Learning to Follow: Who Will You Be?

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”

Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”

After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”

Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”

Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”

Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

Now when Jesus heard that John was arrested, he went to Galilee. He left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum, which lies alongside the sea in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled what Isaiah the prophet said:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

        alongside the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,

    the people who lived in the dark have seen a great light,

        and a light has come upon those who lived in the region and in shadow of death.

From that time Jesus began to announce, “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” --Matthew 3:1-17, 4:1-17 (CEB)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Creator and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have you ever heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls? If so, what do you know about them? (Sidenote: Did you know that one of the fragments left behind includes language that suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married?) 

It is believed that these scrolls belonged to the Essenes. The Essenes were a Jewish sect that arose around during the time we call the Second Temple period in Judaism - that time between the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament. During this time, there was a growing belief that a Messiah would come to overthrow Israel’s foreign occupation and install a period of peace. The Essenes held this belief. They lived an ascetic lifestyle in a remote wilderness area. They believed the apocalypse was imminent and that, when it came, it would begin a new time. A new Messianic age. This age was to be characterized by repentance for Israel. A call to turn back. To turn back to God so that this new time might be ushered in. 

John the Baptizer, it is believed, was an Essene. As he preached this repentance - this call for Israel to turn back to God - as he preached this on the margins of the centers of power - on the outskirts of Jerusalem, he picked up a large following, many of them coming from Jerusalem and surrounding regions. That the Pharisees and Sadducees show up in the story, in this liminal space near the Jordan where John is preaching, says something. And, from their perspective, it is not something good. But from the perspective of John the Baptizer - his place at the margins sets the stage for Jesus to enter into this same liminal space. 

You may wonder why we today have juxtaposed this story of Jesus’ baptism with that of his wilderness temptation. Too often in our reading of scripture and, especially in our lectionary texts, we treat each story as unique and set apart. But, the truth is that they are all connected. As John is baptizing Jesus the heavens open. This same word is used in Isaiah and Ezekiel to suggest that the heavens open to reveal God’s purpose. That purpose is to be found in Jesus. God’s Son. The Beloved One. The visible manifestation of God in the world. In human flesh and blood. 

But, then. And “then” is exactly the word that is used to begin our second story from Matthew. But, then, that same Spirit that descended and gently rested on Jesus - that same Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus, like John, moves into that liminal space. For 40 days. Like Israel wandering for 40 years. For a purpose. To inaugurate - or birth - a new age of God. 

It is there, in the wilderness, where Jesus meets Satan. 

In the Hebrew Bible, Satan is not really an evil figure, more like a prosecutor on the heavenly council. But, once again in the Second Temple period, the concept of Satan - like that of Messiah - develops further. Satan became a more powerful figure. An adversarial one. The personification of evil. The leader of demons acting in direct opposition to the kingdom of God. Yet, even in this dichotomy of good and evil, God was still seen as being fully in charge of history. 

We see this in the story of Jesus’ temptation. Satan is a wily character, using scripture in a way to deceive. Offering Jesus authority over all the kingdoms of the world - as if Satan actually has ownership and control over all the kingdoms of the world. 

But, the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for one reason. One primary reason. It is to show that One and One only has dominion over all the kingdoms of the world. That One is God, visibly manifested in Jesus. This is who Jesus is - the kind of ruler Jesus is. 

 

But, Matthew also wants us to know what kind of ruler Jesus isn’t. When given the “opportunity” to prove his special status, Jesus demonstrates restraint. He doesn’t use his power to satisfy his own appetite or to prove his invincibility. Neither does he seize on the opportunity to acquire all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor by worshiping Satan. Why? Because Jesus is faithful to God. And because this ruler - this Messianic One who will fulfill Israel’s hopes, perhaps not in the way they anticipate - does not rule with unbridled appetites, arrogance, or tyranny.

You and I. We, like Jesus, are also called to be the visible manifestation of God in this place and time, called and baptized as Jesus was. God looks at us through him and says, “You. You are my beloved.” And when we turn away, when we stray, when we get lost, God calls us into repentance, that turning back to God. Where once again, we are reminded of whose we are and how we are to live.

And then. Because even as God’s called people, we are not immune from times in the wilderness. Then, when we find ourselves in the midst of the wilderness, tempted by pride. Desiring power over others. Wishing for more and more - for all the possessions of the world. It is there, in those wilderness times, that we are faced with our own questions of identity. Who are we? What does it mean to be a baptized child of God? And how will we live into this identity? When life is hard, it is when our baptismal identity is the most challenged. How will we respond when we are stressed, overtired, anxious, angry, despondent, hurt? Or when our communities face threats - whether internal, or external? Who will we be? Really?

We look to Jesus for that example of how we are to be the visible manifestations of God in the world. Jesus shows us that it is when our lives are most difficult that we choose who we will be. Like Jesus, we will be hungry. We will have times when we are tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness. We will be tempted to reach for power, rather than to live the life of a servant. It is in the wilderness where we will be tested. And transformed.

To live into our baptismal identity - to live as a child of God in the world - we must serve God, even when things are hard. This is when we choose just what it means to be a child of God.

“If you are the Son of God,” Satan challenges Jesus. And us. 

If you are a child of God, who will you be?  

Preached Sunday, January 15, 2023, at Grace & Glory Lutheran, Prospect, with Third Lutheran, Louisville.

Second Sunday after Epiphany

Readings: Matthew 3:1-17, Matthew 4:1-17

 

Not the Same Anymore: The Liminal Places

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. Acts 1:6-14 (NRSV)

Grace and peace to you from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Over these weeks of Easter, I’ve spent each Sunday preaching on our readings from the book of Acts--which we often call the second half of Luke’s Gospel. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the activity of the early church and, particularly, of God’s activity in the early church as narrated in Acts. It is activity that shows us just how intrusive God is. After the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus ascends to heaven, returning to sit at the right hand of God and to retain the same power and authority as the Father--it is after all of this has happened, that we have seen how, over and over, God continues to intrude into the world and to disrupt it by spreading the Good News.  

We have also seen how the people we’ve met in Acts have found themselves challenged by simply trying to keep pace with God. That sometimes--often--it is only in hindsight that the early Christians can even begin to make sense of the work God is doing. That only by looking backwards can they begin to see God at work building God’s kingdom on earth.

We saw, as we walked with the church, in its early days, that everything was held in common. No want, no need, no one considered an “other.” We also saw, as we continued that journey with the early church, that things began to fall apart. That, particularly, things seemed to come crumbling down with the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. The first of many. 

We’ve travelled far with the early church. With our intrusive God. With the disruptive Gospel. But today, we are moving backwards in time. We are stepping back in time to the point before the ascension. Back to the days after Jesus’ resurrection.

As our Acts story begins today, Jesus has been with the disciples for forty days since he rose from the dead. In the verses that precede our text, we read ithat, after his suffering, Jesus presented himself alive to the disciples by many convincing proofs and appeared to them during that 40-day period, speaking to them about the coming kingdom of God and directing them to remain in Jerusalem until they would be showered with the Holy Spirit. 

It is here that our story today begins. And it just continues to amuse (and, yes, frustrate) me that, even after all the disciples have witnessed, after all of the things that Jesus has taught them, after everything they have been through, they still just don’t quite get it. After all of it, they still ask, “Is it now, Lord? Now will you restore the kingdom to Israel?” Still looking for that all-powerful Messiah to restore Israel and to restore their earthly power. They just don’t get it.

Jesus’ response is simply that it is not their place to know. That it is God, and not them, who is the one here with power and authority. That it is God who is the one who sets the times or periods of history, not them. Not as much as they would like to.

Then, shortly after saying this, Jesus is gone from them. Ascended up into heaven. Leaving them, seemingly, alone. And on their own.


