A Matter of Trust

This is my sermon text from the 1st Sunday of Lent, February 17, focusing on Luke's telling of the Testing of Jesus (Luke 4.1-13).

The man is sitting alone at his local bar. He doesn’t come in there too much; enough so that the wait staff recognizes him, but they don’t know his name or what “the usual” is.

But this day, they’re finding out. Because he’s ordering a lot of it. He’s not making conversation. He’s not watching TV. He’s just sitting there.

While they don’t know the details, they know what is going on. He’s just got bad news. They don’t know the specifics: is it his family? His job? Investments?

Right now, he feels totally alone. His world has been turned upside down. He doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know who to call. He doesn’t know where to go. So he finds a place to be, just for a while, just long enough to figure out, “Now what?”

That’s when he’s vulnerable. That’s when the next voice in his ear can swing the whole thing. The first word, good or bad, positive or negative, can set the course of how he will react. He is at his most vulnerable. Things he thought he could rely on are gone.

He isn’t thinking at all. Let alone, thinking right, and so, that first word, that first conversation will make the difference. Will it be the waitress? Will it be another customer? Will a friend or family member reach out?

That first lifeline to a man drowning in his own sea of problems will pull him one way or another.

In the chaos of his life, even though he doesn’t know it, he is looking for someone to trust.

We’ve heard this story before: turn this stone into bread, authority over all of the kingdoms, throw yourself from the top of the Temple, and Jesus each time rebukes the devil by quoting Scripture. This is one of those texts that we think, been there, heard that. Each of Matthew, Mark and Luke include Jesus being tested by the devil right after his baptism, and it is after the forty days in the wilderness, that they record Jesus beginning his public ministry

But the details, we’ve heard the story so often, we forget the details. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.

     Led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

     For forty days he was tempted by the devil.

I want you to think about those two phrases.

     Led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

     For forty days he was tempted by the devil.

We hear these three tests. But it was for forty days that Jesus was tempted. We hear about the last three, but what about what happened for forty days? When he had spent a month and a half in the desert with nothing to eat, we hear that he was challenged to turn a stone into bread, to have all of the world bow down before him, to have the people of Jerusalem realize he was Chosen and blessed by God. But the real testing of Jesus wasn’t in these three examples. It was a matter of trust.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.

     Led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Jesus, fresh from being baptized, having the voice of God proclaim him as God’s beloved son, and having the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.

     Led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Think of the guy in the bar. He is there because something in his life had betrayed him. What it is, doesn’t matter. Someone, something, betrayed his trust. Now, his life doesn’t make sense. And that first voice is coming to change everything.

Jesus. Was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Where for forty days, he was tempted by the devil. What feelings must he have had! How his emotions must have been all over the place. Who could he trust?

And the devil wanted to be that first voice.

But Jesus rejected the devil for all forty of those days. When the testing was at an end, when the devil offered to help Jesus in his work, he again said no.

I know some of you are thinking, “Pastor, what do you mean, help Jesus in his work?” But it is right there.

Turn stone into bread. Feed the hungry. Jesus calls on us to do this. He feeds 5000 with what would be a light lunch.

Have all of the kingdoms of the world listen and obey. That is what the mission of proclaiming the Gospel is to do. Jesus sends his disciples, including us, to do this.

Have everyone realize that he is blessed and protected by God. That is what he does on the Cross. But he gives up that protection.

And that is the point of this story.

The devil was willing to help Jesus do what he came to earth to do. But to do it on the devil’s terms. It would have been so much easier on Jesus to do so. He wouldn’t have been rejected, because EVERYONE would have known who he was. The leaders, from the chief priests to Herod to Pilate to even the Roman Emperor, would have bowed down before him. Because they would have KNOWN who he was.

There lies the problem. Because it’s always been a matter of trust.

Jesus rejects the devil’s offers because that is not how God wants the Messiah to come. God could have done any of those. How would the chief priests have acted when they mocked Jesus to “come down from your cross” if he really had?

But that show would have precluded his death. Which would have precluded his resurrection.

Jesus rejected the devil’s offer because he trusts the Creator’s plan. It was necessary for the Son of God to be rejected, and crucified and be raised. It is a matter of trust.

From the letter to the Romans: if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Our faith isn’t knowledge. In the Creeds, we don’t say, “I know.” We say, “I believe.” It’s always been a matter of trust.

For those who wished that Jesus had made some great big sign so that we KNOW he is the Son of God; something like jumping off of a building without getting harmed. Is being raised from the dead not enough for you?

Jesus rejected the devil, and all his works, because it was a matter of trust. He trusted God and God’s plans for him for the sake of humanity. Even at his lowest, he trusted God.

Because that first voice was always God’s.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.

The first voice he heard, was God’s, reminding him that he was beloved. He was filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit was always speaking to him.

We too are filled with the Spirit, because we too receive the Holy Spirit in our baptism. We don’t always listen to it. We don’t always listen for it.

We should work harder to hear the Spirit speaking to us, trusting it speaking love.

We should listen when it stirs us to act, so that through us, God’s voice may be the first voice a friend in trouble hears. It’s simply a matter of trust.

 

Billy Joel - A Matter of Trust

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