“Identity”
Texts:
Luke 4:1-13 (main focus); Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Dear friends in Christ, grace and peace to
you from the one who is and who was and who is to come, our living Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Lead me not into temptation. I can find it
all by myself.”
I use that quote often, as it kind of brings a chuckle. I didn’t realize that
they are actually lyrics to a country song. But…Have you ever experienced testing or
temptation after you have made a declaration with your life?
For example…As part of my Lenten journey, each
year I give up something. I have decided to give up chocolate. For these forty LONG
days. I made mention of this at work on Friday. Ha ha ha…Yeah…Comments
overheard at work on Friday: “Caroline, you know what’s great about the day
after Valentine’s Day? Chocolate is fifty percent off.” And, yes, I did realize
that Ash Wednesday was the day before Valentine’s Day. Also, after I was
grabbing milk to stock the fridge, and I quoted the slogan, “Milk: it does a
body good,” I heard, “You know what else does a body good? Chocolate.” My
personal favorite, as I lamented that I didn’t get my “final brownie” from
Davanni’s, who have the best brownies in the world, by the way, I heard, “Brownies
don’t count; they’re a different kind of chocolate.” A coworker even promised
to keep a candy bar in her purse, if I felt the urge to give in to temptation.
Now at Caribou, we’re like family, and it
was all in fun…For some reason, people like to tease me? ;) But it’s
interesting how this was happening after the declaration was made. Chocolate! :)
Now, let’s go back around 2,000 years…Prior
to today’s reading from Luke, in chapter 3, verses 21-22, Jesus is baptized. This
helps confirm Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. Almost immediately after
baptism, Jesus is led into the wilderness where his identity is tested by the devil.
The devil doesn’t wait around. Have you
ever experienced testing or temptation after you have made a declaration with
your life?
The timing of this passage is fascinating…We
spent the whole season of Epiphany with Christ being revealed, the light of the
world…Now, we’re back in the wilderness. What’s up with that? As one pastor
explained at text study this week, “Once Christ IS revealed, we’re tempted to
go back.” We may receive push back. Maybe living this life following Christ is
hard. During Lent, we walk with Christ, journey with Christ…Is it too hard to
walk a road marked with suffering? After all, Christ came to serve others and
not himself. Do we do the same?
As Jesus lived out his baptismal identity,
so, we, too, are called to live out ours…The questions to ask today are, What is your identity? How can you live
into it?
First, let’s examine a little closer Jesus’ temptation
or testing…“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…was led…in the
wilderness for forty days” (verse 1-2). This could echo
the forty days Moses spent fasting (Exodus 34:27-28). It also brings to mind
the forty years the Israelites spent in the desert experiencing their own
temptations. It could be seen as a time of preparation.
Then, the devil tempts him three times. The
devil starts with our areas of weakness: After not eating for forty days, Jesus
was hungry. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry after four hours! The devil
tempts Jesus with power, challenging him to depart from God’s ways, to serve
himself, pride, greed, glory, authority, ego.
Satan doesn’t “get it”: because Jesus’ life
is centered on love. God IS love. Jesus, “full of the Holy Spirit,” responds
with Scripture (Deut. 8:3; 6:13, 16) and has the ability to stand firm in his identity, and
denies the devil’s attempts to redefine who Jesus is. Then the devil departed “until
an opportune time”…It almost sounds like the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz saying, “I’ll get you,
my pretty, and your little dog, too!” Satan would come back…Death appeared to
have won when Jesus hung on the cross…But, Satan is a defeated foe. Jesus
conquered death and rose again. Death does not get the final say.
What
is your identity? It’s no secret one, like Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne…Through
baptism, we are given the identity of God’s child and are given the Holy
Spirit. We are children of God. Jesus,
yes, is the Son of God but is also the Son of Man, living in a human body. The
Holy Spirit led Jesus and abided with him. That same Spirit leads and abides
with us. Now, our baptisms do not protect us from temptations, but in our
baptism we have the confidence to trust that our identity is defined by our
relationship to God. God chose us. We can withstand tests and temptations of
ego, pride, power, and greed.
