What Do You Mean “If”?
Luke 4:1-13
Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan
Every year, on the first Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, from one of the three synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Because we are in Year C, today we hear Luke’s version. I think we need to be reminded of the lead-up to the temptations because it casts a light onto the temptations which helps us understand the story even better. So, from the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, listen for the word of God.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John 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…
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:1-3, 15-16, 21-22
The step following this powerful baptismal event involves the Spirit of God leading Jesus into the wilderness for what sounds like a spiritual retreat. We are told that Jesus fasted; he was filled with the Spirit; and we can assume he spent time in prayer and meditation, probably focusing on what this divine declaration meant. The voice from heaven following Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his full ministry, so no surprise he needed to spend a little time figuring out what being called Son of God meant. Fortunately, he was full of the Holy Spirit while on his retreat. Unfortunately, Luke reports the devil was also a participant. From the 4th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, listen for the word of God.
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.’” 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.’” 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.
God says, “You are my Son, the Beloved.” Then Jesus took a 40-day retreat, perhaps just trying to come to grips with what that means. “I’m the Son of God?” And then the devil says in effect, “If you are the Son of God, show us a miracle.” So our question is, “What do you mean, ‘if’ when God said he is?” The truth is, of course, it isn’t just the devil asking whether Jesus is Son of God. And asking whether Jesus is the Son of God is not our only question.
Faith challenges are common. Seems like every time we turn around, someone is making a claim about Christianity that contradicts what we believe. It isn’t just a devil throwing biblical quotes at Jesus. Modern people can quote scripture that flies in the face of our beliefs, too. Some might say: “Wives be subject to your husbands…” Colossians 3:18 Or “1 Corinthians 6:10 says sodomites will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Or “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God…” Romans 13:1a. A favorite claim is that only those who confess Jesus as Christ will enter God’s Kingdom (Romans 10:9, Phil. 2:11). Such ideas may be contrary to the understanding some of us have of who God is.
At the same time, other Christians may demand their pastors stop preaching about becoming peacemakers (Matthew 5:6, 9), loving enemies, and praying for those who abuse them (Luke 6:27-28) because it’s too “woke.” If someone points out they are preaching from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain, some have been known to tell the pastor to stop anyway. Many of us can’t imagine we should stop saying, and living by, what Jesus preached.
But it isn’t just other Christian who challenge the faith. Non-Christians are quick to point out the hypocrisy rampant in churches, where people claim to be holy yet they cheat on their taxes or their spouses; how Christians are quick to anger and slow to forgive. These nay-sayers argue Christians claim to be following a holy man, but they fall short all the time, so their faith can’t be real.
And if it isn’t enough that other Christians and non-Christians argue that our beliefs are faulty, sometimes we argue with ourselves. Some days we can’t believe God forgives our vicious mistakes; or we wonder if Jesus actually is present around us in some spiritual form. Challenges to our faith crop up all over.
So you need ready responses. When your faith gets questioned, you need an answer. Too many folks just draw a blank when confronted about their faith. If someone tells you they are pretty sure your atheist sister will spend eternity in hell, what do you say to refute them? The first letter of Peter says, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15b) In other words, if you respond to the person that you are pretty sure your sister will spend eternity with God, and the person asks you to explain your position, you need to be able to give a defense.
Some churches go to great lengths to teach their entire membership answers to basic faith questions. And everyone’s answers will match, because they have a catechism, or their membership class provides a hand-out of questions and scriptural quotations to use to answer them. Well, don’t you think you should have answers, too? However, just dueling scripture references is not a great way to show a healthy faith. Instead, you need to know what you believe and why. I love that notion from 1 Peter. You need to be able to make an accounting for the hope that is in you. You need to be able to explain your beliefs. Don’t be intimidated by someone’s quick-draw answers. Take your time. Tell what you believe. Tell what you know. You have every right to say that the Bible does not speak with a singular voice about lots of issues: heaven, hell, Jesus, creation, marriage. And if they question you, you can point out biblical marriage includes King Solomon’s, whom you are told about in 1 Kings 11:3: “Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines…” Is this what some means by biblical marriage?
Know what you believe. Don’t be intimidated by the clobber passages – you know those painful passages used to keep certain people down – like slaves obey your masters, women shouldn’t have authority over men, women must not exchange natural intercourse for unnatural, nor should men commit shameless acts with men. Just take a breath and defend your position. You need to respond.
Which necessitates being built up. If we are going to be firm in our faith, we need to keep doing whatever helps us be sure in what we believe. For us to be able to stand against temptations, we need to keep close to God. We heard Bill read for us earlier. As we accomplish what God has set out for us to do, we respond with worship. We make an offering, remembering how faithful God has been every day, bringing us to this point in our lives and promising to accompany us into the future. Our worship is not just a Sunday event, but daily devotions and even prayer conversation with God throughout the day. Jesus models such closeness to God for us. We hear him in conversational prayer (He is reported to have prayed similar to this: Thank you Father for showing these people our connection) and frequently we see him heading off into the hills to pray. And since he easily quotes scripture, he must read the Bible often, which is a good habit for us. If someone tries to prove something to us by quoting scripture, we need to know whether they are accurately quoting an English translation.
But in addition to these obvious ways to keep strong in the faith, we benefit from taking time to study about our faith. If we have a question, find someone to answer it. Ask a pastor. St. Andrew has at least 7 people among us with seminary training. If a pastor doesn’t know, they will be able to offer guidance. And our denomination has a publishing house, The Pilgrim Press. They offer books on difficult topics, on basics of the faith, and on issues of ordinary life. In addition, Pilgrim Press and others have excellent resources on biblical interpretation which can help us understand the complexities of translating the Bible and making sense of passages for today’s world.
Then when we have studied up on our beliefs, we can benefit from following the rabbinical practice of arguing over a passage, without going to war. In fact, we don’t even need to try to beat our opponent. Instead, as the rabbis do, let’s attempt to find truth. When one rabbi gets stuck in trying to answer an opponent’s challenge, the opponent will often suggest how it might be answered, because it isn’t about winning. They want the truth to help them both deepen their faith. We would do well to imitate them. We worship, we pray, we read scripture, we study good scholars. All of which strengthens us. We benefit from keeping our faith built up.
If we believe Jesus is Son of God, or if we don’t believe that exactly, but we believe something else about him, we need to be able to answer challenges to our ideas, not so we can smugly feel victorious, but so we can have confidence in our own beliefs and share our faith with others intelligently. Keeping ourselves educated about our faith helps us know more God. Who wouldn’t want that?