Year A - Lent 5 - March 29, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders, III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, Tennessee

Year A - Lent 5 - March 29, 2020

• Ezekiel 37:1-14
• Romans 8:6-11
• John 11:1-45
• Psalm 130

When I hear the lesson from the Gospel about the story of the raising of Lazarus, it always strikes me as a story with many layers… Layers of the actions of the disciples and the action of Jesus… the tension of Jesus’ humanity and divinity… and probably the most apparent to us in this day and time… the layer of grief.

The grief over the loss of a brother and friend… grief that causes Jesus to have a visceral human reaction as he is deeply moved by the spirit. Brothers and sisters, we are grieving… We are grieving not being able to gather together, isolated in our homes, being removed from the normal rhythms of our life.

This Pandemic continues to take its toll on us, yet we are creative enough to continue to gather as we should. It may feel a little strange, and maybe a little unsatisfying, but we are still praying together... still trying to give God the glory. Jesus says that he will use the illness of his friend Lazarus to give God the glory.  

We know that God is glorified through Jesus in the most unexpected of situations. Why should this one be any different? The situation with Lazarus becomes a vehicle for that glorification, and the opportunity for the disciples to fall into a deeper belief.

We know that Lazarus is the brother of Mary & Martha, and he is sick. Jesus doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get to them after they receive the message and stayed back for 2 days. All of a sudden, Jesus is ready to go to Judea again. The disciples are quick to remind him that the Jews were ready to stone him the last time he was there.

Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus has died, and implies that he will use this death to help them believe. Thomas still doesn’t understand but appears to be thinking about Jews that are ready to stone Jesus. He tells the other disciples, “let’s go and die with him.” Thomas is ready to go... to follow Jesus, regardless of the consequences.

Jesus has spent practically the whole 10th chapter of John narrowly escaping the ones that want to kill him. But Today, Jesus is ready to go back into the danger zone for the chance to use the death of his friend to glorify God. Even in his deep grief, Jesus is ready to take the risk to help his followers believe.

But Jesus isn’t the only one who is grieving… Mary and Martha are devastated that their brother, Lazarus, has died. So much grief that they lash out at Jesus, saying that if he had only been there, their brother would not have died. Jesus tries to assure the sisters, that if they believe that they would see the glory of God.

Most of the folks recognize that Jesus himself is crying… and have compassion for him in his grief... But it seems like many in the story question Jesus' ability to reveal the glory of God… Some of them said things like, “couldn’t he who gave sight to the blind man have kept this man from dying…”

Once they get to the tomb, Jesus requested that the stone be rolled away. Martha is concerned because Lazarus has been dead for 4 days… and there would already be an odor as the body was beginning to decay… Nonetheless, the stone is removed and after Jesus prays, he calls Lazarus forth in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

And the dead man comes out with his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus tells the folks who have just witnessed this display of God’s glory to unbind Lazarus and let him go. Lazarus, once bound in the confines of the tomb, is freed to be a living testimony to the power of God.

Many who were there, who witnessed this miraculous act believed that Jesus was the Son of God… the one coming into the world. We can assume that Lazarus was never the same after that encounter with Jesus… Nothing can ever be the same for anyone who has an encounter with Jesus…

It’s been said by scholars that several events occurred which led to the crucifixion of Jesus… This story is one of the major turning points, as Jesus and his followers head toward Jerusalem… Head toward Jerusalem to encounter more confrontation, and the torture of the cross and death… But we know that even that isn’t it… we know that the story doesn’t end there…

Ezekiel reminds us that even out of a valley of dried up bones, God can raise up the Children of Israel. Only God has the power of life and restoration… And Jesus evoked that power in the presence for all to see as Lazarus came forth from the tomb… The question for us is, “what should we do?” What does this story call us in this place and time?