Is it easy? Of course not…And,
doing “the right thing” may cost us a lot. One of the big news stories this
week was Pope
Benedict XVI saying he will resign at the end of the month "because of
advanced age." It's the first time a pope has stepped down in nearly 600
years. "Strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the
last few months has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to
recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to
me," said Benedict, 85, according to the Vatican. Stepping away from such
a position, admitting one’s frailty, takes strength and humility.
As you know, at Caribou,
I work REALLY early in the morning, and I was able to catch singer Keith Urban’s
biography instead of an infomercial for the Foodsaver for the twenty millionth
time. Personal-wise, he married Nicole Kidman in June 2006. Career-wise, he was
exploding, making history on August 21st that year, when his
then-new single, “Once in a Lifetime,"
from his album, Love, Pain & the
Whole Crazy Thing, debuted at No. 17, setting a new record for the
highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of Billboard's country
charts. Then, everything came to a crashing halt, when in October that year, he checked himself into
rehab. Promotion for the
album and the tour had to wait until after he was done with rehab in January.
How hard was it to make that decision? In the music industry, even in life,
nothing stops or seems to wait for you. To admit the need for help and walk
away from fame, power, glory, money, ego, pride…It isn’t easy. But it can be
done.
Having your identity as a child of God…How can
you live into it? The reading from Deuteronomy reminds us
that a good place to begin is counting one’s blessings and giving thanks. It’s
easy to see our little bowl of life as empty instead of full and overflowing. The
first fruits of the produce of the land are given back to God in thanks. Do we think the gifts are ours to give? In
actuality, they don’t even belong to us. It all belongs to God.
Today, I
ask you: What is your produce? For example, if you are a teacher, how do you
teach for God? If you are a singer, how do you sing for God? Maybe you don’t
know what your “gifts” are? This week, take some time in quiet, in prayer…Listen
for what God may be revealing to you. Maybe ask your closest friends what they
see in you as your gifts. What gives you joy?
Too often, we may encounter distractions or
temptations to not be who we are called to be. In Luke, we see that the
devil is a liar. In verse 6, he says that the glory and authority over the
kingdoms of the world have been given over to him…Not so. It’s not his to give.
In verses 10-11, Satan even uses Scripture, distorting
it for his own purposes. Satan quotes our Psalm for the day, Psalm 91! We need
to be careful that we’re not using Scripture to say what WE want it to say.
Many people do it, for exclusion or their own gain. As the devil tried to
redefine who Jesus is, he tries to do the same with us. Do you know your
identity? Do you allow others or culture tell you who you are? If you don’t
know your identity, someone else will tell you who you are. Do you ever feel
the need to prove yourself? Impress others? Maybe we don’t see ego and power as
problems? BUT, if these are things that take us FROM God, putting ourselves
first instead of God and others, then, Houston, we have a problem.
As Jesus was in the wilderness for forty
days, it is, of course, no coincidence that Lent is a
forty day period. Unlike Jesus, we will fail at times, abandoning God’s task
for our own ways, power and ego. There is more to Lent than just giving up
chocolate for forty days. It is a time of formation, reflection on one’s
identity as a follower of Christ, figuring out what that means. This journey
with Christ is a way of living and not just a membership to something. We can
confess our failures and redirect our steps to the way of Jesus. When we deepen
and grow in our relationship with God, not only do we draw closer to God, but
if we’re each doing that, we’ll grow closer to each other. In our fellowship, we
love one another, encourage one another, listen to one another, pray for and with
one another.
Tuesday night, I went to the candlelight prayer
vigil at Holy Cross, as did Pastor Dan and the House of Prayer Council, for Devin
Aryal, the young boy who was shot and died this week in Oakdale. It was a
beautiful outpouring of love and support for a family and community who are
grieving. Someone asked what he could do to help. Often when people hear the
word “pray,” they think, “Well, I guess all I can do is pray.” But prayer is SO huge, so vital. Thinking
prayer doesn’t make a difference could be another temptation or deception to
keep us from prayer. When, in fact, our very spiritual lives depend on it. I look forward to our Wednesday nights together this Lent as we
learn about the different types of prayers and how we can grow deeper in our prayer
lives.
