Sermon - 2014-03-09

The temptation of Jesus is something that reminds us that Jesus was indeed human.  During those forty days, the devil offered to Jesus all the things that we strive for within the world.  Serving our self, power, and safety and yet each time, Jesus reminds the devil that those are not the things that God wants for us.  Certainly God wants us to be happy.  However, God also knows that these things will not give us the happiness that we are seeking. Serving ourself is never a good thing because it places us at the center of the world and only puts us against one another. This seperates us from what God wants for us and we truly long for.  Power is something that lures us into trusting your own self rather than God. Safety is a false god that we create, but is something that we continue to go back to constantly.  The safety that we create can not stand the test of time, people’s sinful nature and our own desire for more.  However, Jesus does not succomb to the temptation but remains faithful to God.

Those are some difficult temptations that Jesus and we face every single day.  So why does God have Jesus and us go through the same temptation nearly every day?  God doesn’t make us, but rather, we did it to ourselves.  Unfortunately, it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. For they wanted to serve themselves and have the same knowledge that God had about the knowledge of Good and Evil. They wanted the safety in knowing where the line between Good and Evil truly is.  However, that line is not always clear as they would have hoped. Yet this is not simply us paying for the sins of those ancestors who we have never met. No, because these are the same sins that we still bear within our own life.  These are the same choices that we would decide upon in order to determine the gifts that we bestow upon others and the gifts that we shall receive.  The choice of our actions also gives witness to those around us, of the promise and gift that God has given to us.

Those things may never cross our mind and yet here today, Jesus is giving the example to us of how we should face that temptation. Having this example shows us how we should face the world and also be reminded that God has faced these same temptations that we are facing.  Not only does God face them, but God overcomes them.  Now if you are thinking, but, but, Jesus had an unfair advantage that I don’t have.  Jesus was fully human and fully God.  Not only that, but Jesus had the Holy Spirit to face the devil.  How can I do those things when it is just little ole’ me?  But wait, God is also with you, that means God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are with you whenever you face these choices.

How often don’t we think about that?  So often we think that we are doing this by ourselves. Or that it seems like things are so much better over there.  Why don’t we do that?  Why don’t we just copy what those people are doing so that we will have the same success?  It doesn’t work that way.  For what may seem like greener pastures, can sometimes be seperation from God.  So instead of thinking that we of others as against, what if we thought about what was going right and helping us along the way?  And what about those foreigners, those people that we do not want to include in our community?  Well once we get to know them, we will find out that they are human just like us. We may find someone to include in the family.  Above all, we don’t get to decide who is in the family, God does.

For the water of Baptism and the blood of Christ does not care about our nation, our position, or our skin color.  It cares about our heart and the motives for doing the work that we are doing within the world.  The people of God includes the people within the nation of Israel and all the people within the creation.  The people of God includes family, friends and even enemies.  For through the waters of Baptism and the blood of Christ, we are claimed, cleansed, and united as God’s people.  So remember, we are not facing things alone. We are not making the decision by ourselves, but we are making it with God. Amen.