Temptation in the Wilderness

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. 12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:1-17, NRSV)

I have a love for this passage of scripture that is found in the misrepresentation of the translation above.

In most of our modern translations the devil asked Jesus, “If you are the son of God…” well that is one translation for what the Greek says but there is another.

The Greek word is ιε. Which does mean if. However it also means something which make much more sense theologically. You see with if it could be construed that the devil is questioning whether Jesus is the Son of God or not. But the devil knows who Jesus is. ιε also means since. I believe the devil is saying, “since you are the son of God…”

Both Jesus and the devil quote scripture and know about what scripture has and does say about God and God’s chosen.

Do we question who Jesus is?

Do we question who we are in Jesus?

Since you are a child of God, go in faith and proclaim God’s love.

You are my Son

1Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
3“Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.”
4He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6“I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
7I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.
8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling
(Psalm 2:1-11, NRSV)

You are my child, today I have begotten you.

Gid names us as God’s own. We are God’s children and God has begotten us.

And because God first claimed us we should serve God.

Let us follow our father where God leads and show the world God’s love.

The Day of the Lord

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. 4Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lordcomes. 6He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse. (Malachi 4:1-6, NRSV)

The day of the Lord is coming. But I wonder how we should feel about this.

The day of the Lord is the judgement. The day we will see the return of Jesus. And all will be judged and ushered into their place for all eternity.

Is this something we should be happy about? Worried about?

If we revere God’s name then we will leap like a calf from the stall.

It is a day of joy. If we follow after and believe in the promises of God then this is joy but if not it might be a day of concern.

So will you leap or be worried?

A Messenger is Coming

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 5Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 6For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. 7Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?” (Malachi 3:1-7, NRSV)

I did a photo search for messenger and I got a lot of icons for Facebook Messenger and bags… Not really the messengers I was looking for.

Who is God’s messenger?

Well, you are and God is preparing you to go and to give the message of love, mercy, and grace to the world. And how is God preparing you?

God is preparing you as a refiner of silver refines silver. And that is done as the refiner watches the silver in the fire and knows it is ready when the refiner can see their reflection in the silver.

When God sees God reflected in you, then you are ready.

So go and be the messenger of hope for the world.

John’s Teaching, part 2

15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20added to them all by shutting up John in prison. (Luke 3:15-20, NRSV)

John is not the Messiah, but he is proclaiming the coming of the Messiah.

The Messiah will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. And the Messiah will clear the threshing floor and separate what goes to the granary and what is burned away.

We too can be like John, preparing the way and telling others about the Messiah and the relationships they can have, but know in doing so that we might wind up where John did. John here in the reading is in prison because of his speaking out against Herod and Herodias. Sometimes proclaim the good news does not sit well with others. But that did not stop John.

Will it stop you?

John’s Teaching, part 1

7John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” (Luke 3:7-14, NRSV)

As I read this text I hear law. Law and very little gospel, but gospel is there.

It seems like we have to do the works all on our own to get it right, but is that really what John is saying?

John is saying you can not rely on being related to anyone or that you can trace your lineage back to Abraham. Everyone can do that actually…

What John tells those who ask what they can do is, treat everyone as you want to be treated. Do not take more than you should, do not extort money from people.

Treat others as you want to be treated. That is not doing anything more than we really should do.

Prepare the Way of the Lord

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.7The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:1-8, NRSV)

Make God’s ways straight and prepare a path for the Lord.

This sounds like a daunting task for any person! How can we prepare the way for the Lord?

Well, we do this by trusting in God and knowing that God is working through our lives!

You see every promise we read from God will never fade away. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God will always be true. Nothing will cause the promises of God to not be fulfilled.

Just trust God, and God will work through you to do wonderful things!

Jesus and John the Baptist

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:1-17, NRSV)

“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Most parents I know are always bragging on their kids. I am so overwhelmingly proud of my three girls. I am so amazed every day at what they do. I am glad and honored to be blessed with them. But as much pride I have in them doesn’t even compare to the pride and love that God has for Jesus, or me or my daughters.

You see the version of Jesus’ baptism we have above is God bragging on Jesus, Luke’s version says You are my Son, my beloved. God is speaking directly to Jesus, and I know as a parent I don’t do that enough to my girls. I brag on them and love them, but I forget to tell them.  Bragging on them and telling them they are loved it so important.

So hear it today that you are loved by God. You are God’s beloved and God is pleased with you!

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.44Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he said to them.51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. (Luke 2:41-52, NRSV)

If you ever thought you were a bad parent, then this is your verse. Here Mary and Joseph leave Jesus in the Temple for three days!

They assumed he was with their family somewhere in the group as they traveled and only after a days journey did they start to worry. But Jesus was where he should have been, in his Father’s house.

And isn’t that really where all of us should be?

Baby Jesus in the Temple

21After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” 25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,29“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; 30for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 33And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 36There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. 39When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. (Luke 2:21-40, NRSV)

Simeon and Anna were in the temple living there waiting for the Messiah to come. And when they saw Jesus they knew what God had proclaimed to them was happening before their eyes.

Have you ever waited on something that God had told you would happen?

But in this blessing is also a curse to Mary as Simeon told her a sword would pierce her soul.

How do we take the worry of pain and sorrow as we look to what God has called us to?

The thing we can see here is that God promised Anna and Simeon and Gid kept the promise. God will keep all the promises God makes.