sermon

God in the Wilderness

Luke 4.1-13

Looking over the text of the gospel reading we have just listened to, and which you have before you on the order of service sheet, I would like to just underline what I regard as five key phrases: “Filled with the Spirit”, “Led by the Spirit”, “Through the wilderness” “Tempted there” and “Scripture says”.

Following his baptism at the Jordan by John the Baptist, and before he embarks on his public ministry, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the Judean wilderness for a time of testing, taunting, and temptation. He is like a warrior entering an amphitheatre to hone his skills and build up his strength in preparation for some great battle just ahead of him on the horizon.

We modern Christian may find it helpful to think of Lent as given to us for a similar purpose in our lives. As Lady Julian of Norwich said: “The Lord did not say, ‘You will not be troubled’ nor ‘You will not be tempted’ nor ‘You will not be distressed’ but ‘You will not be overcome’.” As followers of Jesus we should expect to be tested and tempted because the servant is not greater than his master. Like himself, he wants us to learn how to deal with these normal aspects of living the Christian life in the wilderness of this world by being made strong in faith and witness. The Lord’s example from his wilderness experience seems to suggest that we have to hold fast to God through prayer and rely on the wisdom of His Word. The invitation of Lent is to learn to grow a little more in the love of God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

St Augustine said: “In the end there are only two kinds of people – those who love God and those who do not; the reason for loving God is God Himself, whilst the measure of loving God is to love him beyond measure”. We can evaluate our Lent plans by asking “Will they help to increase my loving God with all my heart and mind and soul and strength; and my neighbour as myself?” and “By how much?” Our Lord may have taught us in the ‘Our Father’ to pray “Lead me not into temptation” but it is worth reminding ourselves at the beginning of another Lent that temptation is not sin until we succumb to it. Until then it is an opportunity to be toughened up and trained to trust God as we receive His grace to confront the worst and to overcome in Christ.

Do we want to love God enough to dare to ask Him: ‘Lord try me, test me, toughen me for the fight against sin, the world, and the devil’? If we do perhaps we had better add: ‘Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy’.

Have a good Lent and take heart Easter won’t be long!