Personally, I think that the secret to understanding lies with Thomas… Thomas… the one who says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Thomas acts like he would follow Jesus to the ends of the earth regardless of what they ran into. This implies a deep trust of Jesus and a belief that Jesus is who he has proven himself to be. Proof that Jesus is who the scriptures claim him to be…

Jesus told the sisters, Mary and Martha, “If you believe, you will see the glory of God.” We are in times that are changing faster than we can comprehend… We are facing things like this virus that no-one in our lifetime has ever encountered. We continue to do the things that we need to do to stay connected while being physically distant… but, we feel isolated and we are grieving… 

Yet, we learn from this story, that in our grief, Jesus grieves with us… Our faith and our trust in Jesus gives us the strength to continue to keep going… keep going through all the uncertainty and all the confusion... keep going and being creative…

We need to trust God… yes, we need to wash our hands and stay apart for now, but we need to trust God… We need to follow the advice of our medical professionals so we can take care of each other and we need to trust God…

I read this statement about trust in God from an unknown author this past week – I found it fitting:

I trust God...and I wear my seatbelt. I trust God...and I wear a motorcycle helmet. I trust God...and I use oven mitts with really hot dishes. I trust God...and I lock my house at night. I trust God...and I have smoke detectors in my house. I trust God...and I take my prescribed medicines.

If we can trust God… and be willing to follow Jesus, like Thomas, then we may actually see God glorified in this world.

Morning Prayer - Rite II

@ St. James Episcopal Church in Greeneville, TN

Year A - Lent 4 - March 22, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Greeneville, TN
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Lent 4 - March 22, 2020

• 1 Samuel 16:1-13
• Ephesians 5:8-14
• John 9:1-41
• Psalm 23

Today is different… Today we see differently… Today we act differently… Today we worship in a way that we have never worshipped together before. It’s times like this where I like to remind folks that the church is not a building… The church is not a steeple… The church is a gathering of believers… The church is a people…

We’ve figured out today that we can gather in different ways than to come together in a building... The whole restriction on large group gatherings puts a new perspective on worship attendance and participation. I want to thank those who have joined us from home today… those of you outside of your comfort zones, gathering and engaging in a new way via technology.

Today’s reading from the Gospel according to John in a familiar story about Jesus’ encounter with a blind man. The thing that jumped out at me was the pharisee’s demand for testimony about how his eyes were opened about who he thinks Jesus is… “What do you say about him?”  the Pharisees ask. 

The man who was once blind declares Jesus a prophet, the Pharisees are split and his followers continue to be dazed and amazed at Jesus’ wondrous deed. We are just coming away from chapter 8 in John when Jesus narrowly escapes being stoned to death while he was preaching in the temple. 

Jesus is on his way somewhere else and sees a blind man. This man doesn’t ask to be healed, it is Jesus’ disciples who are asking about the cause of the man’s blindness – thinking that the man had committed a grievous sin.

Sin was often associated with physical ailments… so naturally they thought that this man or his parents had committed some sort of sin. Jesus uses the opportunity to teach the disciples with the action of healing the man’s eyes.

In a very human, almost crude gesture, Jesus spits in the dirt and makes mud to apply to the man’s eyes. Then he "sends" the blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam… (which the name, Siloam, ironically enough means sent)

It is an incredible miracle. However, the Pharisees don’t get past the fact that it occurred on a Saturday and Jesus may have violated the Sabbath. Evidently, one cannot make mud from the spit on the Sabbath. The Pharisees question the man as to how his sight was restored and who did it. The strange fact to me is the blind man did not know where Jesus was (or even what he looks like), and yet the Pharisees are quick to assume some violation rendered this act of healing as not being of God because it was done on the sabbath. The scripture tells us that they were divided over the decision.

Jesus told the man, “Go and wash! Be made clean!” He sends the man to the pool of Silom (the pool of the sent) on the sabbath to wash. I feel that sometimes the gospel according to John can be referred to as a gospel of participation. Throughout John, it tells us how to participate… how to get the most out of our Christian life. 

Our first act of full participation in this Christian life is Holy Baptism. It is the initiatory rite that makes us participants with Christ in his life, death, and resurrection, and it includes us as full members of Christ’s body, the church. In the waters of baptism, we are washed and made clean.

No, it doesn’t make us bricks and mortar… but it makes us part of a living whole; part of the great mystery that helps us make sense sometimes of the craziness around us… I feel that in this reading, we are called as followers, as believers in Jesus, to wash in the waters of baptism and be made clean. When we are made clean, our eyes are then opened so that Jesus can lead the way.

After continuous questioning, (because the Pharisees are obviously not getting the answers they want) the man who was once blind says, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again?”  The continuous questioning seems to be getting on the man’s nerves. 

The Pharisees are pushing the buttons again, scheming and trying to find something that Jesus has done wrong... Something to convict him of… I have got to say that I appreciate the man’s boldness as he stands up to the religious leaders. He answers their inquiries directly, completely, and somewhat sarcastically. The whole banter following the phrase, “Here is an astonishing thing…” offers the Pharisees an irrefutable explanation of the circumstances.  

