Deuteronomy
26:1-11 Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Romans 10:8-13 Luke 4:1-13
You have all no
doubt heard about the so-called resurrection miracle that went viral only to be
denounced as a fraud by all, including the pastor who claimed that the family
of the living corpse had tricked him into believing that the man was dead. Some
friends of the pastor have said that this is not the first time he has staged
such a stunt…but let’s be fair to the pastor…it is really hard to pull a
miracle out of the hat every day, and when there are so many other “miracle
workers” out there one has to do something to keep up with the Jones’, right?
Having said that,
the temptation to perform a mesmerising and dazzling feat is nothing new. Jesus
faced that temptation too, but He did not succumb. He knew that He did not have
to prove anything to anyone, He knew that all He needed was to love the Father…so
He told the devil to go jump himself.
But there is more
to this fraudulent “resurrection” miracle than a desperate pastor and the
temptation to fake it for the sake of keeping his followers faithful. It tells
us something about people in general as well. People are hungry for some sort
of miraculous proof that God is there and that He cares and that He keeps His
promises.
When sickness or
death or loss of some kind or poverty come knocking at the door uninvited, we
are all tempted to turn our eyes upward to say, “If You are God, tell this to
go away! After all, You have promised that no evil will conquer us, no plague
will come near our home…that You would give your angels an order to protect us
wherever we go…that they would hold us up with their hands so that we would not
bump our toes on a stone. You promised to rescue us and protect us. Where are
you in all of this?”
I know of a woman
who kept her dead husband at home for more than three days all the while
believing that God would resurrect him. Grief will make us do strange things.
Or we have all heard of pensioners giving their life savings to someone who
promises that God will provide even more in return…of course when this doesn’t
happen, the pensioners are told that they simply did not have enough faith.
Some people have
been so hurt or confused or embarrassed or angered that they either deny God’s
existence completely (Atheists or Agnostics) or believe that God is too far
away to care (Deists) or that He has simply given up doing the miraculous stuff
(Cessationists). But, as always, the truth lies in the middle somewhere. I
firmly believe in balance and in order to have a balanced faith one has to look
at the whole of Scripture; let Scripture interpret Scripture and never take one
verse or one passage out of context. This is exactly what Jesus did when Satan
threw the book at Him…He threw it right back, correctly interpreted.
I believe the
events surrounding the first temptation in the Garden of Eden are key to
understanding why God appears to be withholding His hand of help when we need
Him most. Let me explain: God created humanity to be in fellowship with Him…but
this fellowship was meant to be based on mutual love. We all know what fair
weather friends are…when the going is good, we have many friends…but when the
going gets tough, our real friends are revealed while the fake friends fade
like mist before the sun…and that hurts. No one wants a fair weather friend.
Well, neither does
God…and so He graciously gave Adam and Eve the option to walk with Him in
fellowship or not. Of course for such a free choice to be possible there had to
be something they ought not to do…in their case it was eating from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. Now, that’s not unfair as some have said…every
relationship has boundaries…every relationship has things that are permissible
and things that are not permissible. If you truly love someone, you will not do
the things that will hurt them or in any way harm the relationship, right? Why
then would it be any different with God?
When God promised
to give the freed Israelite slaves a land filled with blessings He gave them a
clear warning. In Deuteronomy 8 the Lord said: “Be careful to obey all the
commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will
enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Remember how
the Lord your God led you through the wilderness these forty years, humbling
you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you
would obey His commands. Yes, He humbled you by letting you go hungry and then
feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors.
(And here comes the familiar bit.) He did it to teach you that people do not
live by bread alone; rather we live by every word that comes from the mouth of
the Lord.” You see, it is easy to say we believe in God when all is well…when
the weather is fair…but God wants to know if we love Him for Who He is and not
because of what He gives us…just like us and our friends, or our spouse.
Jesus understood
that and so when Satan came with his temptations, some of which were direct
quotations from the Word of the Lord, He reminded him that there was more at
stake that satisfying His hunger and His thirst. God is God. There is no other
God. He alone is the creator of all things. He alone is the sustainer of all
things. He must be worshipped at all times because He is worthy of our worship,
whether He gives us what we want or not.
I think the modern
church has regressed back to toddlerhood in many ways. When we don’t get our way,
we throw tantrums and we yell until we are blue in the face when our heavenly
parent doesn’t come running to make it all right. What’s wrong with this
picture? Like the Israelites of old, we rejoice when we are set free, but the
moment we get hungry or hot or thirsty or tired, we grumble and complain. Not
so Jesus! For Him the number one priority was not comfort, but a good
relationship with the Father. For Him it was all about serving the Father,
worshipping the Father, and remaining true to the Father.
Yes, God does give
generously to all who call on Him and yes, everyone who trusts in Him will
never be ashamed or disgraced. But, dearest beloved brethren, what greater gift
can God give us than what He has already given in and through His Son?
Seriously, God has given us an eternal “get out of jail free card” and we whine
about not having a hotel on Musgrave Road. Sorry, Monopoly imagery.
No one enjoys
suffering…if you do you need to see a professional. And yet most of us will
admit that the times when we grew the most spiritually was when we were going
through a dark valley crying out to a God Who seemed to be absent and yet Who
was walking with us all the time…we only realised that once the lights went
back on.
The temptation of
Jesus in the wilderness is what prepared Him for His ministry…a ministry that
would lead Him to a point where His friends would desert Him at the hour of His
greatest need and where those He had come to save would turn on Him and kill Him
in the most brutal way possible. The trials we go through are momentary, but
they are preparing us for a greater glory. We just have to realise that this
life is not all there is…that there is a life that is far, far better than this
one where there will be no more suffering and no more tears and no more pain
and no more sorrow. Jesus promised that in this world we would have
tribulation, but that we should take courage as He has overcome the world. The
world and all its trappings that seem so valuable to us now, will one day fade
into oblivion when our eyes behold His glory and His majesty and His beauty.
We get a glimpse
of that beauty here at His table every Sunday…here where His love for us is
demonstrated again and again…here where we partake of His ultimate gift to
us…His Body broken, His Blood shed…for you and for me. So as you come to feast
on His goodness once more, ask Him to help you see how much you are worth in
His sight…how much He loves you…how much He wants you to love Him in return.
Find your place of refuge here in Him…your place of safety…trust Him and
continue to live in the shadow of His gracious wings.
© Johannes W H van
der Bijl 2019-03-04
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