Today’s Gospel reading comes from the fourth chapter of Luke, verses 1 to 13:
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
2 where for forty days he was tested by the devil.
He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
3 The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
4 Jesus answered him,
“It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 5
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And the devil said to him,
“To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me,
and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered him,
“It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
9 Then the devil led him to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered him,
“It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
– Luke 4:1-13, NRSVue
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, to help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
Here are a couple statements from the late 19th and early 20th century:
“A bad negro is the most horrible creature upon the earth, the most brutal and merciless”
– Charles H. Smith
(of the Black race)
“when it produces a brute,
he is the worst and most insatiate brute that exists in human form”
– Clifton R. Breckinridge
These stereotypes of Black men led to over 4000 lynchings.
Would you kill for safety?
In the 1940s and 1950s, gay and lesbian people were portrayed as predators seeking to coerce young people into their lifestyle. Additionally, people like Senator Joseph McCarthy viewed homosexuality as a security risk allied with communism.
In 1953 President Eisenhower added “sexual perversion”
to the list of things that would prevent someone from holding a position in government, along with ways to detect and remove people who were suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Approximately 5,000 people were fired from the federal government.
Would you drive people out of their jobs for safety?
Today, a few individual stories of crimes committed by immigrants are being used as justification for the deportation of people from the United States, nearly 20,000 since January 20. Many of these people were seeking asylum from violence in their home countries, to which they are now being returned.
Would you drive people back to danger for your own safety?
We are constantly tempted to put others at risk for our own safety. We are told anecdotes of individual instances, though the statistics tell a different story:
- Most assaults on white women are from white men they know.
- Most LGBT people recognize that straight people are not attracted to them, and as for security, forcing people into hiding is what makes them security risks.
- Immigrants are less likely to commit crime because they have more to lose.
The stories tug at the heartstrings, but they don’t represent the greater risk.
In our Gospel reading Jesus is tempted to use a miracle to feed himself, to bow down to the tempter for power, and to throw himself off the precipice to prove his own safety.
The third temptation is to create a risky situation that doesn’t even have to happen. How willing are we to put people at risk for lynching, harassment, deportation, or scorn for our own perception of safety?
Our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures was from Deuteronomy, which was likely written during the Babylonian – and then Persian – Captivity and encourages the Jews as they return to their land.
It provides instruction on coming into the land, and it ends with
11 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.
- Deuteronomy 91:11, NRSVue
Rather than fear of the aliens, the Jews are told to celebrate with them.
Our reading from the letter to the Romans contains a familiar yet powerful verse:
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
- Romans 10:12, NRSVue
No distinction.
Human beings are often tempted to make distinctions between other humans:
- Safe and unsafe
- Worthy and unworthy
- Good and evil
Not only do we do this with individuals, which is already harmful, we do this with entire categories of people, based on color, sex, nationality, religion, or who they love.
Not only is it unhelpful, it is actually harmful. It is harmful to those we denigrate, and it is harmful to us, as it deprives us of being neighbors with some really wonderful people. It deprives our society of talents that would make life better for all.
So my challenge to all of us this week is think about what we might be giving up for safety, or perhaps merely the illusion of safety.
Are the fears rational? And are the measures worth the cost?
Amen.
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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