spirituality

Destroy this Temple! (Sermon March 8, 2015)

John 2:13–22 (NRSV)

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

https://01varvara.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/boris-ooshansky-jesus-and-the-money-changers-2006/boris-olshansky-jesus-and-the-money-changers-2006/

(Mt 21:12–17; Mk 11:15–19; Lk 19:45–48)

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸ The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

We live in an era where the majority of the population is angry. Every day there is someone on the radio or on TV that is yelling about something. The worst part about it is they usually do not know exactly what they are upset about or even what the situation is, yet they are all up in arms about it. The truth of the matter is that there is a lot to be angry about, but for the most part we get upset about things that we should not be upset about. The number one cause of anger in our culture today is that we do not get our way. A meal is not prepared exactly how it was wanted an individual logs onto the computer and give a bad review and demand compensation. Maybe someone down the street has a yard that is ugly so you call the city to demand a citation be given to force them to clean up. Or the one I really enjoy a store does not allow a return an item so to get back at the corporation one decides to take matters into their own hands and wrongfully convert merchandise to their own use. In any given day someone has angered you or you have made someone angry. We live in a culture so consumed by anger that we offer classes on how to better manage the anger.

Then we read passages like this in scripture. Jesus got angry, Jesus even got a bit physical, he does not quite fit the assumption of the easy going, gracious loving guy we want him to be. Which causes us to step back and ask is it ok to be angry. Of course it is, anger is an emotion and God gave us our emotions for a reason. The real question is if our anger is justified?

Jesus got angry. This is just another powerful example of the humanity of God that give our faith so much power. Jesus was and is fully human while remaining fully God, he experienced the emotional wave that each of us experience yet he acted on those emotions without sin. Our emotions are not sinful, but a natural response to our interpretation of what is going on around us. Emotions cannot be sinful. What is causing the emotions and what we do in response to the emotions are more important. This is the difference between the anger that Jesus experienced and the anger that ninety percent of the general population experience. Please do not try to look up that statistic because it is just a random number that I pull out of thin air and I would hate for someone to get angry over an inaccurate statistic made in a sermon. But I pull that number out of the air because most of our responses to the emotions of anger are not sinless, in fact most of our anger is sinful. Because sin is an activity that can detract from our relationship with God, or detract us from relationships with those God loves. Most if not all of our anger leads to sin, because the anger that we often experience causes us to drive wedges between others which lead to schisms that we do not intend to ever reconcile.

For us the greatest problem is that we misuse our emotions. We do not have the knowledge to channel our emotions in healthy ways, to use the power of our emotions to make proper decisions. Often our emotions scare us so we do not examine what or where the roots of the emotions are coming from. We are afraid to examine our emotions because if we were to actually dig into our emotions we might find something more frightening, something like we are not actually the person we would like others to believe we are.  So we react out of ignorance and in the process we cause more harm than good. This is why I say ninety percent of our responses to anger are sinful. Consider the last time you were angry. As you consider that emotion response consider what was triggering that response, and why was that the trigger? If I were to guess where that examination led I could venture to say that most of us had an emotional response that we self-centered in some way. There will also be a few responses that are different, and those responses are important as well because once we can begin to see the root of the emotion then we are able to work with it.

Jesus got angry…in fact Jesus got really angry. Jesus was filled with what most of us would call a righteous anger. The root of his anger was not out of self-centeredness but rooted somewhere else. He was upset because they were making his Father’s house a marketplace! John actually is pretty calm every other gospel writer recounts as a den of robbers, which should cause us to wonder. If you were to examine the gospels more thoroughly you would find that John and the other gospels take different approaches to relay a similar story. John is the most spiritual of the Gospels, John spends most of his time relaying the divinity of Jesus, while the other three Gospels tend to focus more on the humanity. That does not mean that John does not support or show the humanity of Christ or the others do not express Jesus as being God incarnate it simply means that each Gospel writer was inspired to write from a different perspective. But these perspectives are rich. Each Gospel records this incident, but each points out just a bit of a different aspect of why Jesus was angry. In the three gospels that use “a den of robbers.” Jesus is angry with the exploitation of humanity, John’s Gospel gives us a perspective of the exploitation of God.

