First Sunday in Lent and Reconciling in Christ Sunday
The Rev. Dr. Sandy Selby
Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
One of my enduring memories from childhood is from the church in which I was baptized and confirmed, Cranford Methodist Church in Cranford, New Jersey. I was standing at the front of the church, along with my 3rd grade Sunday School classmates, facing the congregation. Our minister, Dr. Allinger, came up to each of us, one by one, and gave us a special gift: our very own Bible! Here it is! On the inside cover is a frontispiece with a picture of the church, my name, the date—May 7, 1961—and the signatures of the Church School Superintendent and the Minister. My own Bible!
I remember being so excited that I carried this Bible around the house for several days, paging through and reading it. We were told to bring our new Bibles with us to Sunday School. Every week, our teacher, who happened to be my mother, told us which Bible passage we would be discussing that day. Then she said, “Whoever finds it first can read it aloud!” A Bible race! We all hurried to find that day’s Scripture passage so we could be the one to read it aloud to the class!
As a young child, I came to see the Bible as a gift, and a source of adventure and joy! It’s distressing, today, to see the Bible that has been a source of grace, comfort, and joy for me and for countless others used today as a weapon in culture wars.
This happened before, about 2,000 years ago, and the one who was using the Bible as a weapon was Satan. At his baptism, a voice from heaven had called Jesus “the Son of God.” Leaving the Jordan, Jesus went to the wilderness to find out what that means. That’s where we find him, today, on this first Sunday in Lent.
For forty days Jesus has been without food or human companionship. But he hasn’t been completely alone: the devil has been there, hounding and confusing him. And now Jesus is famished. Sensing his vulnerability, the devil goes for the jugular. With three temptations he offers Jesus a shortcut to power and glory. The temptations are insidious, not only because they prey on Jesus’ weakness but also because the very means by which the devil argues his case is something that Jesus reveres: Scripture. And the devil knows his Scripture.
He says to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become loaves of bread." After all, God provided bread to Moses and his people in the wilderness—if Jesus is the Son of God, won’t he be able to work those wonders too? He’s hungry--why not feed himself? Jesus replies by quoting Deuteronomy, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.’ (Deut 8:3)“
The devil tries another tack. Taking Jesus to Jerusalem, he places him on the pinnacle of the temple. ˆ Quoting from Psalm 91, he says, “for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” In other words, if you’re God’s Son, prove it! Once again Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ (Deut 6:16)”
Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he says to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Again, the devil has been paraphrasing scripture, this time from the 2nd Psalm, which says, “’You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Jesus had heard the words, “You are my son” at his baptism; but now they are quoted by the devil in offering Jesus a shortcut to glory. When offered the kingdom in exchange for his soul, Jesus replies, again quoting Deuteronomy: "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ (Deut 6:13)”
The adversaries in the wilderness—the devil and Jesus—present diametrically opposed views of what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God—and both support their vision by quoting scripture. The devil says that being the Son of God should be all about power, supernatural deeds, and authority. Jesus says that being the Son of God should be about showing his vulnerability, his humility, and his desire to serve and glorify God.
In our own time, the authority and interpretation of Scripture is at the heart of the debate on any number of controversial issues in public and ecclesiastical life, with people fighting over what the Bible says about human sexuality, the role of women in the church, the sanctity of marriage, the morality of war, and Christian nationalism—to name a few. Those who condemn LGBTQ persons typically base their condemnation upon seven passages in the Old and New Testaments. None of those seven passages are found in the Gospels. The Bible has been weaponized in the culture wars of the past few decades, and that continues, today.
How do we decide what is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ? We get a clue from today’s story of the temptation in the wilderness. The dialogue between the devil and Jesus shows that they didn’t solve the issue of what it means to be the Son of God by throwing the Bible at each other. The devil left Jesus, to return again another day. Then, Matthew says, “suddenly angels came and waited on [Jesus],” indicating God’s favor for the Son who has chosen vulnerability over power, humility over supernatural deeds, and service over authority.
For Jesus, the debate with the devil has helped clarify his mission, a mission that, as the Gospel unfolds, will be revealed by his teaching and actions of compassion, love, and radical hospitality toward all people, in fulfillment of what Jesus identifies as “the Greatest Commandment,” based on verses in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37, 39).
Today is Reconciling in Christ Sunday; the theme this year is “Celebrating Diversity as God’s Children.” Five years ago, Faith Lutheran Church adopted, by congregational vote, the Welcome Statement that is read here every Sunday, and by so doing, became one of several hundred ELCA congregations and institutions that are part of the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community.
In the Bible, reconciliation is the restoration of broken relationships. It is a process in which broken relationships are healed, bringing peace and harmony to our relationships with God, and with one another. Congregations who are part of Reconciling in Christ seek to intentionally welcome all of God’s children. Here at Faith, we summarize this by saying, “Love all; welcome all.” The biblical basis of our commitment as an RIC congregation is Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor.
As Marilyn said earlier, for the past five years, led by the work of our RIC Team, Faith Lutheran Church has been very intentional about our commitment to welcome and inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, people of all races and economic status, and of all intellectual and physical abilities. Most recently, we have lived out this commitment to celebrating and honoring our diversity by making our worship space more accessible to those with support devices such as wheelchairs or walkers. There is an initiative in process to make our worship services more accessible to those who have issues with hearing.
Reconciling in Christ is a ministry of reconciliation based on Jesus’ Great Commandment and lived out by being in right relationship with God, and with one another, and by wishing for those around us, no matter their circumstance, the same peace, wholeness, justice and well-being as we wish for ourselves.
The season of Lent is about reconciliation. Like Jesus, in many ways we are in the wilderness, individually and collectively. How is God calling us to a ministry of reconciliation, this Lenten season, bringing us, individually and collectively, into right relationship with God, and with one another?
Jesus shows us a singular, crucial way of seeing evil and its temptations for what they are, and rejecting them: Jesus calls us to look at the world around us through the lens of Scripture, in particular the prophets, and the Gospels, as lived and revealed by Jesus, and to follow him, each day. The Bible is not a weapon; it is an instrument of grace.
Commentator Debie Thomas said this about the importance of engaging thoughtfully with Scripture:
The truth is, we can’t afford to be ignorant of the Bible at this cultural moment when it is being weaponized against vulnerable people. Loving our neighbors wisely and well means cultivating a deep familiarity and confidence around the word of God. Whether we like it or not, the Bible is in the cultural marketplace, and the conversations it generates there have life-and-death consequences. It is incumbent upon us to participate intelligently in those conversations.
Jesus knew his Bible, and he resolved his Bible fight with the devil by translating his knowledge of God’s Word into the Good News of healing and hope, then exemplifying that Good News with words and actions empowered by God’s love. Jesus invites us to join him in that work. Let’s resolve to spend our own wilderness time, this Lent, reading and contemplating the Word of God in Scripture, and joining Jesus in lifting up what Scripture proclaims as the gifts and graces of life in the Reign of God: reconciliation, compassion, justice, peace, and love for all of God’s children—in other words, for everyone.
Amen.
1Debie Thomas, “Progressive Christians should read the Bible,” The Christian Century, March 2025, 32.