The leaders refute and claim that the man is trying to teach them (like they are beyond learning something new)... Maybe that’s part of the problem. The encounter between Jesus and the blind man is an intriguing one (then again, I think that any encounter with Jesus would always be intriguing).  

In this meeting, Jesus helps a blind man believe. But not only believe, but be made whole, and clean, to be restored... restored to the community where he belongs. The man immediately believes and worships Jesus. Claiming him to be the Son of Man.

The leaders overheard Jesus and the man talking and then fall into a conundrum with Jesus over what it means to see. We are called to see, and not necessarily with our eyes. To see what God wants of us, we need the adequate light of Jesus and we need to take the time to focus.  

Jesus is our light. During this season of lent, let him illuminate the dark places of our heart... the dark places in our lives. So we can see our real selves… The darkness is real… the darkness is fear and confusion… the darkness it’s panic and greed and selfishness... It’s all the things that we have seen played out over the past couple of weeks…

Over the past few weeks, we have heard this scripture played out… as we were told to be calm, and go and wash… If we would open our eyes to new ways and new possibilities, we may see God doing a new thing among us in this strange time… If we would let the light of Jesus shine in our life, we may be life to others that need us…

Year A - Lent 3 - March 15, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Lent 3 - March 15, 2020

• Exodus 17:1-7
• Romans 5:1-11
• John 4:5-42
• Psalm 95

I feel that I am at an impasse this morning. Stuck somewhere between the decisions to forgo gathering for worship for the next few weeks and figuring out how to continue our worship life in creative new ways. Some folks may feel that this virus stuff is a bunch of hype… and some are in fear of their life… However, if we listen to the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and The Department of Health then we know that there is no room to play.

To help curb the spread of the virus, we have been asked to suspend gathering for pubic worship to disrupt the rhythms of our life to err on the side of caution.

Friends, I feel that we are in a sort of Catch-22… If we continue to gather, and the disease spreads, then we are not loving our neighbor, and protecting the least of these. If we suspend services, then we get complaints from the folks who feel that it is all hype, and there is really nothing to worry about.

Our Christian lives are full of decisions, decisions about how we are to be followers of Jesus… of how his actions inform what we are to do with our life. 

In our Gospel story, Jesus is in the land of the Samaritans… For those of you that may not know,  Jews and Samaritans did not get along. Each thought the other was making the wrong decisions… decisions on where and how to worship, and how to live... decisions about who had the proper authority. Jesus and his followers made a decision to venture into non-Jewish territory … into Samaria.

The Jews held the Samaritans in low regard. Yet, we find Jesus in the middle of Samaria, at a place where he comes upon Jacob’s well. At the well, he meets a woman… And then Jesus does what was totally unexpected… Jesus makes the decision to speak first.

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman to give him a drink... and you would think the world would have been stood on its ear. By doing this, Jesus crosses many boundaries… social, sexual, cultural… See, in that culture, Jewish men didn’t walk around speaking randomly with unaccompanied women… especially Samaritan women.

With this decision, Jesus gets into a conversation… a conversation where he tells the woman all about her life and reveals to her his messianic identity. From that one decision to speak with the woman at the well, Jesus gained many believers in Sychar.

That makes me think deeply about the outcomes of the decisions we make on a day to day basis. Good or bad, each decision we make has consequences… sometimes we take time to evaluate those consequences and sometimes we just rush to a decision because it needs to be made quickly.

This past week, there have been some very difficult controversial decisions that needed to be made and they were made with as much information as we could gather… They were also made in consultation with many, for the benefit of many… The decision to close things down to flatten the curve and slow the spread of a virus was a difficult one…

Many dioceses and churches across the country are not gathering even today… We will not be gathering the next two Sundays as we see how this pandemic plays out. I, for one, am devastated, because worship is my lifeblood… Worship for me is the reason my heart beats. However, I know the importance of the act of physical distance to slow the spread to our most vulnerable neighbors…

This is a true way we are caring for others. a true way we are following Christ by the decisions we make. At the well, Jesus tells the woman of Samaria that he can provide “living water.” But, she misunderstands it to be the same as the water that is being drawn from the well.

The disciples arrive back from buying food in the town and immediately you would expect them to chastise both Jesus and the woman… “what do you want?” they might say to her… “why are you speaking with her?” they would say to him… But they remain silent.