Let us begin with the exploitation of Humanity, or the den of robbers. There was only one place that people could offer sacrifices to the Hebrew God, that one place was in the temple at Jerusalem. People would come from all over the known world travel to this temple to worship and bring offerings to God. This offered this one city a huge monopoly on religion. There was only one place to worship. Sure there was Samaria and the mountain of Gerizim that provided an alternative to the temple but it was not pure in the eyes of the religious elites. So people from the north and the south, the east and the west were all traveling to this one city to offer sacrifices. I do not know if you have ever gone on vacation or a sporting event but usually once you get to the destination the prices all begin to go up dramatically, and there are usually laws or rules that ban bringing items from outside. This is pretty much what is going on at the temple. They are a destination site, once you are inside there are rules that one must abide by. If you are going to offer a sacrifice, well that sacrificial animal would have to be without blemish. Meaning it had to be a perfect animal. From growing up on a farm and raising livestock I can tell you that it is extremely difficult to raise and transport an animal without blemish. It may leave the stockyard perfect, but the travel will cause damage to the coat, the animal is stressed so it loses weight and is more susceptible to disease. So you may have left with a perfect animal and you arrive with a near perfect animal but it is wore out. But that is ok, because you can purchase a replacement right at the temple. And like popcorn at home verse popcorn at a movie theater the price is just a bit different.

Wait there is more. The currency used within the temple gates is not the same currency that you traveled with so before you can purchase the perfect animal from the temple you would have to convert your currency. The currency exchange even today can be big business. And destination spots often take advantage of the exchange rates. When I spent two months in Ukraine I converted currency quite often. The exchange rate did not vary too far from one dollar equaling five hryvnia. But while I was in Ukraine we took a weekend trip to Yalta in the Crimea. There is a reason Russia wanted the Crimea and it is because it is a beautiful place, and Yalta was one of the best places to visit. So much so that there were vacation palaces there from the aristocracy all around this region. I actually visited three palaces and even ate a meal in one. Because Yalta was a destination place and there were several tourists from all over the world the exchange rates were vastly different from other places. In Yalta one dollar was worth three hryvnia, which is still decent until you consider that at the time one dollar was equal to 2.50 German marks and the economy of Ukraine and Germany were not even close. What I am getting at is that because of the destination and the greater need to exchange currency at a tourist rich place the money changers could get away with shorting me $0.13, and I let them. The difference between my experience and that of the temple is that there were not alternatives. I could still use US Dollars anywhere in Ukraine, in fact they preferred it. In the temple they only accepted temple currency so the people were at the mercy of the money changers.

Some would say that they were just using good business practices but that is not exactly the case. There were no real alternatives. One place to make sacrifices, one place to buy the sacrifices, one currency that could be used, which means those that are selling can charge you whatever they could get by with, which also meant that if you went to the temple chances are you spent all you had. This is exploitation, taking advantage of a situation. Just because someone can do something does not mean that it is right.

John takes a different approach to this incident than the other writers, he does not call it a den of robbers but a marketplace. There is a slight difference, because in one aspect the people’s finances are being taken advantage of in the other it is their spirituality. The temple in is selling redemption. Which cheapens God, and puts a price or a financial value to sin. If you can afford it can get away with anything. This breed corruption. This pay as you go spirituality is very damaging. You can buy God. You can buy God’s favor. You can pay to have your sins overlooked.

Jesus is angry because of exploitation. People are being taken advantage of, and people are getting an inaccurate and cheap image of God. Where is discipline in this picture? Where is love? There is no love in a culture of exploitation because everything about it is self-centered. Today is no different than two thousand years ago. There are 27 million people who live in some form of slavery some even say the number is over 35 million. The Global Slavery index states that there are approximately 60,000 individuals living in slavery in the United States today. Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry with the average value for each individual is $90. Ninety dollars for a human life. Jesus is angry because of exploitation. That is not all of it though, because this is happening right under our noses and what are we doing? We as a church are engaging in cultural wars, fighting amongst ourselves over political issues, chasing a dwindling number of church attenders. And we have failed to really take up the cross to follow Jesus. We have cheapened God, cheapened humanity. I think Jesus is beyond angry and instead Jesus weeps.

Is this a problem? Should we be concerned? Yes! Exploitation is all around us and it dehumanizes us all. Jesus told the religious leaders destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it. Jesus was not only saying kill me and I will raise in three days but he was challenging the very world view of the masses. Their temple and world was built on the exploitation, Jesus stood for something different. Jesus loved all, he served all, and he even bent down and washed the feet of the very man who would lead him to his death. Yet Jesus changed the very course of the world. The followers of Christ loved the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed. They gave dignity to the slaves and respect to all, and they grew in number because the world tried to destroy Jesus yet one cannot bury God for long.

We live in a world that exploits, that is angry, that is driven by selfish ambition. Jesus calls us to a different life and a different world one that is loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. It is a lifestyle contrary to everything the world teaches and is foolish in the eyes of most but it is one that is worth the risk.

Have You Ever Considered that You Might be Wrong? (Sermon March 1, 2015)

Mark 8:31–38 (NRSV)

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

(Mt 16:21–28; Lk 9:21–27)

³¹ Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

There are a few things more exciting than learning. I have often told my friends that think being a preacher would be a boring job that bible study is one of the most exciting things one can do. Every week I am constantly learning something new, looking at things from a different perspective, and having my eyes opened in ways I never though. What could be more exciting than that? I can spend hours in study and discussion, and for the sake of everyone’s back sides I usually stick to my notes because if I were to adlib too much we might be here all day. It is not that I know so much but every person sees something just a bit differently which corporately can give us just a bit more understanding and more perspective than we had before. This is one of those types of passages. It is layered in so many ways that one could write volumes and still not see what could be seen through the eyes of the Spirit in totality. Every day that we live adds another layer of depth, every year provides more contrast, and for the past 2000 years have added and built such a beautiful colossal within the scriptures that we can step back and stand amazed. Or we can become so accustomed to what is before us that we miss the beauty.

How can I say that this passage is beautiful? How can one stand and say that the prediction of death and execution has a powerful and awe inspiring portrait? It is because the darkness accents the light, it enhances the beauty by adding contrast and depth. It is the shadows, the trials, and the struggle that provides the character to a painting, the soul to literature, and the passion in poetry. It is the sacrifice that provides the back drop to the passion of the gospel.

Jesus tells his disciples that the religious establishment will reject him, curse his very existence, and try to divide the people from him as far as they possibly could. Imagine yourself hearing this announcement for the very first time. Hearing that everything that you thought you stood for would ultimately come to an abrupt and painfully bloody end. Every disciple of Jesus saw him as being the anointed messiah. This title held with it a preconceived idea. Visions of vast kingdoms, immense wealth, prosperity beyond the wildest imaginations of a finite mind. They envisioned the messiah as being a king that not only was equal to the greatness of Solomon but would advance well beyond. To get just a glimpse of the power that Solomon had one must really look into the pages of history. Israel has always been at the center of, and at the cross roads of empires. It has spent its entire existence as the disputed land between empires, because it is this land that divides the east and the west. It is Israel that sits on the most efficient route over land that made it possible for the riches of India to make their way to Egypt. This route allowed the merchants a route that did not require the threats of dehydration in the windblown sands of deserts or the uncertainty of travel overseas. Those that controlled the highway controlled the world. Solomon in his greatness was able to manage trade beyond the abilities of empires three times his size, but those that could not manage trade between empires fell victim to the powers of others. But Solomon was also a product of time. During his reign the empires to the east were weak, and the ruler of Egypt was also not in a position of power. Solomon filled the gaps between and allowed Israel to become more than just a tendon in the great body of humanity.

The view of the masses and the disciples did not have the knowledge to see the larger picture. They saw the greatness of Solomon as being the goal, but did not see that Israel’s greatness was not empirical rule but in its connectivity. Abrahams promise was not to become the father of a nation but the father of nations. Connecting and uniting the empires of the world, and giving them a hub from which they could revolve.

