January 15, 2023
Matthew 4: 1-17

Donna and I were out grocery shopping shortly after we were married back in the ‘80s. We were in the cereal aisle when we decided that a bottle of wine out on the patio would be a nice way to spend a summer evening. 

The two of us stopped at a liquor store on our way home and selected an inexpensive bottle of rose. 

At the checkout, the woman asked to see my identification so she could be sure I was old enough to make the purchase.

I was about to hand her my driver’s licence when her husband came to the checkout. He looked at me and told his wife “What are you bothering him with this for? Look at him, he has to be in his 30s.” 

Point of fact, I was 25.

Well, fast forward to the first year of the pandemic. I learned that Costco was letting people over the age of 60 come into the store an hour earlier than the youngsters under 60. 

If you have ever shopped at Costco or another Big Box store, you know what an opportunity this represented.

So, during one of my trips to Sudbury, I got up a bit earlier than usual and went to Costco. 

There were about twenty cars in the parking lot at about 8:05.

At the entrance of the near empty store, the person checking membership cards asked for my driver’s licence to make sure I was 60 or over. I was 60 and one month. But I did thank her for thinking I looked younger … she said I looked 59.

Claiming, proving … living into … an identity is one of the takeaways from today’s passage from Matthew.

In hearing about how Jesus claims his identity we hear how we are called to claim our identity as Children of God and what that identity calls us into.

Remember that … in last week’s lesson …  Jesus had gone to the Jordan River … to be baptized by John … and that … after the Spirit touched him … a voice identified him as the Son of God.

The voice called him “Beloved.”

Jesus’ place in the promised line of David was established in the first three chapters of Matthew’s gospel.

In Luke, Jesus’ first act after baptism is to begin to gather disciples. Here in Matthew, Jesus does something that affirms his identity and the marks of his ministry.

Now, the Spirit has led him out into the wilderness … and it becomes obvious that being “beloved” doesn’t guarantee an easy time.

In the wilderness, among the beasts and the desolate landscape, Jesus is visited by the devil … Satan … the Tempter … who senses it is the ideal time to put him to the test … to attack Jesus’ identity and authority as the Son of God. 

The Tempter poses a series of challenges …

… IF Jesus turns stones into bread … he would not only demonstrate his power … but he would be able to ease his hunger. 

… IF Jesus throws himself off the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem … the angels can save him and prove that God will lift him up … 

… IF Jesus worships the Tempter … he will get all the kingdoms of the world. … but also show that God doesn’t have authority over the world.

Jesus remains steadfast and remains disciplined against the temptations placed before him. Jesus reminds the Tempter not to test God.

Like his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus’ answers to the Tempter, places Jesus with the people … rather than with those who misuse their power and embrace the temptations of the world. 

Jesus shares in the same suffering and pain as the people.

In today’s passage, the Tempter claims authority over the world … if we believe that this is true … then there is cause to despair. But Jesus’ answers and his rejection of the challenges in essence, calls a lie a lie. 

Jesus calls the Tempter’s bluff and in doing so provides us with hope. 

The message of the gospels is that there is a God who reigns. The message of the gospels is that God’s purposes are higher … that God’s purposes are ultimate and that God’s purposes in the world are life-giving. 

This is the message that Jesus and later the disciples share with the world.

This is the message that we are called to share. 

When the world whispers its temptations in our ear, that is a time to call the expectations and the values of a consumer society the lie that they are and embrace a different message … a life-giving and affirming message of love.

When we do this, hope flourishes within ourselves and through us … within the world.

Jesus’ answers to the Tempter provide us with a guide for when we face our own temptations or challenges … when we face doubts. 

He anchors his answers to the Tempter in scripture … verses that call the people to love God and to listen to God’s call to love. 

Jesus shows that these are the rocks to cling to when we journey through the wilderness.

Today’s passage is about the character of Jesus … about how he claims his identity as God’s son … not through feats, but by faith in the Word of God … by faith in his call to serve the world. 

It offers an example for each of us … of the disciple required to ignore the temptations of the world … of power … of status … and to follow our call to live into our faith … and to live into the responsibilities that a faith-filled life carries. 

Being beloved … knowing the abundance of God’s love … doesn’t guarantee us an easy life … rather this love calls us into a vocation … into discipleship … this love … the grace we have received calls us to live as God’s people in the world.

Being beloved doesn’t mean we are privileged or receive special favour. It means we are called into desolate places … where there is scarcity of hope and an abundance of suffering, fear and isolation. 

Today’s story reminds us to be true to whom we are … it provides us with the opportunity to reflect upon what identifies us and how we have claimed that identity. To consider what we cling to as we journey through the wilderness.

Matthew’s story calls us to be equally as confident in our identity as children of God … to act in a way that is consistent with that identity … to embrace its values … to share the promise of the gospel … to share grace … because that is the love-filled identification we ultimately show to the world.

AMEN