Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from our gracious God, who accompanies us on our Lenten pilgrimage. Amen.
In preparation for the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter, we enter this time of Lent, the forty days of penitence, fasting and prayer. We marked our preparations by placing a cross of ashes on our foreheads, remembering our mortality through this physical act of penitence.
Penitence, or repentance, has marked the season of Lent since the early medieval period. In many traditions, the primary focus has been the enumeration of sins – we all have images of a sinner sitting in a little closet, talking with a priest behind a mysterious screen. As an act of contrition, the priest would prescribe a certain number of prayers to say or actions to complete and quickly pronounce a blessing.
At the beginning of the Reformation, Luther called into question this method of penitence. In his reading of Scripture and the early traditions of the Church, he believed things had gotten flipped around. Rather than the focus being on listing all the bad things you have done, Luther and his colleagues argued that it was hearing the words of forgiveness that is the central component of this action of the Church. It is in hearing the good news of God’s liberating power through Christ that leads the Christian out into the world to do good works. For Luther, it was the word of promise that was central, centered in the relationship God has with us through Christ!
Our text from Deuteronomy this morning is a quick retelling of the Exodus, of God liberating the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and their entrance into the land of Milk and Honey, a journey that fulfilled what God had promised. For a little refresher… Moses, the reluctant leader, asked Pharoah to let God’s people go; when Pharaoh refused, God sent various plagues and calamities to help convince him. Yet, Pharoah did not fully acquiesce, but the people of Israel escaped, as God had promised.
Along their 40-year journey – “40” is certainly an important number for Lent – the people began to stray… that's a long time to be wandering, with just a glimmer of hope to hold onto. During this time, God provided them guidance for how they should live together, and immediately they sought what they thought would be a “quick fix” for this predicament, worshiping a golden calf.
And yet… and yet… God did not abandon them. God did not turn away for them even after they turned in all sorts of directions. And God brought them to the literal land of promise – that of Milk and Honey. As the author of Deuteronomy notes, this experience of God's steadfastness is a cause to celebrate, not only for the immediate descendants the event but for all who find themselves in a strange territory, or who find themselves being chased by their own Pharoahs who operate solely from a place of fear and control. This celebration is not just a big party of giving thanks to God for not having to go through that again, but it is a perpetual remembrance that God fulfilled God’s promise.
The parting of the Red Sea, which is described as "terrifying power – signs and wonders" in Deuteronomy, has a special place in the development of Lent, as the Early Church drew parallels between the Israelites walking on dry ground through the water and candidates for baptism going through the waters of the font, between God liberating the Israelites from enslaved captivity in Egypt and God liberating the newly baptized from the punishment due for sin, between the Israelites entering the land of Milk and Honey and the newly baptized partaking of Christ’s body and blood – both means of life..
And these parallels help remind us that baptism is not something that we do but rather is something that God does. At the center of the sacrament is the promise: being joined to Christ in his death and resurrection, permanently grafted into the body of Christ and the people of God, a permanent relationship such that God will never abandon us… in spite of or even because of all our attempts at turning away.
In the gospel this morning, directly after his own baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days and nights of fasting. In a moment of supposed weakness, Satan comes to take advantage of the moment. Three times Satan attempts to tempt Jesus, and in each of these three times Jesus responds by correcting Satan’s misinterpretations of God’s promises and instead highlights God’s relationship through Jesus with all of creation.
One of the things taught to us in seminary, and that I have taught in my own courses, is that successful relationships include three things: communication, intimacy, and trust. Jesus’s responses to Satan touch on each of them. When Satan tempts Jesus to turn the stones into bread in order to prove his divine powers, Jesus retorts that one must not live bread alone but by the words spoken from the mouth of God. Here Jesus is exhibiting the communicative power of the Gospel. And the promise of God is at the heart of that communication – “give us this day our daily bread,” as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, is given even before we ask, which Luther notes in his explanation in the Small Catechism.
Next, Satan tempts Jesus by claiming that Satan has been given authority over all the world, and he can hand that authority over to Jesus. Political events over the past couple of months have made me wonder if some have made a “deal with the devil.” Knowing that Satan’s claim is not true, because of the intimate relationship among all persons of the Trinity, Jesus again corrects Satan and lifts up our response – worship – to God’s promises.
Finally, to demonstrate his power, Satan brings Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, the highest point where some believed that the most connection could occur with God, in order to prove God’s love in rescuing a falling Jesus. Satan quotes one of the Psalms, but again Jesus has words of his own. Jesus proves his trust to God by stating that one should not put the Lord God to the test – what God promises does not need testing and verification, for God’s words are true.
Jesus embodies the promises of God, promises both made real and permanent in relationship. These promises are not the half-truths of quoting conveniently from Scripture in order an attempt to grab power at all costs, no matter who is left in the wake. Satans are everywhere, trying to tell us what God’s promises mean – usually in the form of personal gain or being able to take power so that others cannot have it.
Instead, as both the psalmist and Paul remind us, those who call on God, who place their trust in God, will never be put to shame.
How are these promises of God made known in our midst? Think about the relationships that this congregation has among those present and those beyond these walls. While passing budgets and electing new Council members are often what get highlighted at Annual General Meetings – which I know you are having today – think about how all that decision-making center the promises of God in all our work.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
