Are you tempted?

The Text: Luke 4:1-13

It’s one of the most recognisable icons throughout the world—the logo behind the i-Phone, i-Pad and i-Mac computer brand: Apple. So I thought this memo that has been circulating on the internet is quite ingenious: “Adam and Eve—the first people to not read the apple terms and conditions.”

That’s a clever pun referring to the Devil’s tempting Adam and Eve to disobey God and take a bite from the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. The temptation, though, was so much more than simply taking a bite from an apple—or whatever the fruit was. It was a temptation to be like God, knowing good and evil…in other words, to put themselves in the place of God himself and decide right and wrong for themselves. The consequences of this were serious; a matter of life and death…actually, just death…for everyone. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all humankind…” (Romans 5:12).

In today’s Gospel reading, there is also a temptation involving food. Luke tells us that Jesus returned from the Jordan after he was baptised, to be tempted by the Devil in the desert for 40 days. During that time Jesus ate nothing, and at the end of the 40 days he was hungry. Remember that Jesus is fully human, born to Joseph and Mary. He has real human cravings and needs. Imagine how difficult going without food for 40 days would have been. Then the devil comes to Jesus and strikes right at the centre of his need: “If you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread.”

Like it was for Adam and Eve back in the Garden of Eden, how Jesus responds to this temptation is also a matter of life and death. With his tempting of Jesus, I wonder whether Satan is really questioning if Jesus is the Son of God. The Greek word for ‘if’ can also mean ‘since’—and I think that’s how ‘if’ is functioning here. Even the demons know Jesus’ identity; it is later in this chapter that Luke tells us that “demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’”

Although Satan doesn’t know all things, he does know that Jesus is the Saviour that God promised right back in the beginning in Genesis 3; the one who would bruise his heel as he crushed Satan’s head. He knows that Jesus is the Saviour of the world the whole Old Testament pointed to. This is the Messiah the prophets spoke of and the people were waiting for. What the devil is saying is: “Since you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread.”

For Satan knew that all that stood between him and the human race being forever enslaved to his demonic power, is Jesus. Right there in the desert, with Jesus famished and physically and emotionally weak from hunger, there’s never been a better opportunity. Satan knows Jesus could turn the stones into loaves so he tempts Jesus at Jesus’ time of desperate need, to live independently of his Father’s will. If he can get Jesus to think of himself and use his power to satisfy his cravings instead of being obedient to his Heavenly Father, Jesus will be his, and the whole world will be lost and condemned forever.This is Satan’s power play for eternal world domination.

This is most clear with the second temptation in the text. The devil led Jesus up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to Jesus, “I will give you all their authority and splendour, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours” (verses 5-7). What a lie! For we hear at the close of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus say to his disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

It was Satan who had bitten off more than he could chew. For Jesus is not only fully human, he shares the same divine nature of his Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. Where Adam and Eve failed to live by God’s word and sought their own will, Jesus, the second Adam, faithfully lives by God’s word and rebukes Satan with Scripture.

In response to the first temptation to turn the stone into bread, Jesus responds with Deuteronomy 8:3: “one does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” The context of this was God feeding his people Israel with manna as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They too, like Jesus, were hungry. God had freed them. But unlike Jesus they lacked faith. They complained against God by complaining against his leader, Moses. They despised the manna God sent from heaven. God was teaching them that they should trust him. There in the desert, Jesus trusted that just as his Father fed the Israelites in their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, so too his Father will provide for him in his 40^th day of hunger.

To the temptation of worshipping Satan to gain the world’s kingdoms, Jesus responds with Deuteronomy 6:13: “Fear the LORD your God and serve him only” and then from a few verses on: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” All temptation is a temptation to live independently of God, to be masters of our own fate, to do what we feel like doing for a fleeting moment of pleasure, or to feel good about ourselves, or to cope with stresses or problems in ways that clearly contradict God’s word. When we succumb to temptations, we say “No thanks God, I’ll do it my way” We break the first commandment, to fear, love and trust God above everything else and we put God to the test. That’s a complete reversal of things for it is God who is the perfectly faithful one to test us; to refine our faith.

As much as we hate to hear it, we put God to the test and often live by bread alone, failing to fear and serve God only. We might think we do OK because we haven’t taken drugs or robbed a bank or murdered anyone. But Satan tempts us to live by bread alone in everyday, subtle ways. The Ten Commandments show us that our missing the mark of God’s standards is endless: using God’s name in vain in grumbling against him like the Israelites in the desert. Laying his word aside rather than gladly hearing and learning it, or maybe using our way of helping in the church, or our worship, as a way of trying to get God to show us more favour than he has before. To criticise rather than respect, or using our tongue to get even with those who have caused hurt, rather than to forgive them. To covet what our neighbours have and think we are not really complete unless we have it, rather than be content with what God has already blessed us with, and to work hard at gaining the approval of others instead of resting in the approval the Father gives us through faith in Christ.

