Sermon Archive

Earlier this week, Ed Alley, one of our members who now lives in Florida, e-mailed me a piece of gentle humor called “Dietary Genesis,” part of which I now offer as an introduction to our Lenten reflection on resisting the temptations of Satan It opens like this: “In the beginning, God covered the earth with broccoli and cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives. Then, using God’s bountiful gifts, Satan created ice cream and doughnuts. And Satan said, ‘You want hot fudge with that?’ And Man said, ‘Yes!’ and Woman said, ‘I’ll have another with sprinkles.’ And lo, they gained 10 pounds!”

Ah, the truly good things in life that the devil uses to tempt us—well, to tempt me!—so that you and I find ourselves needing to join with Flip Wilson’s Geraldine in claiming, “The devil made me do it!”

Each season of Lent begins by having us focus on one of the gospel accounts in which Jesus is shown being tempted by Satan in the Wilderness of Judea. As the Gospel of Luke describes it (4:1–2a): “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”

For forty days and forty nights after his baptism and before the start of his ministry, in that rock desert west of the Jordan River, Jesus confronts and faces down the force within our world that seeks to defeat love and to deprive us of wholeness and well-being, the force that tempts us humans with the Faustian bargain: “I'll give you comfort and wealth and power in this world if you’ll just devote yourself to me.”

Forty days of being tested, and then at the very end of this period, just when Jesus is most famished and weakened, the devil poses to him three climactic temptations.

In the first of these, the devil suggests that Jesus should end his fast by exploiting the power he possesses through his unique relationship with God. “Command this stone to become a loaf of bread,” the devil urges (4:3)—which is to say, “You don’t need to wait for God to provide. Take matters into your own hands. Use your power.”

Well, Jesus faces down this first temptation by recalling and quoting scripture. Turning to some words spoken by the great liberator Moses in the book of the Bible called Deuteronomy, Jesus proclaims (Luke 4:4), “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone’” (cf. Deut. 8:3)—which is to say, “A person’s life consists of far more than simply satisfying physical needs.”

In the second of the climactic temptations described by Luke, the Evil One leads Jesus upward and from there, in a single instant, shows him all the kingdoms of the world. Satan then says to Jesus, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority… if you … will worship me.” (Luke 4:6–7)

But Jesus faces down this second temptation by again recalling and citing scripture. Turning once more to some words spoken by the great preacher Moses in Deuteronomy, Jesus proclaims (4:8): “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve God alone’” (cf. Deut. 6:13 and 10:20)—which is to say, “Mark this well, Satan. The only earthly glory and authority that is true and lasting comes through serving God, not you!”

The devil has now been sufficiently angered by Jesus’s quoting from the Bible that he decides to cite a little scripture himself (Luke 4:9–11). Thus, in the third of the climactic temptations posed to Jesus, Satan urges him to put the promise of God’s abiding presence with him to a test by hurling himself off the pinnacle of the Jerusalem temple down into the Kidron Valley, some 400 feet below. Surely God’s angels will swoop down to catch Jesus, to rescue him before his body shatters on that myriad of rocks, for isn’t it written in the Bible, in the Book of Psalms, “God will command the angels concerning you, to protect you” (cf. Psalm 91:11), and also, “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone” (cf. Psalm 91:12)? (You’ll recall that you’ve just heard those words earlier today, in this morning’s First Lesson!)

Now, I’m pretty sure that it was this account of the devil’s using verses from Psalm 91 to tempt Jesus—this account found not only here in Luke but also in the Gospel of Matthew (4:5–6)—I’m pretty sure that it was this account that inspired William Shakespeare to put into the mouth of Antonio, a merchant of Venice, the following metaphoric image (The Merchant of Venice, Act I, scene iii, lines 98–99, 103):

“Mark you this Bassanio,
The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.…
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

Through this speech, Shakespeare offers to us all a sage warning, and I’ll be following up on his cautionary words in just a few minutes!

But first, let’s bring today’s narrative from Luke to its conclusion. Even though Jesus has been tempted by the devil, through words taken from Psalm 91—tempted to put God to the test—Jesus refuses to do so. Instead, he rebuts the devil’s use of scripture by citing scripture himself—quoting a different passage, one that trumps the devil’s. The devil has played a good card. But Jesus plays a better one. For a third time, Jesus turns to some words spoken by that great lawgiver Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy. Jesus proclaims (Luke 4:12), “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ (cf. Deut. 6:16).”

Now, it’s this story of Jesus’s 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness that lays the foundation for our contemporary observance of Lent, the 40 days we will spend between now and Easter preparing to renew both our baptismal vows and our ensuing vocation as followers of Jesus. Just as Jesus, while he was in the wilderness, faced down temptation and became strong in his obedience to God, so, too, we, during these 40 days of Lent, when confronted by the force that seeks to defeat love and to deprive our world of wholeness and well-being—so, too, we are to face down temptation and to become strong in our obedience to God.