Then the Samaritan woman responds by deciding to rush back to the city and tell others about this man… questioning his ability to be the messiah just because he didn’t follow the expected path and keep the cultural norms… She probably told them something like “The messiah wouldn’t actually talk to me like that, would he?” Because of her and her astounding testimony,  many of the people in the town go out to him, and they believe.

Jesus' decision was bold and crossed barriers to bring others into the realm of belief. The Samaritan woman’s response was just as courageous as she went back to town and tell her story. Her decision was to believe in his messiahship... believe in the living water… 

Our decision to follow Jesus as Lord is a courageous one. It means that we are making a conscious decision to live in the life and love of Jesus. It means that we let go of all of the other “LORDS” who have power and control over our life… and follow the path to the living water…

The water of health and restoration… the water that quenches that thirst for that which we sometimes cannot name. Jesus’ identity is revealed there at that well to a foreign woman and she and that town were forever changed. When we follow in the life and love of Jesus, we sometimes must make tough decisions… sometimes those decisions have consequences but if we are focused on doing the will of God, often those consequences lead to abundant life.

I can only hope that these next few weeks hold good results as we navigate these unknown waters and learn how to be together in new ways. But please know, we are trying to make the best decisions we can.

Year A - Lent 2 - March 8, 2020

The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Lent 2 - March 8, 2020

• Genesis 12:1-4a
• Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
• John 3:1-17
• Psalm 121

I don’t know about you, but I wonder… Did Nicodemus ever understand? Did this lawyer… Did his righteous, sober, devoutly religious man ever let go of the letter of the law… ever let go of a literal reading of the prescriptive “rules" and understand what Jesus was trying to teach him?

We all know what it means to take things literally… To know what something is because we see it written there in black and white right before our eyes. Nicodemus knew what he knew, and he knew what he saw… He knew the Torah and the 100s of Laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy... 

After all, he was a lawyer, the law was his life and he understood what his eyes could see: The miraculous signs that Jesus did… Proved to Nicodemus that Jesus has come from God and that Jesus acted in the presence of God. Nicodemus even says, “You are a teacher who has come from God,” he says to Jesus, and he continues by admitting that no one can do these signs “apart from the presence of God.”

This is a pretty powerful statement for Nicodemus to make. But, even though there it’s a question mark, a “but,” is about to follow. Why doesn’t Jesus just accept Nicodemus’ acclamation the way it is? What is it that Jesus is trying to teach this man that caused him to turn the conversation in another direction?

It's possible the Gospel writer omitted something... maybe there was much more said between them… Jesus does what Jesus always does. he always turns the conversation to what matters…

We know well, the words that Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. These words have been repeated by Christians through countless testimonies. These are possibly the words that you and I have heard; maybe from a friend or a relative…

These are words that are memorized… The citations of these words are written in great big letters and put on big poster-boards at sporting events… (JOHN 3:16)  These words have sometimes been misused and misunderstood and even taken out of context… These words have been used to exclude and criticize: God gave his only son, that we might be born again… be born from above.

How many times have we heard these words? Jesus uses these words as he points Nicodemus’ attention to the transforming power of God and to the reality of God’s kingdom. He sees that Nicodemus has the desire to see and do God’s will, and Jesus wants Nicodemus to have his heart’s desire; if he just would simply let go of what he knows as true, to understand differently…

But Nicodemus doesn’t seem to get it. He asks the literal questions: How can the old be born again How can one reenter the mother’s womb? Nicodemus is thinking of flesh, not of spirit. Jesus tries again… Jesus has come to open the door to God’s kingdom for us – to the truth and justice and love of God. He reminds Nicodemus of the baptism of repentance, of being forgiven and being born of water; Jesus reminds Nicodemus of the baptism of transformation, and what it means to be born of the Spirit.

Jesus gives Nicodemus the image of the wind that is felt but is invisible; the origin and destination of the wind are not known. Jesus teaches Nicodemus, and teaches us, that everything really is not perceived by just our five senses alone. The effects of God’s Spirit, God’s breath, (God’s mighty Ruach) that breathed life into the created order is all around us. We feel and see those effects when we are born of the Spirit.

But Nicodemus still doesn’t understand - he doesn’t get it. “How can these things be?” he asks… We continue to hear Nicodemus’ question phrased in similar ways all around us in today’s world. “How can there be a God?” “How can you call yourself a Christian when you are not born again?” “How can you claim that you believe and not read the Bible literally?” “How can you ignore what the Bible  really says?” Together with Nicodemus, we cry, “How - can - these – things – be?”

