February 13, 2005

Mindekirken, February 13, 2005
Pastor Jens Arne Dale

It’s the season of lent. Again we’re about to follow Jesus on his way towards suffering, and we are also reminded to take up our crosses and follow Jesus. That would be to repent.

Ash Wednesday was the beginning of Lent. The Biblical expression of the day would be "to be clothed in sackcloth and ashes." At the service on Ash Wednesday it is pretty common for worshippers to be marked with the sign of the cross on their foreheads with ashes from the burned leaves from Palm Sunday.

Normally people would wash themselves the same evening, but according to the church tradition, Holy Thursday was the day to end Lent. The Norwegian word Skjærtorsdag comes from a word which means to cleanse, or wash. Ash Wednesday was first celebrated in the church around the year 450, and pretty soon after that they expressed: The day will come when Christ will rise from death as the bird Phoenix rose from ashes. An old legend tells about the phoenix, who burns himself to death, but rises from the ashes three days later. This is a nice picture, which might be used about Christ, even though it’s not mentioned in the Bible.

The baptism of Jesus was the starting point of his public work. It sounds strange that the path from baptism should lead out into the wilderness. In South Dakota there is an area called the Badlands. It's a place where nothing can grow. That’s about what it was like between Jerusalem and the valley of Jordan where Jesus spent 40 days after his baptism.

Did Jesus have anything to do there? Was he just lost? One might have thought that Jesus after his baptism was eager to get started with preaching the gospel, but the time in the wilderness was not a mistake. Sometimes we are eager to get started. Here we see the value of waiting for the right time, for maturity, refining and education. It was the Spirit that drove Jesus out into the wilderness. Like Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years, Jesus was to be tempted for 40 days.

He himself has to be the information source of what happened there, because none of the disciples joined him. There in the loneliness, in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted. Temptation sounds negative to our ears. The Greek word peirazein means rather to be tested.

I think the story about Jesus’ temptation may be read on the background of the test Adam and Eve were exposed to. Why did there have to be a tree in the garden of Eden whose fruit nobody was allowed to eat? The reason was to test their character. Man is not made to be a marionette without a personal will. We have been made morally responsible. Without the freedom of choice a word like love would be meaningless. To love God would be expressed by being obedient to him.

The history about the temptation and the fall of sin tells something decisive and universal about the character of man. Disobedience, bad conscience, the need to hide and to blame others; don’t all these things apply to all of us? Humankind failed the test.

Jesus is the second attempt of the human race. Adam failed to be obedient to God. It was fatal when he ate the forbidden fruit. Human nature got a defect. Death became the condition for all later generations. Paul says in Romans 8:7. Flesh does not submit to God’s law. And in the chapter before: I want to do what is good, but evil lies close at hand.

In this desperate situation Jesus comes to restore what sin has damaged. He came to restore life and fellowship with God. He came so that love might prevail. But to become our Savior, he had to fully share our conditions. He had to be a human as we are, be tested in everything, like us, and experience the real possibility to sin as we have. The temptation of Jesus was real. His inner struggle shows that Jesus was a real human.

Maybe the temptation in the wilderness came as a reaction after the highlight of his baptism. When something great and wonderful has happened, it may easily come to a reaction. Elijah, who fought the prophets of Ba’al so boldly, soon afterwards became a weak and powerless character under a bush. The devil started his temptation when Jesus was at this weakest, when he was alone.

Sometimes we are most vulnerable in private situations. When nobody sees us, it doesn’t matter, we may think. We allow ourselves freedoms and a lower moral standard only because we think no one will find out about it. Having double morals is always risky business, not only because it might be exposed, but because a flaw in character could be so fatal.

Titanic was the ship which couldn’t sink, but it had a construction failure which became fatal.

The Bible teaches us that the one who is faithful in minor things will be faithful in major matters. Jesus was about to be tested. His character had to be without weakness in order to be the beginning of the new creation, the human family who would inherit eternal life.

Temptations may be a lot of things. When we pray we may be tempted to do it in order to be recognized. When we give alms, we may feel tempted to give in order to be praised by others. Our hidden motives count in the eyes of our God. It’s not only classic temptations like money, sex and power that are issues when God examines our character. He demands purity in our inner heart.

Khalid was a very intelligent student. He started college almost without speaking English, but he went right into the most advanced classes. He was a vibrant human of the sort who might tell stories ‘round-the-clock. He learned to speak English, Urdu and Arabic, and when he traveled all around the world, he was never taken for a foreigner any place. Khalid claimed no less than 60 aliases. He was gifted far more than a normal person.

But he was tempted to do something evil which would change the history of the world. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured in Pakistan two years ago, suspected of being the mastermind behind 9/11. Unusual talent is no guarantee for not making the wrong choices.

Our strongest sides may represent the temptation to what might be our biggest fall. In the case of Jesus, the devil no doubt would tempt Jesus to use his resources, as God. Change these stones into bread, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, would hardly sound tempting to us. But for Jesus to demonstrate his abilities as God in this way would really be a temptation. And luckily for us: Jesus refused. He went victoriously away from temptation. He was obedient to God.

For just as by to one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19. It was this obedience which helped Jesus in Gethsemane when he was tempted to avoid suffering. And on the cross he was tempted to use his power as God and get down from the cross. But Jesus didn’t use his omnipotence, he was victorious through his weakness.

Salvation rests on the work of Jesus alone. It’s his obedience that has made it possible for us to become children of God. Through him, we are new creation, called to create good things in the world in which we are living.

Glory be to God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716