Bible Tuesday for the First Sunday of Lent 2016

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish His name. You shall go to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before the Lord your God that I have entered the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to assign us.” The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. You shall then recite as follows before the Lord your God: “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there, but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us, they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. The Lord freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched and awesome power, and by signs and portents. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, O Lord, have given me.”

You shall leave it before the Lord your God and bow low before the Lord your God. And you shall enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that the Lord your God has bestowed upon you and your household.

Here is a description of liturgy, worship and thanksgiving, which the Israelite men were to do at the first harvest in Canaan. This offering of first fruits celebrates the Festival of Weeks, during which Israelites are to travel to where ever the Tent of Meeting housing the Ark of the Covenant are set up.

The Israelite man brings a basket full of a sampling of his springtime harvest. As he hands this to the priest, he is to recite this brief history of his ancestors, starting with Jacob and his flight from Laban, later migration to Goshen, Egypt, subsequent enslavement under Egypt and then freedom led by Moses. In Genesis 12, God calls Abram and promises to him land, descendants, and a heritage of blessing to all peoples. When offering this thanksgiving basket, the Israelite man celebrates the fulfillment of God’s covenant: land of their own which to work and harvest, descendants numerous enough to populate all of Canaan, and enough food to share with the alien and foreigner among them!

Psalm 91:1-2 & 9-16

O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the protection of Shaddai—I say of the Lord, my refuge and stronghold, my God in whom I trust.

Because you took the Lord—my refuge, the Most High—as your haven, no harm will befall you, no disease touch your tent. For he will order His angels to guard you wherever you go. They will carry you in their hands lest you hurt your foot on a stone. You will tread on cubs and vipers; you will trample lions and asps. “Because he is devoted to Me, I will deliver him; I will keep him safe, for he knows My name. When he calls on Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I will rescue him and make him honored; I will let him live to a ripe old age and show him My salvation.”

This psalm is the basis for the very popular hymn, “On Eagle’s Wings”. We only have part of the psalm assigned for this Sunday. On the one hand, this psalm implies that those who exhibit faith in God are protected from disease, famine, and calamity. Therefore, if one is suffering from disease, famine, or calamity, then one does not have sufficient faith in God…or so it has been thought and taught among some Jews and Christians for several thousand years.

Yet this psalm, and the hymn that is based on, are frequently used at funerals! If someone died, it is safe to assume that harm has indeed befallen that one and disease has certainly touched that one’s tent.

Perhaps this psalm isn’t meant to be an incantation invoking God’s presence for good luck and safety, so much as it is a statement of faith in God’s benevolence. At funerals we stare death and loss quite literally in the face, and we claim God’s promises of protection, mercy, benevolence, and grace despite death.

Romans 10:8-13

8But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

In Paul’s letter to the congregation in Rome, Paul has several agendas. The one most clear in this passage is to equalize all who believe into Jesus, and affirm that salvation is God’s activity and will, not human ingenuity or wages. Let’s define a couple words.

Salvation-Greek – sozo, to restore, to reinstate, to make whole. We, Christians, tend to read the New Testament with the idea that “to be saved” means “to go to heaven,” but that is not specifically what most of the New Testament writers mean when they use sozo. Paul and Jesus use sozo to mean “restored, made whole, healed.

Keeping this definition in mind, allow me to paraphrase verse 10. “For one believes with the heart and so is made right with God, and one confesses with the mouth and so is restored to right relationship with God.”

Paul goes on to specify that no one group of people has “most favored status” with God. Rather any person who acts in trust on the gift of faith given by the Holy Spirit finds graciousness in God.

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 9Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 12Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Jesus is baptized by John at the Jordan River, is proclaimed God’s son and blessed with the Holy Spirit who then leads Jesus into the wilderness for better than a month. The number 40 is important here because, in the minds of readers and hearers of the gospel, 40 immediately connects Jesus with Israelites and Moses. Moses was up on Mt. Horeb/Sinai for 40 days of fasting and talking to God as God gave Moses the law. When Moses return from the mountain with the two stone tablets and found the Israelites in the throes of idolatry, God banished the Israelites to wander the desert for 40 years before entering the promised land. Those forties all echo the 40 days and 40 nights that it rained when Noah, his family, and all those animals, were on the ark.

Now remember, the number 40 is a symbolic number for Israel. Israel was not a European culture with exact, precise measurements down to the fractions of seconds. The ancient Israelites thought differently than that and used certain numbers to symbolize ideas, including the number 40. 40 meant “as long as it takes”. “Are we there yet?” “No.” “How long is it going to be until we are there?” “40 hours.” “We are going to be in this care for almost two days?!!!!!” “I don’t know. We will be in this car as long as it takes to get there. The more bathroom stops, the longer the ride.” “Oh.”

So, Jesus is out in the wilderness fasting and praying for 40 days, just like Moses. Jesus is thinking through the task at hand. He has a year, or three depending on which gospel we are reading, to convince people he is God on earth, the Lord, the Messiah they have been waiting for. But how does Jesus do this God’s way, which is not the way the people want? How does Jesus dodge the authorities long enough to teach, preach, heal, and love enough people that they carry on this ministry after he is dead? The temptations to just Roy it, just ram God’s will down people’s throats and force them to act as they should, had to be enormous. And the devil’s temptations show exactly that.

Make stones into bread. “Come on. You are so hungry, you thought about eating leaves off trees! Just whip out your God-power and take care of yourself!” The fact of the matter is that Jesus does make stuff into bread, bread enough to feed 5000 men + women and children. Jesus doesn’t feed himself, he feeds all who are hungry and he does it where everyone around can taste and see how good God is.

Worship me and I will give you all power and authority. “You are God. Just humble yourself a little and you can have all the authority and power on earth that you want. You don’t have to put up with these idiots. You can rule over them.” In fact Jesus does rule over all humanity, but he does it shamed and debased, dying on the cross. Authority and power is a human construct. God doesn’t need it.

Throw yourself down from here. “Force God’s hand. Make God show us all that He really loves you. God isn’t going to let anything actually happen to you!” Here the devil/evil/complete self-centeredness shows how wrong it is. God would not and did not save Jesus, the God/Man. God came to earth in Jesus for the very purpose of dying. The angels were not going to save Jesus. No one would. “Eloi, eloi! Lama sabbachthani!”