‘whose are we?’
February 26, 2023
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11
Today marks the first Sunday of Lent…that season in the church year marking the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness just prior to beginning his public ministry. Growing up I was never exposed to a lot of religious practice concerning Lent. I was aware of it, as my Roman Catholic friends always spoke of ‘what they were giving up for Lent’ and of not eating meat on Fridays. And while Lenten observances are actually widespread throughout Christianity, I was not taught of them until much later on. As such I did not really have a sense of what Lent was all about. But I have learned through the scriptures associated with Lent over the years that this forty day period in the church year holds deep significance in terms of preparation for Holy Week and the events surrounding and leading up to Easter Sunday.
Today’s scripture tells of the time after the forty day fast when Jesus was tested in the wilderness, and of his responses affirming his position as one in service to and fully surrendered to God…trusting in God for absolutely everything. And in looking at what Jesus was asked, and in carefully considering his responses, it seems to me that all the testing in the world that will ever come against us comes down to one question…the question of ‘whose are you’? This seems to capture the answers given by Jesus as well.
For I would submit that every test, every temptation we will ever come against challenges this core question…asking, are we each islands unto ourselves, fully contained and fully sufficient within, or are we not sufficient at all and in truth ‘incomplete’ apart from a living and abiding relationship with God? These truly are Lenten questions. Questions which cause us to pause, and to consider that there just might be more to this ‘faith thing’ then we usually give it credit for.
Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. A place often associated with darkness, fear, and even confusion…the place to be avoided if possible. However, for Jesus, who went out into the wilderness willingly, it was a place of self-discovery, a place of preparation…a place set apart from the distractions daily life often presents. He was not there to do ‘penance’, or as some sort of punishment…rather, for him, and for Christians seeking a deeper relationship with God, the wilderness called him forth as a place for learning…a place which requiring dependence on the holy, a place critical to the process of faith formation. Indeed, ‘wilderness’, and all it stands for, is a place every Christian will one day find themselves traversing, as they search out the ways of God. It is a place of darkness and presence, of mystery and then light, of lack of knowledge (or perhaps a ‘letting go of knowledge’) in order that the mind of Christ might flower anew within us.
Fasting for religious purposes is an often ignored discipline that we are much the worse for as a result. Different from fasting which is sometimes employed as part of a weight loss program…religious fasting is a practice or a ‘discipline’ that has always been core to all of the world’s major religions and is widely practiced as a standard and even expected element of religious observance.
And it was to this discipline of fasting in order to draw nearer to God, that Jesus was led, just prior to the onset of his ministry. Matthew tells us further, that this particular fast was no ordinary temporary denial of oneself, but rather a protracted and absolute fast from any food for forty days. Now, fasting in general is a process of cleansing for the body…it allows our body to filter out anything that may not be good for us and resets our whole bodily attitude; physically, spiritually, and emotionally. In addition, fasting frees up the mind, allowing for greater clarity of thought and mental process, allowing us to see and to think much more clearly…
However, it also keeps us painfully aware of the cost. After forty days of fasting, Matthew tells us that Jesus was totally famished. He had used up all his reserves and was running on empty. Times of clarity had come, and then probably left again as the fast dragged on and gained almost a mind of its own. The fact that we hear of Jesus’ physical discomfort after forty days indicates that the fast was definitely contributing to Jesus’ state of mind at that time. He was hungry, he was weak, he was seemingly in no way ready or up to the task that now lay just before him…no way prepared for the real reason that the Holy Spirit had sent him into the wilderness in the first place.
For it was here, hungry and alone, tired and extremely weak that Jesus encountered the Lord’s agent, known throughout the Old Testament as ‘ha-satan’ which in Hebrew means ‘the tempter’, or ‘the one who tests’. This ha-satan was the one sent by God to test Jesus in his weakened state, to examine and in fact affirm his readiness to walk the road that lay before him. As God sent this same tempter to Job to test his faithfulness in the midst of great trial and loss, so also here God sends him to test Jesus, to see if he is ready to wear the mantle of Messiah…to see if he is ready to accept all that being the One sent by God into the world to be our Emmanuel meant…to determine if he was ready to walk the pathway of obedience to God all the way to the end. And so, at his lowest and weakest, Jesus was given the test that would prove or disprove his readiness…and as we see in our passage, the tempter was surely up to the task.