The disciples did not see it this way. The religious leaders did not see the place and purpose of Israel in this manner. They wanted to be the center but not as the unifier of humanity, instead they wanted to be the dictator or the seat of power. But power only comes from knowing one’s place and purpose.

The religious leaders were posturing to assassinate their rival, for what reasons? He challenged their understanding of who they were and what their position in life was. The disciples, namely Peter, directly challenged Jesus saying in other expressions of this story, “God Forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” Jesus’ response was, “Get behind me Satan.”

I want us to consider this for a moment. What if everything we think we know about God, everything we think we know about Jesus, and the Spirit, what if everything we think we know about ourselves and the world we live in is wrong? Charles Shultz depicted this in his Peanut’s comic strip where Snoopy says that he has the best title for a theology book he is endeavoring to write, “Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong?” We could be very zealous for the Lord and yet be totally wrong. We could have every check mark in every box, and have totally missed the point. We could have the most well thought out systematic theological paradigm and be as far from the truth as the ancient Gentiles. Jesus may be saying to our certainties, “Get behind me Satan.” Do you see the layers the contrasts and the highlights coming into view?

During the first century the religious leaders had in their minds that the Messiah would fit their carefully and meticulously crafted theologies, yet they were wrong. The disciples that had left everything they knew to follow Jesus, thinking they were in the court of the next great kingdom of Israel were wrong. Totally wrong, so wrong that they were not even in the same book let alone on the same page. They were reading the gospel not through the eyes of God but through the eyes of the deceiver. How exactly can we be so certain? Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong?

I am not saying that the pursuit of knowledge is a sinful pursuit. I am not saying that the study of theology is something of Satan, what I am saying is that these things should be engaged not as an absolute, but as an ever growing conversation that are layered and built upon with each individual that has entered into the conversation. That at the very center there must remain the guarded reality that we might be wrong and that we must be open to the possibility of learning something new.

If we may never truly know for certain the fullness of truth, where do we place our faith? How can we live our lives? Where exactly do we stand and can we stand for anything? This is where the beauty of this passage comes into play. Jesus says to the people, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”

When the leaders of the people came to Jesus and asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus answered them, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NRSV) We can stand on these two commandments. If all of our posturing and all of our energy and debate is focused on these two things then the focus we can stand firm.

Every theological stance must hinge on these two commands, every action and stance of every issue must consider these two factors, every word we utter should be pregnant with these two very important teachings. Love God, Love Mankind. If we are certain of something but it does not include within the theory love for God and love for mankind it is not worthy of our energy. If it weight more heavily on one side or the other we have missed the point, and if it does not elevate all equally we have probably skewed the truth in some way.

Jesus says that if we want to call ourselves his followers we must put these things in to action to such a degree that we would sacrifice our very existence for the hope that someone else might know the truth. He did not say this lightly. This is not just colorful words expressing metaphorical abstract ideas. He is literally saying, if you want to be my follower you must be willing to suffer the most excruciating pain not for yourself but for those people that may not agree with you. Why?

We live our lives toiling away trying to get ahead in life, we amass wealth, we try our hardest to get whatever we can get through whatever means we can (hopefully legally) but no matter how much wealth you have there will be a day you will spend every last dime and more for just one more day of life. And the sad reality is that all the wealth in the world can only extend the inevitable. We are dust in the wind, a life lived for selfishness will still end in dust. What is the alternative? What if instead of pursuing the wealth of man we were to bear the cross of Christ and give everything we had so that others could hear the gospel? What if each of us lived our lives so that others might live? What would we see happen? Again the layers of the ages begin to show the depths of this passage. There were times where people did live like this. Though every person told them they were crazy. People like the apostles left secure careers and faced certain death to take the gospel of Christ to the edges of the known world. People like St. Patrick, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, George Fox, William Penn, Brad Carpenter, Kathryn Linville, and Kathi Perry all left the relative safety and security of a known life to take the message of Jesus out into the world with little regard to their own comfort and in some cases the comfort of their families. Some left great wealth to live a life where they gave away everything including the very clothing on their backs. Some aspired to be great warriors for God participating in a Holy Crusade only to find their true calling was found living a life totally opposite from the direction they originally walked. Some spent their last dime on the hope that others could live within a land devoted to two commandment of loving God and Loving mankind. What exactly do the sacrifice of these men and women show? Their very lives and sacrifices bring depth and color to an ever changing and growing portrait of humanity. They take up the cross and face whatever challenges that presents them not for themselves but for the sake of others and the extension of the Gospel of Christ.

