Letting Go

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying 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.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

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We find this morning that Jesus heads out into the wilderness to have some time alone. It's not as if much has happened yet in Christ's ministry, because if we look back to the previous chapter, we will find that Jesus had only just been baptized by John the Baptist. Nevertheless, Jesus heads out by himself into what appears to be isolation, away from the busy noises of life, and away from the temptations that life throws our ways. Jesus isn't alone, however, and like us is confronted by forces that try to pull from the arms of God. Even Jesus, perfect love and life made flesh, was not immune from being lured by the things that tempt us: power, wealth, and fame/glory. As we reflect on Jesus' journey during this season of Lent, how might our path look similar to that of Jesus'? 

I did something crazy this past week, and I mean really crazy. Can you guess what it is? Well, I purposely left my phone home, drove my car, and went for a stroll. It may not sound crazy to you, but for me, it was something that felt uncomfortable. It's something that I wouldn't have really thought of doing until one morning my phone rang to let me know my "screen time" was up 24% from the previous week. So I thought I would try and remedy the situation, but it wasn't easy. For the first 15 minutes of my walk, I couldn't stop thinking about my phone, "What if someone from church calls me?" "What if I miss an important email or text?" "What if I miss the newest video of an adorable cat I follow on YouTube?" 

If you're curious, I did miss the daily upload release, but you know what? I watched it later, and it was an exercise of taking time to prioritize what is and is not essential, because even the important things are not always as important as we think they are. In the quiet times, we have a chance to reflect on what is going on in our hearts. We can look at what needs to be tended to and what needs healing. It's vital that we do this, or else we might find that minor things have become a significant temptation or elements that do not lend themselves to cultivating a healthy sense of self in light of God's claim on our lives. It's daunting to think of spending time alone in the quietness of our own hearts, yet it is there where we begin to prune and nurture our weary souls. 

It's fascinating that we are told that Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights. Jesus gave up something in the pursuit of gaining something else. We aren't told what Jesus was looking for was he headed out into the wilderness. Still, this kind of seclusion or spiritual practice would not have been uncommon for mystics and other religious people of Jesus' time. In those moments, when we sacrifice something in our pursuit of God is when we often come face to face with the things that tempt us most. When we let go of the things that tempt us and hand them to God, we become afraid of losing what we know and what is familiar. For Jesus, it was not only food and sustenance but also the loss of power and abilities that we associate with a divine being. 

There are three questions that come from the reading this morning that are reflective of the larger issue of what we need to let go of in our pursuit of God. We ask ourselves: How are we tempted to deny God's providence? How do we rely on power and advantages? And what things do we worship other than God?

The first is a question we must ask ourselves so that we might understand our hearts and what they are lacking. Jesus hears this in the attempt of the tempter to persuade Jesus to feed himself. The tempter says, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." When we are hungry, both spiritually and physically, it can be challenging to trust in the providence, the ultimate divine love of God. Yet we are called as Jesus reminds us that we cannot live by bread alone. In some way or another, God provides, and we have to acknowledge that there will be things that are simply out of our control and are not meant to be controlled. God, from the beginning, has provided in numerous ways. What we must do then is sift through what is life-giving and what leads us away from the life and love of God. 

The second question is found in the tempters presenting unbridled power to Jesus, "All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus resists such a temptation, but it is one that we struggle with on a regular basis. It is one that manifests in our choices and interactions with others and one that can seriously hurt ourselves and others if we don't curb our thirst for control and power. Authority and power are very strong temptations when we have the means and privilege to exercise them. And on a personal level, we have to be careful as well of the various aspects of our lives that we oversee. We have been reminded in Jesus' rebuttal the significance of the call we have all been given, that our lives are not our own, that our power and talents are not our own, and that they are God's to be used to ensure that all people may thrive in the Kingdom of God.

The final thing that we hear in this morning's passage is something that is both individual and communal. It asks us what we are the other things that we worship other than God? The tempter brings Jesus up to the point of the temple and challenges Jesus to throw himself off so that the angels from heaven might keep the foot of Jesus from dashing against the rocks below. Perhaps we worship our vanity, our image. Maybe we worship the status quo and our desire to keep things even-keeled. Or yet we might turn to something even that is even more dangerous, which is worshiping a Jesus that is kept inside a box of our making, as to make God's teachings more palatable and offensive. We can worship many different things. And when we go off the path set in front of us by God, we soon realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side. We must guard our hearts, as to ensure that they are true to worshiping what God has said is good. 

What is it that we need to let go of in order to draw nearer to God and one another? What is it that keeps us from living as people who have been touched by the love of God? Perhaps it's fear, our love of people, money, or indulgences as these things unchecked will keep us from the fullness of God. Our Lenten journey, into our own wilderness, is one that requires us to do a lot of soul searching. It requires that we know ourselves and take the risk of living differently by turning away from how the evils of the world tell us we need to live. We need to be precise, though, in identifying what we need to let go of, because otherwise, we have a tendency to be very good at convincing ourselves that the old ways and we don't have to change anything about ourselves, it's other people who need changing instead. 

We need to remember how God came to bridge the gaps in our broken world and how each of us is unique, beloved, and special. And this Lenten season, we have the opportunity to explore our spirituality and our faith in a way that reminds us of our mortality, the death of the old, and rebirth in the things that give us and others life. As we confront the three challenges posed in today's reflection, it comes down to whether we have the strength to say, "Away with you Satan, away with all your false lies, false promises, a false sense of security!" If we manage to summon those words out of our lips this Lenten season, our faith and our lives will be richer for it. Not rich in a material sense, but rich in the sense that our hearts will once again be full after having let go of the toxins that poison us and filled with the nutrients that bring our soul's new life. Amen.