The first temptation he placed before Jesus went to the very heart of his discomfort…forty days without food, starving beyond the point of clarity, the tempter starts out by challenging Jesus to ‘turn stones into bread’…to solve the problem of his extreme hunger through his own devices, to just say the word and create food to satisfy his need…all on his own.
But Jesus sees through the ploy and refuses to break from his relationship of absolute dependence on the grace of God, telling the tempter that humankind cannot survive on physical food alone, but rather that true life was just as dependent on the spiritual nourishment that could only be obtained in relationship with and in communication with God. Jesus was not about to relieve his physical discomfort at the expense of his dependency upon God. Even at his lowest point he refused to find a way to do it all on his own.
That was not the only temptation the tempter had up his sleeve however…he was not done trying to trip up Jesus. The tests he was commissioned to administer needed confirmation of deeper commitment still. And so, the tempter took Jesus to the highest point in the holy city, to the very pinnacle of the Temple, where Jesus could look down on all the splendor of Jerusalem. The tempter chooses this time to test Jesus in a different way…by going after his ego, ‘Throw yourself down, off of this high spot, and demonstrate just how special you are to God’, the tempter challenges, ‘show all just who it is that you are…let them see that you are the one…surely you will not be hurt for the scripture says that God will not let you be injured but instead will send angels to catch you and keep you safe’.
Again however, Jesus sees through the ha-satan’s ruse, knowing that God is not one who responds to our every wish and whim as if he were a puppet on a string…knowing that God stands ready to bless us, but that does not give us carte blanche to just ‘order’ God to do this or to do that. Rather, as in the first temptation, Jesus knows that he is not to break relationship with God no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the perceived reward…no matter what the cost.
Still not ready to leave him alone, the tempter pulls out the last card in his deck, trying to trip up Jesus by testing his very allegiance to God. And he does this by telling him that he can have everything, he can have all the kingdoms, all the riches of the world, if he will just acknowledge that the creation stands equal to God…if he will put his trust in that which has been created rather than in the Creator himself. The tempter offers Jesus nothing less than kingship over all the world, if he will just renounce his sole allegiance to God.
Jesus knows this is the last and greatest test…he knows this is the last arrow in the tempter’s quiver…he knows that he must resist this final offer…for it is the one most directly contrary to the very reason he is being sent. Jesus knows that his calling is to announce the arrival of a new kingdom, a Kingdom not of the world at all, but rather a new Kingdom of God…a kingdom, and a way of living together in blessed community that is fully counter to, and opposite from the strivings and self-based motives that so rule and control the the world we now live in. Jesus’ response to this final temptation shows us that indeed he knows fully who he is, and knows the reasons for which he has been sent…Jesus knows who he is…because he knows ‘whose’ he is. Jesus indicates what kind of Messiah he is, and reveals his true identity as the Son of God by choosing God at every turn, and by choosing relationship over wealth, power, and privilege.
Which then begs the question, what kind of followers are we willing to be? What defines us as Christians in the sight of others? When we look in the mirror, what do we see reflected back at us? Are we also able and willing to resist the temptation to accrue wealth for ourselves…or to seek to have more than we really need? Are we able to trust in God for our own personal security and safety, or do we think we are ‘safe’ just because of our personal circumstances?
Humanity cannot live by bread alone, said Jesus…rather life must also find sustenance and balance in the words and ways of God…words made resident within our souls by the Holy Spirit…words truly echoing the restlessness of God, God’s yearning for justice, and a burning desire for peace.
May the word of God, and our dependence upon a living relationship with our Lord find fertile ground and a willing habitation within our hearts…
…within the hearts of all those who know who they truly are…for like our Lord Jesus…they know whose they really are…amen