They lose their lives for the Gospel but what have they gained? What profit is there for such a sacrifice? Do they now live in a kingdom surpassing the wealth of Solomon? Do they live at ease? No but in every case they have left in their wake a movement that reaches throughout time that encourages and unites all of humanity to one central hub, a hub that revolves around two simple commandments Love God and Love mankind.

Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God to earth, but it did not look the way that everyone thought it should, because the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of man. God created the world and announced that it was very good. It was perfect everything worked together for the mutual benefit of everything else. The plants fed the animals and mankind tended the plants, while God walked with them in the cool of the evenings. The perfection that God created was blemished by the desires of man to make themselves equal to God, thinking that maybe God was holding back and that there was more to be had. This selfishness cost them life and relationship. In their selfish pursuits they brought in death and all that they live for will end in dust. Throughout history God encouraged a realignment of perspective telling us that our pursuits should focus on two simple things loving God and loving others, we would get it for a while but then we would again get our attention diverted. Jesus came to redeem, to restore the kingdom that God created in the beginning. He came to realign man’s perspective yet again. Telling us that God loves us. And that God is willing to give all he has for us.

As we enter this time of open worship and communion as friends I encourage us all to consider Snoopy’s theology book, “have you ever considered that you might be wrong.” Consider where the areas of certainty in life are falling and if they are fully devoted to the only two commands that hold true power in the Kingdom of God. And if your actions are speaking the gospel to those that may have a differing perspective. Israel though they were at the center of the ancient world and are still in many ways at the center of our contemporary world, are not there for power and dominion over but are there uniting the east and the west. Connecting the empires as the world turns and through whom connecting the kingdoms of the world to God. Love God and Love man, beyond that you might be wrong.

https://secure.piryx.com/donate/nlcsJT87/Willow-Creek-Friends-Church/

The Power of the Humanity of Jesus (Sermon February 22, 2015)

Mark 1:9–15 (NRSV)

Artist:
Jason Hawn
Medicine Hat, AB Canada
January 26th, 2012
Mixed Media
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/temptation-of-christ-jason-hawn.html

The Baptism of Jesus

(Mt 3:13–17; Lk 3:21–22; Jn 1:29–34)

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

(Mt 4:1–11; Lk 4:1–13)

¹² And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³ He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

(Mt 4:12–17; Lk 4:14–15)

¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵ and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

So many people stay away from the church because they feel they are not good enough to attend. There is a bad attitude or maybe an area within their life that they do not feel is acceptable within church circles. The sad reality is that they have that thought because somewhere along their journey through life they experienced or witnessed some sort of rejection based on these very things. I am not saying that they are right to feel those feelings, in fact they are wrong, but I am not letting the church off either because it is wrong to reject someone for being human.

That is really the issue, people do not feel they can attend worship because they are human. They feel as if they need to be some sort of saint to attend a meeting for worship and if they are not a saint that something terrible will happen. And something terrible could happen. Or something amazing might happen. They may meet with people that demand perfection or they might meet a group that is authentic and understand where they are coming from. They may be judged or they may be accepted. They may be rejected or they just might find a place that is willing to see beyond the stains of life and see person within.

When we read this passage of scripture most people will get hung up on the baptism of Jesus and start theorizing about the dogmatic of this sacrament. But I want us to look beyond the mere actions in the passage and see deeper within the passage. I want us to see the humanity of our God. The personhood of Jesus.

