The Temptations of Jesus”
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT // COMMUNION
Rev. Tom Cundiff
Luke 4: 1-13
Jesus, full of the
Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan
Then the devil
led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And 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. If you, then, will
worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him,
‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your
God, and serve only him.” ’
Then 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, for it is written, “He
will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will
not dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, ‘Do not put
the Lord your God to the test.’” When
the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune
time.
I.
Introduction: Organ Tuning
Take a few
moments to think with me about this magnificent church organ that we never take
for granted because the music in provides enhancing worship is such an integral
part of our worship.
Something I
have learned over the years is that this instrument has quite a temperament! In fact, that “temperament” is a formal term
in the vocabulary or organists. Each
instrument is unique. Each instrument
has a personality. Each organ has its
own temperament!
Scott Smith
is the professional who currently takes care of maintenance and tuning this
organ. Very few people have a
“specialized ear” for tuning organs. We’re
blessed to have Scott fitting us into his busy schedule helping us do the
tedious work of caring for this organ. Behind
the scenes he climbs up into these huge chambers with his crew, upper and lower
chambers filled with hundreds of different pipes each with their own unique
sound—and temperament. It’s tedious work
turning each individual pipe!
Without
getting too technical: There is a
conversation between the electronics of the organ console connected with a huge
bellows in the basement below us that pumps air into pipes of different sizes,
tall and short and thick and thin—some that are metal and others are made out
of wood. Each pipe is unique with
the gift of a specific sound made as air flows through it. The challenge in tuning is in making sure the
sound of each pipe is in tune with the others!
Consider
this detail: I have learned that a
near-perfect environment is required to make sure all the pipes are in
tune. If we could afford it, we would
maintain this sanctuary and those chambers at a constant 72 degrees with 50%
humidity–24 hours a day every day throughout the year. Realistically, there’s no way we can keep the
boiler running full-time – and we don’t have air conditioning or humidity
controls.
What do we
have? We have a wonderful, ‘hard-to-maintain’ organ with pipes in large
chambers where the temperature can fluctuate between the top and bottom and
front and back depending on how close those pipes are to the sanctuary or
outside walls. You get my point? It’s hard keeping the temperament of this
organ attuned with the type of music it is meant to give us.
Back to
each individual pipe: Each pipe, like each
of us, has a unique personality. Air
flows through each unique pipe just as God’s spirit flows through each of us as
we make beautiful music working as Christ’s disciples in concert—in tune with one
another.
God is the
master tuner who works in and around us in helping to create, in harmony, beautiful
music in the name of the living Christ.
While we try to always stay in tune, we are not perfect. We have unique personalities in trying to
always make beautiful music as a church, but we are not perfect. We need to be honest. We need to confess we are sometimes out of
tune with God!
II.
LENT is the
time of year we work to get ourselves attuned—in sync with God. Scripture takes us into the story of Jesus in
his getting himself in tune—attuned with God.
You know
the story. Jesus while in his late
twenties starts searching for what God wants him to do with his life. John baptizes him in the river Jordan
As the
story goes, the spirit of God leads Jesus into the wilderness for his own 40
day journey to be tempted by the devil. Critical
questions need to be asked and answered. Decisions need to be made. As
Jesus address brokenness and sin and evil in his life, we too travel through
this season of Lent, forty days and forty nights, called to address sin and brokenness
and evil in our lives. How in tune are we
as children of God, as followers of Jesus Christ – with God in our lives?
Jesus with
his own unique temperament for dealing with evil as the Son of God fasts and is
tempted on three occasions.
The
first temptation
for Jesus is to turn stones into bread in order to ease his own hunger. In a much broader context this temptation is
about choices we make in either taking either the easy or comfortable paths
laid before us or remaining “out of tune” with God. The question is simple? Do we want to attuned to God’s will and plan
for us? Or will we let the world of temptations
rule over us?
The
second temptation for
Jesus was to throw himself off the highest point of the temple to let God’s
angels save him. This was a temptation
to become like the “Jesus Christ
Superstar” in doing spectacular things – like a king – assuming things will
automatically work for good. It’s kind
of like assuming the organ is going to always be in tune. Discipleship, like organ tuning, doesn’t just
happen. Like Jesus, we are called to
live as servants of God.
The
third temptation of Jesus was to set aside his mission in order to conform to the standards of the
world. Are we going to let the pressures
of the world define who we are? Is the music
we produce going to have sacred meaning?
Are we going to live our lives as noise-makers making sounds that don’t
have value or meaning in building up God’s Kingdom here on earth?
As we enter
this 40 day season of Lent in preparing for Easter, let’s remember that Jesus
had to face numerous challenges in staying in tune with God. We will face temptations just as Jesus faced
temptations. Life is never going to be
perfect. Life is never going to be
perfectly in tune with God. That shouldn't keep us from trying.
But we can
try! We can travel with Jesus into the
wilderness and try. We can make a
regular appointment with God, every Sunday morning, to get ourselves tuned so
we can live in harmony not only with each other but also God. In tune with God, we can make beautiful music
with our lives and various ministries.
We must enter
this season of Lent remembering the world isn’t perfect. It takes a lot of hard work to say in tune
with God’s purpose for us.
OH YES! We must
also remember we are not a new organ. Some
of us have been working to stay in tune with God fifty, sixty, eighty and ninety
years. Other parts of this body are
newer than others.
Finally, let’s
remember we have a lot of tools and resources to help us stay in tune with God.
Scripture, prayer, music, private
meditation come to mind.
We take
communion or order to keep up our strength.
Fed in Christ’s spirit, communion gives us the sustenance we need to
progress forward in positive ways in serving our lord in this community. The bread of life and cup of salvation feed
our souls in helping us do Christ’s work so others around us can hear the
music God calls us to produce.
May God
bless us as we receive communion – traveling together with Christ by our side
always striving to be in tune with God.
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