Yes, Luke’s narrative offers a powerful paradigm for our own lives. For first, we, like Jesus, are to make something much more of life than the mere pursuit of our own physical needs. And second, we, like Jesus, are to give to the worship and service of God priority over everything else in life. And third, we, like Jesus, are to reject every temptation to put God to a test.

Now, back to Shakespeare’s warning about the devil’s trick of citing scripture in such a way as to cloak falsehood in a goodly appearance. For one of the greatest temptations that we followers of Christ have faced through the ages and that we continue to face today is the temptation to subscribe to false uses and applications of our sacred biblical texts.

Today is not only the First Sunday in Lent but also Leap Day, February 29th, an unusual date that happens to stand on the cusp between Black History Month, which is February, and Women’s History Month, which is March.

And on so “cuspy” a date as this it behooves us to remember how in our own national history so very many Christians have so very easily succumbed to the temptation to misuse our sacred biblical texts in order to cloak falsehood in a goodly appearance: first, in order to perpetuate slavery and racial discrimination; and second, in order to deny to women their equality with men in both church and society.

For you know, throughout our history of slavery and of the legacy of Jim Crow, and throughout our history of the oppression of women, it has so often been proclaimed, in order to “justify” injustice, that “The Bible says… Scripture says… The word of God says…”

You know, “The Bible says that God cursed Ham and all his descendants (a misinterpretation of Gen. 9:20–27), and it also says that Ham’s descendants included black Africans (Gen. 10:6).” Next, “Scripture says that our ‘father and mother in faith,’ Abraham and Sarah, had slaves (Gen. 15:1–3; 16:1–2) and God never disapproved.” And finally, “The word of God commands that slaves obey their masters (Eph. 6:5).” Yes, it does!

Then, too, “The Bible says that God told the woman in the Garden of Eden, ‘[Y]our husband … shall rule over you’ (Gen. 3:16).” Next, “Scripture says that ‘women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says’ (I Cor. 14:34).” And finally, “The word of God says that the apostle Paul ‘permit[s] no woman to teach or to have authority over a man’ (I Tim. 2:12).” Yes, it does!

It is obvious from these quotations that “the Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” For I believe that all of these verses from the Bible are among those that have been whispered into our ears by Satan, the Tempter, in order to cloak his falsehood in a goodly appearance. These are all words that, following the example of Jesus himself, we must face down and trump by citing better passages from scripture that reflect the type of thinking that’s central to Christ’s own teaching and that’s fundamental to it—passages such as these: The Bible says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:25–37).” Next, Scripture says, “The Spirit of the Lord … has anointed me to bring good news to the poor … [and] has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,… to let the oppressed go free (Luke 4:18; Isa. 61:1).” And finally, the word of God says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28; cf. Isa. 56:1–8).”

These, I believe, are among the scriptural passages that trump any of the ones that Satan may choose to whisper into our ear in these matters of race and gender.

And they and biblical passages like them are also the scriptural words we need to keep central to our focus if we are to confront and face down the devil’s selection of Bible verses on a number of other controversial issues in our day, for Satan continues to work overtime at cloaking his falsehood in a goodly appearance.

So whenever you hear the devil whisper in your ear, “The Bible says, ‘You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination’ (Lev. 18:22),” I pray that you’ll offer this firm rebuttal, “The Bible also says, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane’ (Acts 10:34; again, cf. Isa. 56:3–8).”

And whenever you hear the devil suggest that “Scripture says, ‘The poverty of the poor is their ruin’ (Prov. 10:15b),” I pray that you’ll counter any implication that we should therefore leave the poor to their misery with this stout reply, “Scripture also says, ‘Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven’ (Luke 18:22; cf. Prov. 28:27 and Isa. 58:6–7).”

And finally, whenever you hear those under the influence of Satan spouting, “The word of God says, ‘[God] trains my hands for war’ (II Sam. 22:35; Psalm 18:34),” proclaim this truth to that misled power, “The word of God also says, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (Matt. 5:9; italics added).”

Each year’s season of Lent is for us a 40-day period in the wilderness with Christ, a time for us to be strengthened in spirit through the grace of God so that we will be able throughout the rest of the year to resist the temptations placed before us by that force within our world which seeks to defeat love and to deprive humankind of wholeness and well-being.

Certainly, the most dangerous of all the temptations that confront us are those buttressed by the devil’s ability to cite scripture in ways that cloak the falseness of evil and injustice in a goodly appearance.

This Lent, as we are called upon to face down temptation, I pray that we may succeed in fulfilling an admonition given to us by the apostle Paul (I Cor. 16:13), one of those admonitions from scripture that Satan has never cited and will never cite. For it starts like this: “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.” And then it concludes with these memorable words: “Let all that you do be done in love.”

So this Lent—and indeed throughout your whole life—whenever you find yourself confused or tempted by Satan, I pray that it will be some words suggested by the Bible that come to your lips: “Let all that I do be done in love.”

Let us pray: