Richard Davenport

March 9, 2025 – First Sunday in Lent

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

                We have arrived at the beginning of Lent.  It took a bit longer this year than in some years. We had more time this year to consider the work of our Lord prior to his journey to the cross.  Of course, you could say that all of history prior to Good Friday is the story of Christ’s journey to the cross, but this is now a more immediate situation.  The moment all of creation has been waiting for since Genesis 3 is finally at hand.

                Jesus still has much to do on his final trek to Jerusalem though.  He doesn’t succumb to tunnel vision, focused solely on his goal.  He still takes time to tend to the needs of the people.  He heals where there is sickness.  He teaches where there is a desire for understanding.  He forgives where there is repentance. 

                The Gospel reading for today highlights an early part of Jesus’ ministry.  It’s actually the first thing he does after getting baptized.  It may seem a bit odd to go back to the beginning when we’re in Lent, but the liturgical year doesn’t necessarily do everything in order.  We try to pack in the whole of his ministry, really the whole of his life, into a single year and the church does the best it can. 

More than that, having this passage at the beginning of Lent reminds of what his ministry is all about.  Does Jesus come to heal people?  Sure. Does he teach them about the things of God?  All the time. Does he point out sin and call people to repentance?  Yes. Does he forgive those who seek grace? Yes again. 

Ultimately though, all of those are helpful, but temporary.  They’re bandaids on a fatal stab wound.  Not only are each of us still dying, but the enemy is still out there too.  Jesus comes to deal with the root of the problem.  He comes to topple Satan and to put a permanent end to the power of sin. 

Satan isn’t really fooled.  He doesn’t understand Jesus’ plan, but he knows full well that Jesus is God.  If he can somehow convince Jesus to listen to him, to give him power, then he’ll have won the day.  Jesus is God, but he’s also a man.  Satan sees no reason not to give it a shot.  Maybe the human side of Jesus can be brought around to his way of thinking. After all, it worked before.

The temptations.  That’s what Gospel reading is all about.  Satan offers what isn’t truly his to give.  Jesus knows bread doesn’t actually give life.  Jesus already knows his Father will care for him.  Jesus knows the kingdoms of the world belong to God and not to Satan.  Jesus doesn’t fall for any of it.  Jesus receives joy and suffering both without complaint, because in all things, his Father is still in charge and still providing for him.

That sets the tone for his ministry.  Jesus is going to demonstrate that Satan is powerless.  The only weapons he has at his disposal are lies. All he can do is try to deceive you with them.  Jesus is going to walk into the very heart of the lies, the root of all sin is the lie that you can become like God.  Jesus is going to show the world where this lie gets you, where it always gets you, and then he’s going to show the world that the truth triumphs over Satan’s lies, and that, in Christ, life triumphs over death.

The Gospel reading is paired with the reading from Deuteronomy.  Last week we heard the passage almost at the end of Deuteronomy, which chronicled Moses’ last moments in life.  This backs up a little bit.  The Israelites are nearing the Promised Land.  Their journey is almost over.  They’ve been to this point before, but last time they refused what God offered, so they needed some time to learn to trust him before they would be ready.  Now they’re almost there.

It's probably the topic that comes up at just about every meal, “What’s it going to be like?  Will we really have our own land to settle on?  What sorts of things do you think will be on our land?  Will we end up in the north or the south?” and so on.  The family daydreams and thinks about what the land will look like and what sorts of things they’ll do.  They’ll make plans, serious or silly. 

As they approach the Jordan, some of the tribes look around at the land and determine it is already suitable for their needs and ask to live there.  God grants them their request.  On that fateful day, the rest of the tribes cross the Jordan with another miraculous parting of the water.  They have finally arrived.  As the months progress, they slowly move further and further into the land, driving out the pagan inhabitants and settling in the cities they have left behind.  The people take possession of the cities, the fields, the cattle, the orchards and vineyards. It’s all there ready and waiting for them.