This past week, I think most of you know that I was attending a conference in San Antonio, Texas. It was a Festival of Homiletics. (Homiletics is just a fancy word for preaching.) The festival consisted of five glorious days of preaching! (I can see how excited that makes all of you!) Five days spent with nearly 2,000 preachers from across the U.S. and Canada, listening to about 3 sermons and 2 lectures each day from some of the biggest and best preachers across the United States. For me, at least, it really was glorious. 

Yet, one of the oddest lectures I listened to was that presented by Jennifer Lord, who is a professor of preaching and liturgical studies at the Austin Presbyterian Seminary. The title of her lecture was “Way In and a Way Out: Preaching and Liminality in a Culture of Change.” Sound scintillating? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. But, since I was already in that particular venue and since it was hot outside and the other venue was about 10 blocks away, I decided to stay.

It was a pretty theoretical lecture. It felt a little over my head and, to be honest, I couldn’t really get the relevance of the topic she was presenting to preaching. So, after about 30 minutes of listening to her lecture on liminality and liminal places, I left. And I moved to the other venue to catch the second half of another, more dynamic, speaker.

Since then, though, the concept of liminality has popped up in several places--in readings and in a couple of programs I’ve watched over the past few days. In fact, it has kind of been in my face. Have you ever had something like that happen--when you dismiss a possibility and it just keeps coming back, again and again?

So, I decided to do a little more research on liminality. I found out that the concept of liminality was first developed in the early 20th century. It was first used in anthropology in the area of ritual studies. More recently, usage of the term has been expanded to include political and cultural places. 

Liminality, or liminal places, are those places in-between, places of transition. They are places in which those involved are standing at the threshold of something new. That place where there’s no going back, but you can’t go forward, at least not yet. Liminal places are those places where the old places begin to be dissolved and transformed into something new.

Many of us experience such liminal places in our lives. When something dramatic happens to in one’s life to change things, but the transition to a new place takes time. Such as the time in between the loss of a loved one and the new life that eventually comes forth. Or the time in between the diagnosis of a serious illness and the eventual result--either positive or negative--of such a diagnosis.

The disciples were in such a liminal place. Jesus had ascended and left them. But not before he directed them to remain in Jerusalem until his promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon them would be fulfilled. There was no going back. And, yet, there was no going forward. The women and men who had dedicated months and years of their lives were in transition, waiting for God’s next move. Waiting for God to intrude. And, as they waited together at this point of liminality, they devoted themselves to prayer.

I wonder if we would do the same. How often is it that we like to believe that we understand the grand pattern of history. That we are in control. That we know how God is at work in our world, how God is moving God’s kingdom forward. 

When we play this game, it is a dangerous one. It is nothing other than self-serving. There are no end of empires, theologies, churches or governments who claim that history is on their side. It is way too common in our own political discourse here in the United States, as we flip back and forth between the hope in some kind of messianic leader who will save our country or our panic from some kind of perceived armageddon. 

Claiming to know the pattern of history, to know how God is moving the world forward throughout history, doesn’t reflect faith in God, but faith in oneself and solely in one’s wholly inadequate knowledge of the pattern of history. 

In Jesus’ parting words, there are absolutely no hints about the course of history--whether for the disciples or for us. Yet, the disciples, in their liminal place, in their place of transition, knowing they can never return to where they were, yet, not yet fully knowing the way forward, are driven back to a familiar place, to simply pray, to be together, and to wait. To wait for their intrusive God to break in and to move forward. And, then to hold on as the Spirit would push them forward out of their liminal space into new experiences, into new places, into new lives.

We, too, here at Grace and Glory are in our own liminal place. Trying to figure out where we go next, to understand what God intends for us, or how God intends to take us there. Just what it is God has in store for Grace and Glory Lutheran Church. 

So, just like the early disciples, we wait and pray. We pray for the Holy Spirit and we wait for God to push us forward into those new places, into those new experiences, and into the new lives where we will never be the same anymore.

It will happen. Just as it happened for the disciples, it will happen for us. In God’s time. Not ours. And that is simply enough.

May God grant it in God’s time. Amen.

Preached May 28, 2017, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11