There is another way the Devil tempts all of us. When we follow Adam and Eve’s footsteps and live independently of God’s word, and the Devil heaps condemnation upon us, and tempts us to disbelieve the promise of God’s word—that we are justified by faith alone and there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The Devil tempts us to think that we need something in addition to Jesus for us to be properly reconciled to God. He tempts us to doubt God’s favour could be for us, or to think that God is punishing or cursing us for past sins when calamity comes our way. He tempts us to disbelieve that God’s love for the world could ever really be for us.

But Satan is the one without hope! What happened in our Gospel reading is part of Jesus’ total redemptive work for the world. Jesus’ overcoming temptation in the desert points ahead to the Cross, where further on in Luke’s Gospel, we again hear those mocking words and the temptation to Jesus to not carry out God’s plan: “The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself“ (23:35-36).

But again Jesus thinks not of displaying his power and authority for his own sake—although completely innocent and blameless, he suffered to the end of his bloody and brutal death, and once for all overcame sin, death and the devil, so that we might live. And just when Satan thought he had Jesus where he had him, comes the glorious afterglow of the resurrection, which our Lenten season culminates with. Satan’s empire has collapsed!

Baptised into that same death and resurrection, we are united with Christ and are clothed in his own perfect righteousness as the Father’s dear child. We are freed from Satan’s power and his dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of glorious light in the life of Jesus. In our baptism we have received the same Holy Spirit that Jesus did in his baptism, and our Heavenly Father continues to pour out his Spirit on us through his Son as he meets us and serves us through his life-giving word. This word brings divine nourishment for our body and soul that cannot come from bread alone.

Though we all struggle to a lesser or greater degree as Satan waits for the opportune times to tempt us, God promises to bless us through Jesus’ powerful, life-giving gospel, with grace and strength to resist temptation. Jesus himself prays for us, as the crucified risen Christ leads us in prayer to his Father: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Jesus gives us food for the journey in your times in the desert. He is the bread of life who feeds you, God’s people, with true bread from heaven. He doesn’t make stones become loaves, but when he speaks, simple wafers are at the same time his true body, and the wine his precious blood. As he gives it to you, hear him say: “This is my body, given for you. This is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins. Believe him because then we have the fullness of what he promises: forgiveness, life and salvation; the sharing in of Jesus’ own victory for the world over sin death Satan and hell.

Satan cannot give us anything. He can only lie, deceive and bring fear. But our Father in heaven has given us a Kingdom greater than all the kingdoms of the world. For his kingdom has come to us in the Christ, the Son of God, who does not just give us an example to follow. He has given himself, for us. So when the devil knocks at the door, send Jesus to answer it—since he is the Son of God who has already won the victory over sin, death and the devil for you. Amen.

A nice guy?

The Text: Luke 9:28-36

Who is he? A nice guy? An inspiring teacher? A social reformer? Many of his opponents thought he was demon-possessed and raving mad. Who is he?

The question isn’t whether Jesus existed or not. There is too much ancient evidence—even from non-Christian sources such as the Jewish historian Josephus and Roman historian Tacitus—to be able to dismiss the fact that Jesus lived on earth. Even a recent internet study declared Jesus to be the most famous person on earth[1].

Yes, Jesus’ life on earth is well documented. But who is this carpenter from Nazareth; the son of Joseph and Mary? Just before our text today, Jesus himself had asked his disciples this very question: “Who do the people say that I am?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the prophets has risen. “But what about you?” Jesus asked them. “Who do you say I am?”

“Who do you say I am?” That is Jesus’ question to you also. The most important question anyone will ever be faced with.

Who is Jesus? Today Luke takes us to the mountaintop with Jesus, Peter, James and John for the most dazzling show and tell presentation ever. As Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendour, and were talking with him.

For Luke’s original audience, familiar with the Old Testament and longing for the Messiah it pointed to, this conversation with Moses and Elijah is most significant. In Exodus 24, it was Moses who took three companions (Aaron, Nadab and Ahibu) up the mountain to meet with God where the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain. A cloud covered the mountain and Moses went up into it and there God spoke to him. Afterwards Moses’ face shone after being in God’s presence. And it was believed by the people of old that Elijah would literally return as the forerunner to the coming of the Saviour, based on what the prophet Malachi had said: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” (Malachi 4:5).

So Luke tells us that there on the Mount of Transfiguration, Elijah stands in the presence of the Saviour his return was supposed to herald. Moses, also, stands in the presence of one who is greater than he. For whereas Moses could only give the Ten Commandments—which cannot save us but only show us how much we need a Saviour—Jesus has brought his saving help to the world by fulfilling them perfectly for all people, and freeing us from the condemnation of the law with his sacrificial death, to win forgiveness of sins for the life of the world.

This is the ‘departure’ which Jesus was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem, which Moses and Elijah were speaking with him about—his betrayal, arrest, trial and crucifixion where he bore the sins of the world on his shoulders. This is what Jesus had already explained to his disciples himself, just before today’s text: that he must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

But his disciples didn’t understand. Jesus’ talk of his departure seemed impossible. It all sounded like such a defeat—as today’s colloquial language would put it—“an epic fail.” Up until this point, Jesus had brought people freedom, life, hope and peace by miraculously triumphing over the forces of nature, the demonic realm, sickness and even death itself. If he had overcome even death how could he now possibly succumb to it? They didn’t understand that Jesus could only be the Saviour of the world by taking our place on the Cross, dying to save us.

