Sitting with the Sacred

Deuteronomy 8:3
Romans 10:13, quoting Psalm 145:18
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
2 Corinthians 6:2
Luke 4:1–13

I’m breaking away — just a little bit— from a couple of patterns I usually follow on this blog.

1) From last weekend’s Scripture readings, I’m going to focus only on the gospel reading.
2) I’m going to bring in Scripture that wasn’t included in the weekend readings.
I guess the second choice isn’t entirely foreign to this space. I brought in Scripture not included in the weekly readings in my second post, but it seems like I haven’t taken that approach in a while.

It occurs to me that breaking away from unhelpful patterns and returning to helpful approaches that I’ve gotten away from are what Lent is about. Since “now is a very acceptable time,” here I go on this week’s exploration of breaking away and returning (2 Cor. 6:2).

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Verses 4 and 5 of 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 remind us that among its other qualities, “[love] is not pompous, it does not seek its own interests. This famous passage in the first letter to the Corinthians provides a challenging, yet rather abstract description of the nature of Divine love. Luke’s account of Christ’s temptation in the desert, in contrast, provides a concrete picture. It shows me Divine love lived.

Luke tells us that when he was tempted, Jesus didn’t stop trusting that his father was caring and would care for him — even when it wasn’t clear how —and he didn’t use the gifts he received from his father to serve himself. In the temptation scene, he doesn’t turn the stones into bread as the devil urges him to (Luke 4:3). Instead, he leans on his father in his weakness, saying, “‘One does not live by bread alone'” (Luke 4:4). Here, Jesus quotes the Torah, where the rest of the verse is “but by all that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Deut. 8:3). The pastor reminded us this weekend that this verse acknowledges Jesus’ and our need for bread. It reminds us that bread comes from God’s creation, as does everything good.

I would add that Jesus doesn’t say “One does not live on bread. He says, “One does not live on bread alone. The word “alone” is the key to what Jesus’ response means. The response says our needs are emotional, intellectual, and spiritual as well as physical. We’re not totally self-sufficient. Instead, deep down, we long to extend beyond ourselves to God and to others. We need bread, but our nourishment goes beyond the physical when we share bread. When we share it, we open ourselves to leaning on God and each other and to learning from God and each other. And sometimes it takes not having these forms of nourishment to appreciate having them. That’s why alone time and forms of fasting sometimes allow for the growth and increased clarity we need to draw closer to God and each other so that we can work with God.

As we look at more of Luke’s temptation scene, we read how the devil works against this spirit of communion and cooperation. The devil promises Jesus

“all the kingdoms of the world,” saying “I shall give you all this power and their glory in a single instant, for it has been handed over to, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours if you worship me (Luke 4:5-7) [italics mine].

Those are a lot of words of ownership — and ownership right now, mind you. Those are not words about being family, about sharing, or about being patient. And Jesus knows his father is about being family, about sharing, and about being patient. He knows the devil is feeding him a lie. He knows that power rightly used is used to serve, not to dominate, and he knows the devil can’t give him this power to serve because his adversary is not its source. The devil doesn’t own the kingdoms of the world either, so he can’t give them all to anyone — not that Jesus would take them if they were the devil’s to offer. Jesus came among the people to draw them to God, to help them to see and to choose God, not to drag them to God. I’d venture to say that no one can be forced to find God. No one truly finds God except freely.

My belief is that God doesn’t want to control us and our world because if God did, we couldn’t be in a loving relationship with God. And because God doesn’t want to control us, we encounter the consequences of our own actions and the actions of others. I think that’s why Jesus doesn’t jump off the parapet of the temple as the devil tempts him to do (Luke 4:9). I believe God shares in our suffering, and that somehow, in some way, God saves all who “call upon him in truth” — though I can’t always see how (and I’d like to be able to see how a lot more often) (Psalm 145:18).

But I also believe that because my actions have consequences, I shouldn’t invite trouble — especially not to prove something about myself or about God. We all face enough troubles and challenges in life without inviting it for reasons other than love. Inviting trouble for reasons other than love is my understanding of what it means to “put the Lord… to the test” (Luke 4:12). To do so would be to throw away the love, safety and security God has given me. I don’t want to do that.

Sometimes the path love leads me along is comfortable. Other times, it’s not comfortable, but it’s familiar. Still other times, it’s neither. Regardless, I want to follow where love leads. Thank goodness, Jesus knows how hard that can be.

Work cited

The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.