Too often we can focus solely on the divinity of Christ that we sometimes forget that he is also human. Fully saturated with the desires, needs, and problems that each of us as humans face. We rarely think that Jesus required the occasional bath, or the possibility that he might have body odor. We forget that he required food, but we are reminded that he did rest. Jesus is and will always be fully human.

Does this diminish the power of Jesus in our eyes? Does this reduce the value and dignity of God? Does this fact cause any one of us to question the authenticity of our faith in comparison to the faiths of other major religions? I think not. The humanity of Christ is all the difference. The humanity of Christ is what give our faith more power than every other faith around. Because our God knows who we are and what we struggle with.

Jesus went to be baptized. Often we see this as the rite of passage into a faith community we see that Jesus was baptized so we too ought to be baptized…unless you are a Quaker because we dry clean. But what this action is showing is that Jesus was fully human. Jesus went to John to be baptized because that is what the community was doing.  Jesus had to be baptized, not to promote a new religious rite of passage but to meet the community where they were. Jesus began his ministry by joining into the cultural conversation with those around John. Jesus entered the waters to become and engage the community in which he lived.

Imagine for a moment what would have happened if Jesus would not have entered the waters with John? If Jesus would have just walked into the community and began to teach there would have been a division among the people. Immediately the Gospel would have been divided. There would be disciples of John and disciples of Jesus. These disciples would then engage in debates over who was right and who was wrong. Though both John and Jesus were working toward the same goal, humanity would have been split. It was the baptism of Jesus that united and tied the message of John to that of Jesus. What John taught was that all have sinned, not one person is righteous enough to enter into the promised-land on their own merit, and they should repent and be cleansed of their sinfulness before they can enter the holy land promised to their ancestors. This is a crazy message especially when you consider this is coming from a son of a temple priest. John was just the beginning, John said that you need to repent, Jesus then showed us which direction to walk. Jesus united the ministries and became part of the community. Jesus identified with his humanity and this is what pleased the Father. This is why the voice spoke from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The Father is pleased because Jesus became a member of the community. He is pleased because Jesus was able to bridge the gap between the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of man. He did this by identifying with the struggles of humanity.

“Immediately Jesus was lead out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.” Jesus joins into the conversation with the community but that was not enough. Jesus was sinless, it is difficult to identify with people if you are perfect, or even if you are perceived to be perfect. There is a reason that every gospel writer includes the temptations of Jesus within their text, because it is through the struggle that people identify with others. It is the struggle that gives our lives depth and begin to shape our character, it is the struggles that we overcome that give our story power to inspire others to take steps of faith toward God. It is this struggle that Jesus faced out in the wild lands that allowed the people in the community to listen.

All too often we do not want to mention the struggles in our lives, because we perceive them to be signs of weakness. Why would a righteous person ever want to admit that they may struggle with issues of purity? If we are unable to admit that we struggle we live a lie, and people see through the lies. They see us as fake inauthentic hypocrites. The self-righteous always drive people away. They have driven people away from the dawn of time, but authentic people attract. Jesus was authentic. He admitted that he struggled with temptation, yet he did not sin.

It is not wrong to be tempted. In fact if we are not tempted there might be a problem. Because when we are able to identify that there is a struggle in our lives that means that we are at least engaged enough to recognize that we are making choices between right and wrong, good or evil. If we are never tempted that can only mean that we are living a life consumed by our own desires. Temptation is a sign of spiritual health, not sinfulness. Jesus was tempted, in the other gospels we are given a synopsis of what those temptations Jesus had to overcome. The first was the temptation to use his power to turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. The second he was taken to the top of the temple and asked to jump off because the angels would not allow him to be harmed. And during the third he was taken to a great height to see all the kingdoms of the world and was offered dominion of all he could see if only he would submit to Satan. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted but did not sin. Which causes me to wonder, because I have never been tempted with world domination so how can Jesus really understand my personal plight?