Do all of their dreams come true?  Maybe.  They certainly have everything they need.  There’s nothing for them to worry about.  No raiders coming to steal what they have.  No blight to kill the crops.  No plague to kill the cattle or people.  Everyone is provided for. 

Again, the name of the game is temptation.  Satan continues to find things to dangle in front of you.  After you’ve settled in the land, after you’ve claimed your plot, after you’ve begun living your life in your new home, that peace and contentment will be the order of the day.  At what point do you start thinking of all of it as yours?

I mean, it is yours.  You’re living there.  You’re tending the fields.  You’re raising a family.  You’re the one that keeps it and maintains it.  It’s obviously yours.  Yet, God requires this little ritual, this little chore, once you’ve been in the land long enough to gather your first harvest.  It’s a bit of a bother.  It’s time out of your busy schedule getting your land squared away.  You’ve been there for a little bit, but not that long. There’s plenty still to do.  But, God demands this anyway. 

At some point you forget.  You’re going about your daily life, doing your daily things, and at some point how you got here just doesn’t come to mind anymore.  It isn’t something you reflect on.  You just don’t need that information to deal with your tasks and to take care of business.  At some point you start thinking about how you’re the one who’s here and doing all of the work and that means you’re the one who gets to make the rules as to how it should be used.  You get to decide what sort of business you undertake and how you’ll go about it. You’ll get to decide what is most important for yourself, your family, and everything else that is under you. You get to make those decisions, and no one else.

Sadly, it’s inevitable that the people will eventually rebel against God. Once upon a time, back in the garden of Eden, Satan had to come up with some really convincing arguments to get Adam and Eve to buy into his lies.  Now, sinners that we all are, we do half the work for him.  We’re already looking hungrily for the goodies before he ever even dangles them in front of us. 

That doesn’t mean God doesn’t try, though.  He tries to keep us on the straight and narrow.  He tries to protect us from ourselves, because he knows if we’re left to manage life on our own we’re in major trouble.  Before the Israelites ever leave Egypt, he institutes the Passover, not just the event itself, but also the meal they’ll share every year to remember how it is they left Egypt.  Now he is also commanding them to bring some of their first produce to God as an offering.  But, they don’t just offer the food, they recount the story of how they got here. What was it that enabled them to leave Egypt, travel across the wilderness, and take possession of a land all their own?  The Lord.

This is God’s reminder that they had done nothing to deserve any of this. They had done nothing to earn it. There wasn’t a single thing that had happened anywhere on this journey that they could say they had done all on their own.  They didn’t get themselves out of Egypt.  They didn’t defeat Pharaoh.  They didn’t defeat any of the nations they encountered along the way.  They didn’t move the waters of the Red Sea or the Jordan. They didn’t provide their own food or water.  They did nothing, and that was just fine.  That was exactly what they were supposed to do. 

The journey they took from Egypt to the Promised Land was a forty year lesson on love.  Once upon a time, people would not have needed this lesson, because they already understood the unfathomable love of their Creator.  But now, in a world where everyone seeks to be their own god, this kind of selfless, sacrificial love is something we don’t see and don’t understand. To see it, God has to show it to us. For us to truly understand it, we have to bear in mind that it has all been a gift, given out of love, and requiring nothing in return.  For this gift, there is nothing for them to do but to give thanks and enjoy the gift as an enduring sign of God’s love.

As we begin our trek through Lent, we consider this new journey we are on. We continue to follow God. Everything he did for the Israelites was a prelude to what he does now in Lent.  The physical journey of the Israelites, leaving slavery in Egypt and travelling to a land where they would dwell with God in peace, foreshadows our journey from slavery to sin and our travel to a land where we again dwell with God in peace. 

It’s no surprise that Good Friday falls in the context of the Passover.  We find our freedom here, not because we won it, but because it was won for us.  Christ travels to the cross to free us from our slavery and to lead us to the Promised Land.  In following him, we know peace. 

This is what we hear as we confess together the creed.  The story of Christ is the story of salvation.  I repeat it periodically because Luther captures the story so well:  I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.