We live in an age of amazing scientific and technological advances. We are accustomed to having everything readily accessible and explained to us... Even religious desires, even the longing for God, we are told by experts, has a scientific/biological basis in the brain, and possibly our DNA. (I commend to you Francis Collins' book The Language of God.)

We are being taught that everything we think or feel depends on our bodies depends on a chemical balance or imbalance… Now, I have no doubt that the living God is in the very fabric of our DNA. After all, we are the “Imago Dei” - made in the image of God

But, we are losing the gift of mystery, the gift of (what Jesus says) being born of the Spirit. Everything in today’s remarkable story is surrounded by THAT mystery. This is what has made the story so irresistible throughout the ages, and it’s what rings true for us today…

Because of Nicodemus’ fear, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. Jesus is a man who had nowhere to lay his head, and the meeting probably took place outside, under the stars, beneath a tree, probably shortly after Jesus had laid down to sleep for the evening. A man approaches who is obviously better dressed than Jesus and his companions arrive in the night. Fear is in the air.

He is probably well known to them by sight. After all, he is a Pharisee, a lawyer, and a member of the Sanhedrin (the ones wanting to stop Jesus from preaching and teaching). He comes to reassure Jesus that he recognizes in him the gifts of God’s presence because all of the visible signs performed by him in the light of day.

And Jesus takes the man and his simple recognition and then plunges him deeper... deeper into the mystery. Nicodemus is a man who has spent his whole life studying the Law and the prophets, studying the Scriptures, and yet he still doesn’t understand.

He is too committed to what he has known until this point. He is unwilling to open his head and his heart… And he’s hearing all this talk of being born of the Spirit, of participating in God’s life through eternity, of death on the cross – All these are new concepts and he cries out, “How can these things be?”

In sorrow, Jesus says, “You are a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things?” To paraphrase Jesus: Nicodemus, Nicodemus, if you don’t believe ME, the one who has come from the Father, whom then are you going to believe? God loves you and all these friends around me, yes... God loves the whole world. And God sent me to embody and testify to that love. All you have to do is trust in this love and you can be restored to a right relationship with God... you can be delivered from death and despair.

There is much talk of spirituality in our culture. we hear friends tell us, “I am a spiritual person, but I don’t believe in God, and I don’t go to church.” Others may say, “I am a spiritual person, but I don’t believe in Jesus as the Son of God.” And there are many other variations of the same theme, in the current trend of what I call a superficial or vague spirituality. Yet here is Jesus offering us someone who visible and recognizable who embodies the Spirit of God... Jesus is offering us himself!

And unless we take the deep plunge into the mysteries of the incarnation that he offers, we, like Nicodemus, won’t understand and reject him. “How can these things be?” The answer is that these things are real because Jesus is the Christ! He is real and present with us…

He is present in this gathering, He is present in the sharing of the bread and cup. Present in our pleas, petitions, and prayers… present in our real relationships.

As Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things, and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

Nicodemus doesn’t understand… But the main thing about Nicodemus… Is that he continues to try. We can never fully know what Nicodemus was thinking as he departed from Jesus after hearing these words. The scriptures do not tell us. But, we can be sure that something within him began to turn. And then, little by little, his heart was broken open and he was born again, finding his way through darkness and doubt, into the hope for God’s purpose being worked out.

This is the second week of our Lenten journey. This week, may our hearts begin to be broken open as we are born again by a love so deep and so true, that it can only be from the transforming power of God…

Year A - Lent 1 - March 1, 2020

The Rev. Ken Saunders
St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN

Year A - Lent 1 - March 1, 2020

• Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
• Romans 5:12-19
• Matthew 4:1-11
• Psalm 32

Did you ever want something so bad? I don’t mean need… I mean WANT! Want something so bad that it hurts… As a kid, maybe you wanted the latest video game… or if you’re my age, as a kid, you wanted a new baseball glove or possibly a new doll…

Or – as we get older… the “things” become more expensive - a new car – or motorcycle or maybe the latest gadget, a new phone or possibly a new job or a promotion… or maybe a big house…

Our wants as humans make us do dumb things sometimes… They make us take shortcuts, they may make us fall deep into debt… We think they fill a void that we have as we search for something genuine - with real meaning… Our wants and desires open the door for temptations… Temptations that may seem great at first glance, that always end up those things that we regret most…

We are human after all… and without willpower against the temptations that are all around us, we are vulnerable… we are vulnerable to the tempter… That is why we need God’s help! 

