Matthew 4:1-11
“Look for the Resistor”
February 26, 2023
Some of us are not crazy about the word evil.
Maybe it sounds too dramatic.
Or disembodied, as if there is some sort of force out there in the world – a little too Star Wars for some of us.
And yet we were going to ask Christy and Aaron to resist the powers of evil on behalf of baby Susanna as is asked at all baptisms.
And here we have Jesus, face to face with what we’ve come to learn is evil itself, the devil.
Just before this test, Jesus was himself baptized and God affirmed his position with the words, “This is my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now we find Jesus led deep into a wilderness experience.
In Eugene Peterson’s Message version of the Bible, he titles this passage, “The Test.”
Jesus gets ready for the test by fasting for 40 days, draining him undoubtedly of his supply of energy and so we imagine his state of mind when the devil or tempter appeared.
This evil incarnate knew of Jesus’ vulnerable state and how hungry he must have been when he suggests Jesus just make bread out of stone.
Jesus resists with words from the Book of Deuteronomy that we continue to hear quoted today in our culture about one not living by bread alone.
But the rest of that statement of Jesus’ isn’t used so much in popular culture.
Jesus finishes the pronouncement with the words of scripture “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Jesus will again reference the story of Moses bringing God’s law to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai with his response to testing God by jumping from the top of the temple when the Devil also uses words of scripture, this time from Psalm 91.
Jesus was having none of it – there’s no putting God to the test.
Finally, the devil tries appealing to that which so many crave – power.
All Jesus needs to do is turn his worship from God to him, the devil and all that he sees and can imagine will be his
And Jesus responds with a solid no.
If you, like me, struggle with the concept of evil – are people evil? Is evil something you do, not something you are?
Jesus here provides not an answer but a response.
It helps to know that religious scholars have struggled for all of time with the concept of evil.
Frederick Buechner explains the challenge with evil by pointing out three propositions:
“God is all-powerful.
God is all-good.
Terrible things happen.” (Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC)
Buechner points out that you can reconcile two of these propositions but you can’t make all three work – at least not in the way we think and process and face the world.
Jesus here is showing us that when we are faced with the inevitable wilderness moments in life, remembering that we are not an independent body separate from God but rather we are reliant on God for our identity and our ability to face life’s hard parts can be, if not an answer than at least an approach.
And that includes the temptations in life.
We are at the start of Lent and this story of Jesus’ offers some important questions for us to consider in this season of exploring our connection to God.
Who is it that we trust for nourishment?
Who is it that we trust to love and care for us?
And who do we trust with our service?
The devil is trying every way he knows how to present himself as the answer – those are the temptations before Jesus.
And Jesus counters effectively that God is the ultimate answer to all those test questions.
The evil that presents itself to Jesus in the form of temptation is resisted because of the knowledge of God’s love.
The call to love and serve our neighbor because we love God means we have the ability to rise to the challenges not just that we face but that they face.
We so often want the answer to be yes to love but there’s also reality to deal with.
Everything is not going to go our way all the time.
We may financially find it hard to do the right thing.
The decisions we make may turn people against us.
We may find it hard to act mercifully and offer forgiveness freely.
Some days the work of living seems too difficult and the rewards too few.
It would make life so much easier if we were just appreciated more.
These are the factors that can feed into the temptations to turn in a less than loving direction, away from God, which, after all may be a working definition of evil.
Resistance is not futile.
This Lent we get to go looking for love in affirming and grace-filled places.
Let us then raise this prayer titled, “Brokenness:”
God, it takes courage to be the creatures
you made us to be.
Year after year we add to our experiences of the world,
pushing against our limits
to find out what will budge and what will not.
We find that we can make certain things happen,
and we can prevent other things from happening.
We can make friends, and we can make enemies.
We can say, “yes,” and we can say “no.”
God, we confess that we get so carried away
that we begin to think we are in control of our lives –
until something happens.
God, we are tentative before you,
confused in the clutter of our abandoned dreams
and tattered faith,
worn out by our efforts to improve the world,
cramped by our responsibilities,
and lost in an ocean of time.
In our brokenness we turn to you.
Resurrect the shattered pieces
into a stronger whole.
Take the fragments of our faith,
and, in your mercy, Lord,
redeem them and make us whole.
Amen.
(Prayers and Litanies for the Christian Seasons by Sharlande Sledge)