Quoting scriptures

“…he departed from him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13)

Luke 4:1-13 (Year C: The First Sunday in Lent, 10^th March, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading in the Church of Ireland (Luke 4:1-13) the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) of the Church of Ireland for this Sunday are: Deuteronomy 26:1-11,  Psalm 91, and  Romans 10:8-13.  Directly parallel Gospel readings to this particular Gospel reading from Luke may be found in Matthew 4:1-11 and in Mark 1:12-13.  In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, the readings are the same in all cases.

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SERMON NOTES (839 words)

Even the devil can quote scripture is an old saying from somewhere. Today’s reading from the gospel of Luke suggests that the Devil has a good command of the scriptures; he is well able to quote it to suit his malign purposes. And, he is most convincing and plausible. After all, who could resist a big win or an easy way out of a tough corner. The Devil offers easy answers and convincing proposals. However, the scriptures do not belong to the Devil. They belong to God who gives them to us through the writings, experiences and memories of prophets, poets, martyrs and women and men of God spanning many hundreds of years up to and including the first century when Jesus Christ walked among us in a faraway land and time.

If the Devil is so clever at quoting scripture what does scripture have to say about him and is any of this relevant to us today? Let’s start from more modern times.  Ever since the age of enlightenment, men have doubted the claims of religion. In particular, the notion of a supreme actual evil personified spirit roaming the world for the ruin of souls and stirring up rebellion and strife everywhere has been dismissed as a hangover from childhood tales or medieval mythology. The ultimate fruit of this way of looking at the world is that evil is relative to time and culture and there is no ultimate and absolute wrong. The direct implication of this is that there is no ultimate good or absolute right. You can’t have one without the other – I suggest.

All of this makes for uncomfortable reading on this first Sunday of the Western churches period of Lent. The readings emphasise struggle, temptation and divine help. However, we take it (if we take scripture seriously at all), we ought to have our heads screwed on and our feet firmly planted on the ground. What I mean is this: we do not have a complete and final answer to the problem of human evil and suffering. What we do know is that there is much evil and suffering in this world. We also know – through faith and our hearing of the Word of God – that God is the source of our hope and our longing.

It is not easy.

The problem with evil is that we tend to compartmentalise it. It belongs to another place (say Yemen) or time (say the holocaust in the mid-20^th century). We might even study and watch evil from afar by means of literature or film documentaries of what happens somewhere else or what happened a long time ago. The problem with this way of thinking about evil is that we relativise it and put it away as if we do not have a responsibility to name evil.

Take the holocaust of the Jewish people in the last century. When the civilian population of Germany was compelled to walk through the concentration camps after they were liberated by the Allies many people were shocked beyond belief and distressed beyond endurance. ‘We did not know about this’, ‘we were helpless’ or ‘I had nothing to do with this’ was often uttered. The same could be said about those infamous mother and baby homes and similar type institutions not only here in Ireland about across the globe. Not very long ago women were effectively incarcerated in institutions and blamed and shamed while society turned a blind eye. And in many cases, this was done in the name of Christ. Blasphemy. How do we classify suffering on a scale of 0 to 10? It is impossible.

Might it be just possible that just as other generations turned the other way or disclaimed knowledge or responsibility of evil we are in any way complicit and silent in the practice of evil today? Even close by?

As we consider the options for what sort of foods and drinks we might do without this Lent we might consider, also, the bigger problem of suffering and evil perpetrated by people against people very close and very widespread. We have a role to play in countering evil by prayer, self-denial and acts of compassion. This is the relevance of what Jesus did for 40 days and 40 nights before he entered into his public ministry. He had to struggle with evil in the desert and against clever, cunning and malicious lines of thinking and interrogation. He had no props. He might have even uttered the words, ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me?’

Lent is an opportunity for a personal journey to a deeper faith and love. However, it has a social and community dimension and we need to engage with great injustices in the world about us as well as within us. Our spiritual enemy is always looking for an opportunity and he is well able to quote the scriptures for his own ends.

Let us put our trust in the true God of love. But, let us be careful as we proceed.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

Loving God we thank you for this time of preparation for Easter. Mindful of our weakness and sinfulness we place before you are needs and the needs of others. Together we pray for:

A reversal of those trends that exclude millions from a decent standard of living…..

The peoples of India and Pakistan at this time …

The communities in which we live and work…may we encourage one another in our spiritual journey….

The Christian churches … that we may repent of unnecessary division and exclusion…

Those all among us who have undertaken to deepen our prayer in a spirit of loving sacrifice and renewed service. Keep us firm in our resolutions for this time of Lent

Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….

… praying in silence….

Loving God, show us the way of life that leads to You. Direct our plans and choices day by day that we may find the true path. Correct anything that needs to be altered. Help us to see what needs to be changed and what needs to be embraced. Thank You.

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH LUKE 4:1-13

Preliminaries

Luke and Matthew’s account of this episode in the life of Jesus is similar. There is no direct mention of it in John while Mark’s account is very brief. The period in the desert where Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit follows the baptism of Jesus and precedes the public ministry of Jesus. We do well to reflect on the example of Jesus who devoted himself to prayer, self-denial and struggle with evil in advance of a major decision or turn in our lives.

v.1-4   The first temptation: the lust for more

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. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”

Never content with what we have we seek for more and different. Life is a merry go-round of sought after pleasures, projects and things and more things and different things.

v.5-8   The second temptation: the lust for group think

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God,     and serve only him.”’

The spirit of evil is abroad and is in control of much political authority for ‘it has been given over to me’ says Satan.

Worship of God is outside the realm of thinking and acting that rules this world. One of the hardest choices a follower of Jesus will make is to stand aside from the crowd (and that may include one’s own church or faith community). To think for oneself and to take responsibility for the Word that has been planted in us is a most difficult task and we cannot do it alone.

v.9-13   The third temptation: the presumption of truth and power

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying 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 protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’  Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

We must acknowledge that the Devil does not give up!  ‘he departed from him until an opportune time’. That time would come in the a garden on the outskirts of Jerusalem one Thursday night in spring.