On this first Sunday in the Season of Lent, we are faced with temptation… Temptation is one of those things that gets between us and God. It’s one of those things that wreck our relationship. Temptation is one of those things in this season that we are called to examine a little closer in order to make changes in the things we do as we seek to be closer to God.

We hear a lot about temptation throughout the readings this morning…  In the story from Genesis, God tells Adam and Eve that they can eat from every tree in the garden, but NOT from the tree in the center of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave them a command, but they didn’t want to hear it! After all, they were only human! And the snake said it was ok – what could it hurt? So, they ate… They put themselves first and they ate… and we all know where that got them…

In Matthew’s gospel story we hear something a bit different… We hear of Jesus, who after his baptism, was driven by the spirit into the desert wilderness (into those unsafe dark places of the wild and unruly)…  Jesus is driven out in order to focus… to fast and meditate prior to beginning his difficult ministry… 

But, even in the desert, Jesus was not free from the “tempter.”  The Greek word diabolos – that is translated as “devil” in this passage, literally means deceiver or tempter – Jesus’ story was a bit different, from our normal encounters with temptation… He is a man (fully human) that in the harshest of conditions... But even in those conditions – He is able to resist temptation.

The tempter attacks Jesus at his weakest point – in his compelling physical hunger. Jesus must eat – otherwise he will die and his mission will die with him…  and the tempter uses persuasive logic! Jesus does not say that we do not need bread, but he says that we do not live by bread alone. We must have bread – and food sustenance in order to live, but our deeper desires are satisfied only by the word of God. Jesus will provide bread, but in doing so, he will not turn his back on God. It is here, as the church, that we should remember the centrality of the word of God, and what it means to feast on Jesus.

It is a way of deepening our spiritual lives with prayer and study on the ways of Jesus… Yes, we rightly provide help to those in need – food, water, shelter, clothing, health care, hygiene – but our first duty is to be fed by the word of God because it empowers us and directs us to do what we do. It’s what makes us different… Different than any other social organization that does good works… We do these things, because we are guided by Jesus – we are guided by the word of God. It is interesting that much of Jesus’ ministry focused on feeding the hungry.

Next, Jesus is tempted to use a spectacular demonstration of power by throwing himself off the highest point in Jerusalem (the pinnacle of the temple) The tempter quotes Psalm 91 – and uses this scripture for evil purposes, insinuating to Jesus that it would be ok - after all God would protect him, and it would probably rally the people quickly as they see Jesus do this powerful act… By challenging Jesus to this heroic test, the devil has actually identified a strategy for saving people, not one by one, but by the wagonload! But Jesus is prepared and quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, giving one scripture precedence over another. No one, not even Jesus, has the right to put God to the test. Because, such testing is evidence of proof” not of faith. To test God is to put us in the driver's seat and to require God to follow our lead rather than us following God’s lead. 

Then, Jesus is taken to the mountain, and sees all of the Kingdoms in the world and all of their glory spender…  Again, like last week, we are reminded of Moses, who also met God on a high mountain. But, on this high mountain, Jesus is confronted by the devil (the deceiver/the tempter). Jesus has come to save the world, and the devil offers him the world – a world that isn’t even his to offer… Moses, also, could see the kingdoms of the world from the top of his high mountain. On that mountain, God promised that Israel would prosper, but God also warned the people to remember that their blessings (everything they have) come from God… (Deuteronomy 8:17-20). Jesus again quotes Deuteronomy, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him,’ reminding us that God is the only proper object of worship. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that no one can serve two masters… and here, he practices what he preaches in his own life.

There is one major thing that we learn from all these passages… Temptations, as great as it may be, can be overcome. Jesus, in all his humanity, proved that to us. God is our only power and strength in the face of temptation. 

There may be times that we wrestle with temptations in our life, be it at the store, at work, or in our travels, but we always should be quick to walk away. We need to listen to the voice of that silent wisdom… that gentle voice that says NO! …and understand that there is nothing to be gained by wrestling with the tempter. 

The tempter comes in all shapes and sizes, offering us everything, but only delivering frustration and confusion. When this happens, we pray to our God, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” – we can only deal with the tempter like Jesus dealt with the tempter – with God directing us in our lives.