Joplin Community of Christ

Led by the Spirit

Today’s Prayer for Peace – San Marino

Direct link to download today’s audio message http://jcoc.no-ip.org/media/JoplinCOC-03-13-2011.mp3
http://jcoc.no-ip.org/media/JoplinCOC-03-13-2011.mp3

Announcements
Today
Dinner Day – Potluck Dinner following the service, all are invited to attend.

Wednesday, March 16
Mid-Week Renewal of the Spirit – 6:00 PM

Sunday, March 20
Theme: Born of the Spirit
Presider: Brenda Shank
Speaker: Ann Thompson
Musician: Margo Peterson
Morning Devotions: Geneva Reed
Deacon in Charge: Geneva Reed

Saturday, April 9
Intentional Ministries of Welcome – Greeter Training
Workshop, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
To register or for more information please see the Outreach Steering Team: Shane, Barbara, James, Wade, or Steve. We are
counting on everyone to attend in this next phase of transformational Hospitality. To be held at the church.
Birthdays & Anniversaries, March 13 – 19
13 Wade Caswell
14 Leah Peterson
15 Roger and Mary Ann Enslow’s Anniversary
Administration Teams, March 13 – 26
Daytime: Pat Jones and Patsy Lay
Evenings: Mark Shank and Jim Kingore
Volunteers Needed!
Anyone interested in helping out with Vacation Bible School this
summer is welcomed and invited to share in this fun event.
Contact Wade Caswell for more information or to offer your help.

Scripture: Matthew 4:1–11

Exploring the Scriptures

This text is not meant to be read as a historical narrative, and its hearers might have understood it as being metaphorical. In other words, it is about things that are more important than facts. This is a mythological encounter between good and evil. It is “mythological” in the sense of being about the identity of a people and what is most important to them. It is not a “myth” in the sense of being false. So how will you, the speaker, make today’s sermon feel real and connected to your hearers’ lives?

We have a number of problems to overcome. First of all, most of us don’t accept the idea that Jesus could be truly tempted. The brevity of the dialogue encourages modern readers to read this text as a cartoon—Satan in a red suit with a pitchfork and Jesus with a big “J” on his chest, swatting away puny temptations.

In order to encourage empathy in the congregation for Jesus’ actual, painful temptation, we need to see him as a young man fresh from his baptism, wandering and alone in the wilderness, going hungry for 40 days, and unsure of both his calling and identity. (Have you ever fasted for even 24 hours?) Jesus has weakened himself on this journey, and may be (should be) asking himself the same question as Satan asked: “If you are the Son of God…” It is the same phrase those who mocked and opposed him later used.

It is also helpful to give Satan a little credit in the encounter. He is meant to be the personification of everything that subverts or turns away from God. A little reflection on our own temptations will reveal that the most dangerous of them are so close to the good that we barely notice when we begin to turn away. For example, if our country is good and God is good, why not worship both at once?

In this particular case, what could be wrong with feeding people? In fact, Jesus later fed people and used bread miraculously produced. In this scripture, Jesus is “famished.” If he were to make some bread, he could eat a little himself and gain strength for the journey. Asking yourself and the congregation, seriously, why Jesus resisted this temptation is a good way to make it real. Regardless of the answers, it is important to see that Jesus was making an identity choice—he was going to live by all of the words that came from God.
The church faces this kind of temptation when it forgets the breadth and sweep of its mission, making the mission about fulfilling worship experiences for themselves.

A similar approach can be taken with the second and third temptations. What is wrong with letting the powers of God help you out? One possible answer is that putting God to the test means that we will say what God has to do to prove God’s self. That is a position of doubt and egocentrism, not faith.

And what is wrong with having power and authority in the world? Think of what a good king Jesus would have been! The irony, of course, is that Jesus does receive this authority by the end of the story, in Matthew 28:18: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Perhaps Jesus’ temptation in this case was to skip the journey. He had a long way to go and a lot of hard work to do before the completion of his mission. The church, too, may face this temptation when it looks for an easy path, rather than the difficulty of compassion and forgiveness and reconciliation.

Central Ideas

1. Being close to God does not relieve one of being tempted. The temptations become closer to God, too, and, therefore, become more powerful and harder to detect as idols. Jesus really was tempted, and by some great temptations!
2. There really is a force in the world that opposes the peaceable kingdom God would have and steers us away from it. Making that force into a cartoon Satan makes it seem silly, but doesn’t make it go away.
3. Jesus discovers his identity and mission in his responses to these temptations. That could be true for us individually as well as for the church.

© 2011, Joplin Community of Christ. All rights reserved.