So the disciples are given a fleeting revelation of Jesus’ glory to assure them about Jesus’ identity and mission. Jesus was shown plainly to be much more than merely a special person; a good moral teacher or social revolutionary—but in Christ, the glory of God has come to earth and is in the midst of his people. He is not merely Joseph and Mary’s son, but the Son of God from all eternity, confirmed by the booming voice from heaven: “This is my Son whom I have chosen, listen to him.”

This fleeting revelation of Jesus’ divine glory was to assure the disciples that even though he would be handed over to the ruling authorities to unjustly suffer and die, this was no failure—in fact the very way he would conquer sin, death and the devil. His death would not end with death, but with his resurrection, and new life with God for all those who trust in him. All that was shown on the mount of Transfiguration, preserved for us in today’s Gospel text—the presence of the key Old Testament figures Elijah and Moses, the mountain, the glory cloud, the voice of God, Jesus’ shining face and garments—all powerfully show that Jesus is the fulfilment of everything that God had promised his people from of old.

Peter said to Jesus: “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter was right. It was good to be there, in the presence of the Saviour of the world. But Peter hasn’t listened. He can’t hang on to the moment. They can’t have glory without the Cross. Jesus must continue on the pathway of God’s mission and go to Jerusalem to suffer and die for the sins of the world, and restore the world to God through his own precious blood. Just as he did with Moses and his companions from ancient days, God again speaks to those on the mountain top. “This is my Son, whom I have chosen” he says of Jesus. “Listen to him.”

We’ve heard the profound connections that the Old Testament has with our text today, showing God’s glory in Jesus, and Jesus being the fulfilment of all that was promised. Yet there is a noticeable difference too. In Exodus, when Moses went up on the mountain, and the glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day God called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud (Exodus 24:15-16).

Seven days. That reminds us of the six days of creation and God’s resting on the seventh day—the pattern of our 7 day week. Yet in today’s text Luke speaks of 8 days. It was about 8 days after Jesus had spoken of his death and resurrection that he went up the mountain with Peter, John and James.

In the theological journal First Things, Dale Coulter explains: “…the eighth day signals a day that is beyond the seven-day cycle of weeks and thus stands outside of the normal movement of time. It is the dawn of a new age in which time comes to be fulfilled in a kind of eternal stable movement around God. This kind of talk about the eighth day underscores the in-breaking of the divine into the movement of history to bring it to a final consummation.”[2] In simple terms, the 8^th day represents Gods eternal ‘out of this world’ realm that is beyond our worldly time of 24 hours 7 days a week.

Who is Jesus? The dazzling manifestation of his glory and the mention of 8 days shows he is the Son of God from all eternity; the Christ in whom God’s 8^th day of eternal reign of glory and grace has come into our world that is trapped in bondage to sin, death and decay. Although we don’t have the sound and light show that the disciples did on the Mount of Transfiguration in our Gospel reading, we don’t have to ascend the mountain to find God.

He comes down to us. While we gather in this simple church building, we don’t see Jesus in radiant glory with clothes as bright as a flash of lightning. Nonetheless, God who is present everywhere is personally present here working in a special way unlike anywhere else. He brings his grace and divine help and salvation through his word, through baptism and Holy Communion, bringing divine forgiveness, favour, help and blessing for us.

And so it is good for us to be here…in the presence of Christ who faithfully followed his Father’s will all the way to the Cross, suffering and dying for the sins of the world, and triumphing over death with his mighty resurrection. Here, and now, in the Person of the risen, crucified Christ, the 8^th day that is God’s reign of grace and his realm of eternity comes into our world and our time, and the Christ continues to bless his people.

Even though he is invisible to human eyes Jesus stands before us, in the fullness of his glory, at the font. It is not the pastor that baptises a person, but really it is Jesus. That is why from the earliest times, baptism fonts were Octagonal in shape—with 8 sides, symbolising the reality that by baptism into Christ, God brings about a new creation; ransoming sinners from the prison of sin, death and hell and bringing them into his kingdom of light and life, giving them ears to hear God’s word and mouths to proclaim it, recreating hearts to love and serve him, and incorporating them into the eighth day of Jesus’ resurrection, and eternal life.

That is what he did for all of us in our baptism. But baptism is not a magic act that saves apart from faith. Baptism and faith go together. Baptism is the means by which God promises to send his Spirit to begin the work of faith that justifies us in God’s presence; faith that must be nurtured throughout life. Faith that comes from gladly hearing and learning God’s word.

And so it is vital that we all keep coming to continue to listen to Jesus, for if we keep firm in our faith by continuing to listen to him, we share in everything that he promises, and what Peter James and John saw in today’s Gospel reading is a preview of what we will see. Through faith in Christ, we will be in the company of Moses and Elijah and Peter and James and John, and all the saints throughout time. Through faith in Christ, we will see his shining face and clothes as white as lightning. We will see our Saviour in all his glory, not just for a fleeting glimpse, but for all eternity. Amen.

[1] https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/jesus-famous-person-world-study-article-1.1548305

[2] https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/04/the-eighth-day