First Sunday in Lent, C
February 17, 2013
Luke 4:1-13
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| "The Temptation on the Mount" by Duccio di Buoninsegna |
Introduction
During the Lenten season, Christians have traditionally
practiced making Lenten sacrifices, the "giving up of something for
Lent". The Lenten season is a period of forty days (patterned after the
forty days and nights that Jesus spent fasting) which begin on Ash Wednesday
until Holy Saturday. (The Sundays in Lent are not included, for Sundays are
always "little Easters".) Lent has been traditionally a time for
self-reflection, prayer, and Scripture reading.
We are all encouraged to observe the Lenten discipline, in
order that we may prepare ourselves to meaningfully celebrate the Lord's
Passion, Death, and Resurrection. What are the "little sacrifices" we
can make thus Lenten season? Our Gospel reading for today is the Temptation of
the Lord by the Devil. In this text, Jesus shows us that he was also tempted in
every way just as we are; and the ways how he was able to overcome "the
flesh, the world, and the Devil".
I. Fasting vs.
Turning Stones into Bread
During the Lenten season, we are encouraged to fast or
abstain from food. From the earliest days, Methodists have always observed
fasting in imitation of the early Christians:
While we were at Oxford,
the rule of every Methodist was, (unless in case of sickness,) to fast every
Wednesday and Friday in the year, in imitation of the Primitive Church;
for which they had the highest reverence. Now this practice of the Primitive Church is universally allowed. “Who
does not know,”
says Epiphanius, an ancient writer, “that the fasts of the fourth
and sixth days of the week” (Wednesday and Friday) “are observed by
the Christians throughout the whole world.”(Sermon 116, The Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity)
But this practice
of fasting has been largely forgotten by "people called Methodists"
now, even as John Wesley said, "the
man that never fasts is no more in the way to heaven, than the man that never
prays" (emphasis added).
After his
baptism, Jesus prepared for his public ministry (and perhaps, with his combat
with the Devil) by fasting for forty days and forty nights. Likewise, we are
all encouraged to make fasting as one of our Lenten disciplines. The
traditional days of fasting, as mentioned above, are Wednesdays and Fridays,
which commemorate the betrayal by Judas and the death of Jesus, respectively.
Traditionally, fasting begins on the afternoon on the previous day (tea time,
as Wesley says; or meryenda for us
Filipinos) and ends on the afternoon on the following day.
We may fast
according to our own abilities or conviction, like skipping a single meal or
even just reducing the amount of rice that we eat. We can even fast on other
things: how about "fasting" from the Internet or computer games every
Wednesday and Friday? That way, we can spend more time with God in prayer.
The
important thing is that we do not make a show of our fasting.
Moreover, when ye fast, be not as
the hypocrites of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they
may appear unto men to fast: verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But
thou when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face. That thou appear
not unto men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:16-18, John Wesley New
Testament)
II. Almsgiving vs.
Power and Glory
The second temptation given by the Devil is to give Jesus
the power and glory of all the kingdoms of the world, only if Jesus will bow
down and worship him. Today the temptation of power and glory is still very
real. Here in the Philippines,
people are familiar with the ubiquitous billboards with the names and
likenesses of politicians trumpeting their contribution to this-or-that project:
from roads, to schools, to overpasses, to waiting sheds & c.
This is in stark contrast to the teaching of Jesus:
Therefore when thou dost alms, do
not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in
the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left-hand know what thy
right-hand doth: That thy alms may be in secret, and thy father who seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:2-4)
The Lenten season is not just a time for "works of
piety" for one's own, but also "works of mercy" towards our
neighbor: "The feeding the hungry, the clothing the naked, the
entertaining or assisting the stranger, the visiting those that are sick or in
prison, the comforting the afflicted, the instructing the ignorant, the
reproving the wicked, the exhorting and encouraging the well-doer..."
(Upon our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 6). When we give or help our
neighbor, it is not to be for our own glory, but as an expression of genuine charity.
III. Prayer vs.
Tempting the Lord
The third temptation of the Devil was for Jesus to jump from
one of the "battlements" of the Temple
in Jerusalem so
that the angels will catch him. The Devil even used a promise from Scripture:
"If thou be the son of God,
cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall charge his angels
concerning thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest
at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Luke 4:9-11)
Often, we tempt God in our prayers, even taking Scripture as
warrant that God will give us
"whatever we desire" if we just say the right words:
Verily, verily I say unto you, he
that believeth on me, the works which I do, shall he do also; and greater than
these shall he do, because I go to my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified thro' the Son. If ye shall
ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)
--a passage which is often quoted by those who preach the
"prosperity Gospel", the "Gospel of health and wealth";
those who believe in "name it and claim it". Often, these people
ask--nay, command--God, often for
worldly things, without regard for his will or sovereignty. It is NOT true that
we will receive “everything” we ask for by just saying "in Jesus'
name!" (--Which these antinomians
vainly repeat; in contrast with what Jesus said: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions,
as the heathens; for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking”
[Matthew 6:7]. Yet it is by the very same thing--making "vain
repetitions"--these people accuse Roman Catholics of!)
When this very passage is followed by, "If ye love me,
keep my commandments (John 14:15a)" --that is, we can only ask anything
"in the Name of Jesus" only when we are obedient to God's will!
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