To understand Jesus’ temptation we must first know what temptation really is. Temptation, according to Webster’s dictionary, is a strong urge or desire to have or to do something. This does not quite cover everything though, if all temptation was is a strong urge or desire then why would there be such a negative connotation to the word? Temptation more fully is defined as a strong personal urge or desire to have or do something at the expense of others. Temptation is the desire of self-gratification with the cost of damaging relationships with others. So yes Jesus was tempted in every way that I have been tempted and more. He was tempted because his desires were greater than the desires that I have. His influence is greater than the influence I have.

He was tempted to use his abilities satisfy his needs. Every day we are all faced with needs. We need to eat, we need shelter, and we need clean air and water. At times, we may not be able to afford to satisfy all those needs to our desires. This is where temptation comes into play. For example I work in a store that is filled with food, and there are times where I do not have a pocket full of money. I am willing to admit that there have been times where I have been tempted to just take food and eat it. It is well within my abilities to carry a handful of food into my office and eat. But to do so has a cost. I could lose my job, if I were to just take the food I could cause others to lose their jobs, and I would ultimate limit the ability of my store to provide a jobs in the community. Yet I have the ability, I have a need, why should I limit myself to only eating what I can afford? Jesus was tempted to satisfy his needs.

Jesus was also tempted to take unwise risks. Jump from the top of a building God will save you. I can honestly say I have never been tempted to jump off anything other than the top of the stairs in superman pajamas. But I have been tempted to take risks. Our culture thrives on risk takers. We have casinos preying on people willing to take a risk. Risk can be a temptation, but it becomes sin if we enter into a risk without wisdom. Yes I have risked a lot, and yes at times I have made sinful risks where I have shaken my fists at God demanding that he would not let it fail, many of those risks have been made with the greatest of intentions. But why are we taking the risk? Is it for personal gain, or is it for the greater good of our community? I am not saying it is wrong to take a risk to start a business because every business has potential to provide for the community, but if we are only starting the business to make a lot of money for ourselves I will begin to question the intentions of the risk. Jesus was tempted not only to test God, but to gain the trust of the community through signs of power. If he were to jump from the temple and land unharmed everyone would flock to him, but where is the relationship? Risk for profit and not community.

The third was world domination. If only Jesus would worship the deceiver he could have all the kingdoms of the world. He could have control of everything without having to sacrifice anything. I say that I have never been tempted with world domination but yes I have been tempted to gain something without sacrifice. Every single one of us have been tempted with this. It is the draw of pornography, it is the hope of the lottery, or the desire of masses. To get something for nothing. Yes Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted. Jesus was tempted because he is fully human.

This is important because he knows where we are he knows our struggle yet he did not sin. He is fully human yet fully God. He came to us to be saturated in our humanness so that He could lift us up to his righteousness. Jesus our God knows what it is like to be human. So we through Jesus have the power over our temptations. We have the power to use our desire for something other than selfish gratification to benefit and grow the kingdom of God. We have power over the world because our God gives us that power, he showed us how to use it, and where to focus it.

The world is powerless in the face of God because all the world has is fear, hate, and death. With Christ we have something greater faith, hope, and love and beyond that resurrection and life. Perfect love cast out fear, faith overcomes hate, and hope resurrection and life conquers death. Why then do we fear? We have the power to overcome the greatest powers the world can use against us, with the power of Christ. Yet so often we ourselves live bound by the powers of the world. We leave the people standing out in the darkness because we ourselves are too afraid to let God empower us. So we demand perfection instead of loving the person. We judge the sin instead of encouraging humanity. We like the world wish to divide and conquer but we are powerless. Until we repent and believe. Unless we embrace and love.

The Kingdom of God is all around us. It is right here in this building, at our jobs, in our neighborhoods. And God is ready to let us see just how vast His kingdom is if we are only willing to turn from ourselves and let Him work through us. If we are willing to believe enough to entrust all we have and risk our lives to his care, which really is not much of a risk since we know that he can conquer the greatest tool and weapon the world has against us, death. We harness this power when we gather to worship, withdraw to prayer, and go out in service. We harness the power that can raise the dead if we commit our lives to loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, living the love of Christ with others. There is nothing that can over-come that power, but are we willing to let it flow through us?