We are living in
times, in a world where people are craving for authenticity. The world outside
these walls needs to see that from us. I stumbled upon a quote this week that
said, “Why
fit in when you were born to stand out?” A challenge for you this week is that
after finding what your gifts are, do something with it for someone who doesn’t
come here. After all, the church exists for those who aren’t here.
I want to close with a story…I am currently
taking a Spiritual Formation class, and one night, the professor read the
following, which is an excerpt from an article written by Parker Palmer, Now I Become Myself: “What a long time it can take to
become the person one has always been. How often in the process we mask
ourselves in faces that are not our own…There is a Hasidic tale that reveals,
with amazing brevity, both the universal tendency to want to be someone else
and the ultimate importance of becoming one's self: Rabbi Zusya, when he was an
old man, said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not
Moses?' They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?'” We arrive in this world
with birthright gifts—then we spend the first half of our lives abandoning them…and
we ourselves, driven by fear, too often betray true self to gain the approval
of others…Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood…“the
place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need”…the deep joy of
knowing that we are here on earth to be the gifts that God created…There are at
least two ways to understand the link between selfhood and service. One is…“If
you are here unfaithfully with us, you're causing terrible damage.” If we are
unfaithful to true self, we will extract a price from others. We will make
promises we cannot keep, build houses from flimsy stuff, conjure dreams that
devolve into nightmares, and other people will suffer—if we are unfaithful to
true self.”
Who is your “true self?” Maybe it’s a heart
full of joy and positivity, having fun amidst the stresses of life, wearing a
pink wig at work…(put on my pink wig)…
…I wore
this on Valentine’s Day, having fun amidst the stress and chaos of a “Buy One,
Get One”…Barb Lind can attest to that. This joyfulness may cause others who are
having a bad day to smile. :) It may be the only smile they have for the day. Whoever
your “true self” is, LIVE IT. BE IT.
After our Gospel passage in Luke, in verse
14, Jesus, “filled with the power of the Spirit,” returned to Galilee and
starts his ministry. His identity confirmed as the Son of God, he takes action.
May our Lenten examination of identity lead to prayerful renewed focus and
action. What is our identity? We are
children of God. How can we live into
it? Being the Spirit-led people who God has created and called us to be,
with the gifts God has given us, in a world needing light. After all, isn’t there
already enough identity theft going on in the world today?
And now may the peace of God that surpasses
all understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Caroline Harthun
House of Prayer Lutheran Church
8:30am and 10:45am
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Children’s
Message: Who Are You?
Good morning, guys! How
are you this morning? Great!
So, do you have a
favorite movie? Specifically, a favorite Disney movie? Mine is Beauty and the Beast. Today, though, I
want to talk about this one (hold up picture of Aladdin).
Do you guys know this movie? Aladdin, yes, that’s right! :)
Who can tell me what
happens in the movie? Yes, Aladdin, who lives on the streets, discovers a magic
lamp, and he releases a genie, who grants him three wishes! He uses one of his
wishes to become a prince, Prince Ali, so he can marry Princess Jasmine. But,
he becomes someone that he isn’t, doesn’t he? He’s no longer Aladdin. In the
end, he realizes that the best way is to be himself. And, that is the person
who Princess Jasmine fell in love with in the first place.
In today’s Gospel
reading from Luke, we’re going to hear a story that kind of has “three wishes”
in it. The devil tries to test Jesus, to make Jesus forget who he is. After
all, who is Jesus? (The Son of God.) Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, knows
who he is, and he doesn’t fall for any of the devil’s tricks.
Do you know who you
are? Does anyone try to make you be someone that you’re not? Well, today I
brought nametags for you to take with you…On them, I have written “Child of
God,” because that is first and foremost who you are! God loves you, and you
belong to God. There is space for you to add your name, so you can do that, as
well as add any designs you would like. God has given you special gifts…Let’s
share them with others, telling others they are children of God, too. Let us pray:
Dear God, thank you so
much for sending Jesus. Thank you for calling all of us your children. Help us
today as we help others and share this news with them, that they are your
children. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Thanks for coming up
today! :)
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