"Faithfulness On The Baptismal Journey" February 25, 2007 Lent 1

(First read the text for this sermon: Luke 4:1-3)

Jesus had a strange idea of what it meant to be the messiah. It was strange, at least, compared to what most people expected. Major portions of Hebrew prophecy had led God’s people to expect the messiah to be a political/military leader who would free God’s people from oppression, and who would restore Israel as a strong and powerful nation, as it had been for a very short period of time under King David. Other sections of Hebrew prophecy had led God’s people to expect that, when the messiah appeared, there would be unmistakable and astonishing signs of salvation on earth, for instance that:

The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (Isaiah 11:7)

And that human beings:

shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:4)

Did Jesus fulfill any of those sensational expectations of who the messiah would be and what he would do? No! Not a single one! In fact, in the gospel stories, whenever Jesus does anything extraordinary, he wants to keep that quiet! “Don’t tell anyone,” he is all the time saying to his disciples, when he performs a miraculous healing, or appears, transfigured on a mountain top. (Of course, the word gets out anyway, and Jesus is unable to keep a low profile, and the religious leaders respond to that by wanting to kill him.)

We could say that, in this morning’s passage, Jesus is tempted to be sensational! He resists each temptation. Doesn’t that surprise you? Don’t you think it would help Jesus’ cause if he would perform the kind of breathtaking deeds that would get him on the cover of People magazine?

The first temptation for Jesus arises from his physical hunger. The devil tempts Jesus to be sensationally self-centered, urging him to “command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” But Jesus resists the temptation. If he gives in to his self-centeredness, he would not be faithful to the Father. Jesus would not be faithful to the kind of messiah he was called to be. For Jesus, it’s a question of faithfulness on his journey to Jerusalem.

Next, the devil tempts Jesus to sensational political power and authority over all the kingdoms of the world. All Jesus needs to do is to worship the devil as a higher power than the Father. Obviously, Jesus must resist that temptation to receive such sensational authority. The pre-condition would cause him to be unfaithful to the Father. Jesus would not be faithful to the kind of messiah he was called to be. For Jesus, it’s a question of faithfulness on his journey to Jerusalem.

Finally, the devil takes Jesus to the very city of Jerusalem – where Jesus will die. The devil tempts Jesus to go ahead (already, in this fourth chapter of Luke’s story), to put himself in sensational physical danger, to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple, so that he can be rescued in a dramatic way by the holy angels who would certainly be sent. But Jesus resists this temptation too. If he gives into it, he would not be faithful to the Father. Jesus would not be faithful to the kind of messiah he was called to be. For Jesus, it’s a question of faithfulness on his journey to Jerusalem.

Faithfulness on the journey. This journey is not Jesus’ alone. You and I are called to be faithful on the same journey. It is the baptismal journey.

That’s what we see when we pay attention to how this story begins. We read, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan … Remember what had happened at the Jordan river? That’s where Jesus had just been baptized. That’s when he had been called to his work, when he had been given his ministry. We read in the story in Luke: 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 3:21-22) That’s early in the gospel of Luke; in only the third chapter. The rest of the stories in the gospel describe Jesus’ faithfulness to his call from the Father – to be messiah in a way entirely unexpected, right up to a shocking death on a cross.

You and I are called to be faithful on our own baptismal journeys. Hopefully, you and I will not suffer as Jesus did, as a result of our faithfulness! But we might. For you and me it is the same question of faithfulness on the journey, in the midst of daily temptations to be other than what God calls us to be.

For Jesus, the temptations took place at the most dangerous moment. As the story begins, we read, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, … The wilderness is where life is most challenging and confusing and even hostile. The wilderness is uncharted territory. It is desert. It is where the demons are.

For you and me, the wilderness might be three o’clock in the morning, when we’re lying awake, full of anxiety. For you and me, the desert might be when we’re bored and unfulfilled by the work we’re doing. The wilderness could be when you’re grieving, or when you’re wounded. What is your path of faithfulness? What is your call?

One of the reasons why I love my conversations with college students is because they are so actively listening and discerning what work God is calling them to do. Their journeys began when they were baptized, but now they are striking out as adults, and they are desiring to be faithful.

But it is not true that we are called to the work God gives us to do only once, when we are young. The circumstances of our lives change. Relationships are broken, by death or by conflict. Occupations change, either by our own initiative or by others’. We are sent into harm’s way through military service. We retire and encounter the opportunity to give our time to new activities and ministries. A loved one faces serious illness, or we do ourselves. All along the journey, circumstances change. Needs present themselves. And we discover gifts from God we never knew we had.

And yet, all along the journey, we are tempted to turn away from the God who yearns to love us and to shower us with grace and to welcome our response of faithfulness.

The season of Lent reminds us that we are on the baptismal journey. Our baptisms are our commission for our ministries, and our ministries become visible in distinctive ways: the way we treat others and ourselves with grace and kindness; the way we practice generosity and forgiveness towards others and ourselves; the way we care for the poor and work for justice; the way our lives are marked by a healthy humility, in the knowledge that we are entirely dependent upon God’s grace.

When we live in those ways, others see that. It’s so counter-cultural! We become witnesses for the way of Jesus, following the model he set out for us, as messiah. And we live as the people God created us to be, living faithfully on the baptismal journey.

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia