Matthew 4:1-11: Resistance to Temptation

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 18 April 2010
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today we are going to be speaking about Jesus’ preparation for ministry. I have a couple of comics here about preparation.

[1]
Our times of preparation in life are very important. There is preparation for everyday events getting the kids ready for school, getting oneself ready for work, getting dinner ready, etc. There is also preparation that God provides for each of us – whether we notice it or not – before we make major transitions in life. I know that there are a few people in the congregation who have times of major transition before them very soon, either from school into the work force or university as some of our teens will be facing before they know it, or preparation to move to a new community, or preparation for retirement, or preparation for when our kids are old enough to go to school or responsible enough to move away from home, or even preparation for a new job or a new ministry opportunity.

Today we are looking at the section in Matthew's Gospel where God is preparing Jesus for a major transition, when he is about to start his full-time ministry. We read from Matthew 4 earlier where God, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert for 40 days.

This is right when Jesus is about to be released into ministry. And just before this happens – in 3:13-17– Jesus is baptised along with a number of other people (Luke 3:21,22; cf. Matthew 3:5,6; Luke 3:7) and the Holy Spirit himself descends upon Jesus like a dove. God says to him, ‘you are my Son’ (Luke 3:22); He says, ‘this is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16,17; cf. Luke 4:22). Jesus is beginning a new stage in his life and ministry and his father, God, is happy and like any proud papa he announces it here to any who can hear it.

God is like a proud parent here when His child wins an award; graduates from school; or -as is the case here- is baptised. But what happens next? As soon as Jesus has been baptised, as soon as he graduates to his next stage in life, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him and leads Jesus into the desert to fast for 40 days and then Jesus… is tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2; cf. Mark 1:11-12, Luke 4:1). This is quite the graduation present: the Holy Spirit sends him to desert with no food to be tempted by the devil.

Now, I should explain something here that is very important. Looking quickly at James 1:13, it says there, “No one, when tempted should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.” Jesus cannot be tempted by evil and God tempts no one.

The temptations that happen in our life like the tempting that is happing in the text here, it isn’t by God. He doesn’t do it. The devil does it (cf. for ex. Job 1:6-2:7; 2 Samuel 24:1; 1 Chronicles 21:1). And Jesus never gives into the temptation. Jesus never actual considers following the satan’s advice for God does not tempt and God cannot be tempted.

What God, the Holy Spirit, does in our text here is to lead Jesus into the desert to fast (Matthew 4:1; cf. Luke 4:2), to worship God and to prove himself (to us who read this story as well as to the people he told this story as well as to the satan). This is important also because of the symbolism of the other people that God has encouraged in the desert like this: there’s Elijah (1 Kings 19:4-8) and Moses, (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9) we remember, who both fast for 40 days – Moses, does this when he receives the 10 Commandments; Elijah after all the prophets of Baal have been killed; There is also rain for forty days and nights after God saves Noah and when God is preparing Noah for the next stage in his life (cf. Genesis 6-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-10); the Israelites, as soon as they are released from captivity in Egypt, spend their first 40 years in the desert in preparation to enter the land God promised them.[2] And now God is giving this very same opportunity to Jesus, His son – and in the process God is letting everyone know that Jesus is at least the same calibre as all these people - and we know he’s even more…

Jesus’ forty days could be like the last 40 days one counts down before retirement or the time when one is waiting for his house to sell so he can move or even the time between when they announce that Officers are going to move and the actual move date. Before God moved Susan the kids and I from Vancouver to Winnipeg, we had about 40 days when we were camping -more or less- in the wilderness. It is in the wilderness that the devil tries to tempt Jesus.

Now it is interesting, I think that many of us have probably noticed that the devil often attacks us when things are going well. He attacks right after big successes or important events (cf. Kings 19-20) – like Jesus’ baptism here by John. The devil attacks in a number of different ways too. He tries to tempt Jesus the same way he tries to get us. Jesus in his life faces every temptation that is common to people (Hebrews 2:18).

The first way the Devil tries to trick Jesus is through a social temptation. Jesus is hungry. He’s been fasting for forty days - remember. And, verse 3: “The devil said to him ‘if you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’” Now in doing this the devil is saying a couple of things, 1) you call yourself the Son of God? I don’t believe you.[3] Prove it. You’re hungry. Feed yourself. And 2) he also knows that Israel wasn’t the richest country in the world and there were starving people then (just like there are starving people in the world now). If he is the Son of God, he should be able to take care of society, of people, of his friends, of his family, & of himself. Jesus, Satan says, feed yourself, if you care about people - if you can; Turn this rock into bread, if you can (cf. John 6:26, 30-31).

The devil tries to tempt us the same way doesn’t he? We all can fall prey to social temptations and ‘peer pressure’ can’t we? I heard of one lady recently who bought a certain pair of shoes just because ‘everyone her age had a similar pair of shoes’. Can we ever be tempted away from what God wants us to do by pressure from friends or society in general? What do you do when the accuser uses your family, your colleagues, your spouse, your friends to tempt you into doing something you wouldn’t otherwise? How do you answer their attempts to tempt you?

How does Jesus answer when the devil tries to tempt him? He answers by quoting the Bible. This is always a good idea. It is a good reason to come to Bible study and to keep reading the scriptures too. Jesus doesn’t need to turn the rock into bread as the devil is suggesting and Jesus says, vs. 4, that ‘man does not live by bread alone.’

Jesus in saying this is quoting from Deuteronomy 8. Deuteronomy 8 is when Israel was finishing its forty years in the desert, just like Jesus is finishing his forty days in the desert. God let the Israelites be hungry when they were in the desert then (Deuteronomy 8:3) just like God is letting Jesus be hungry in the desert now and God took care of them like he is taking care of Jesus and like He will take care of us. ‘Man does not live by bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3).’

The devil doesn’t give up so easily though. He tries first with this social temptation. He tries next in the Lukan account (the third temptation in Matthew’s account) with a political temptation: you can be great, he says. Matthew 4:8-9: the devil shows Jesus all the nations of the world and "All this I will give you," he says, "if you will bow down and worship me." I will give you all of the power, all countries –all of the kingdoms- in the world. I will give you all this authority. Luke tells us more about what the devil says. He says to Jesus about this authority over the nations, for “it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I please. If you then worship me it will be yours” (Luke 4:6).

This seems to be a pretty good offer. After all, the devil is right - sort of - he has been given authority on earth (John 12:30-32, 14:29-31, 16:11)– you don’t have to look so far with all the wars, violence, and starving people around (even though God has given us more than enough to solve all of these problems). You don’t have to look to far to see the trouble that we the people are causing because the devil truly is the ‘prince of this world.’

In our passage, the devil is tempting Jesus with power. He is saying, look, just work for me, and you can be in charge of this world. You say you are the Messiah, the king of kings (cf. 1 Timothy 6:15). ‘You can have all this political power in the world; just come work for me.’

We have seen in our country and our world what happens when politicians serve themselves, money, popular opinion, or other such manifestations or instruments of the devil but you know what? We may face this temptation too. Some of us here may be looking at retirement, or volunteer work, or new careers in new cities, or new schools, or new classes. Whenever we are preparing for something new in life, the devil can be there with a political temptation and it may sound like this: 'You’re better than that person, aren’t you?' He will say, 'that person can’t do this or that as well as you can. You should complain. You should let people know that you can do a better job than them. You can take control yourself.' This political temptation, it often rears its ugly head in the form of pride, impatience with others, and negative comments. You have been around people who often don’t seem to have anything nice about others. When we are like this, we are easy prey for the devil’s political temptations to exalt ourselves at the expense of others. So what do we do when we notice that we are complaining too much about things or what do we do when we notice that we are starting to think that the things we do: the meals we cook, the classes we teach, the houses we keep clean, the jobs we do are so much better than anyone else’s? What do we do?

What does Jesus do? Jesus turns to God’s word and disarms the devil. He quotes scripture again. And –this is interesting- he quotes from the same part of scripture: when the Israelites are just finishing up their time in the desert (Deuteronomy 6: 13-15) that the Devil quoted earlier. He says, verse 10, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ This makes sense really if we think about it. Sure the devil has been given a certain amount of authority on earth, but it really is God who is the King of kings. Satan is just a rebellious prince. He’s a bad manager while the boss is away. And you know what happens to a bad manager when the boss comes back…he gets fired. Jesus knows this. Jesus knows that ultimately all authority on heaven and earth is really his anyway because he is God’s son (cf. Matthew 12:25-28; Luke 10:18; 1 Corinthians 15:25-26).

We should know this too. God is real. His Spirit is leading us in our lives (its just a matter of if we choose to follow) and Jesus is coming back. And when he does, do you want to be working Satan who is a rebellious prince and a bad manager or would you rather be working for God! God is the real authority and Jesus is coming back. Don’t be tempted to serve anyone else – you can’t serve two masters; and if we try to, it won’t go well. Jesus tells the devil and he reminds us to ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ (It is after this temptation in Matthew’s account that the devil flees him – Matthew 4:11.) There is one more temptation that we skipped over, however. We will return to this now – in Luke’s account it is the third of the three temptations.[4]

The Devil doesn’t give up easily when Jesus is standing up to him. The Spirit led Jesus to the desert. Jesus has been remaining in the Spirit and quoting Scripture. So you know what Satan does? He quotes scripture too. And he knows it pretty well. He takes Jesus to the top of the massive temple in Jerusalem and says –Verses 5-6– “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 (Psalm 91:11-21).” This is a religious temptation.[5] The Devil quotes the Bible and it says that God’s angel will protect Jesus. Don’t worry you’ll be okay. God will protect you. You’ll be fine.

How many times do we hear this in our lives: 'it’s just a white lie: you’ll be fine if you do this; you won’t go to hell. You’re just speeding, its not hurting anybody. Just once, God’s not going to cast you away for doing something wrong just once. Look no one really cares about that anyway. It says that God will never leave you nor forsake you. We all sin all the time anyway.' These are tricks the devil can use to lead us astray and…

This is it. This is the culminating attempt at temptation and this is one lie that can get us all if we don’t rely heavily on God’s Spirit and God’s Scripture: ‘your not hurting anyone…and why bother? Since we all sin all the time anyway’.

It’s not true. We don’t need to sin so don’t believe it when you hear it. We don’t need to sin. We do need not to sin. Be holy (1 Peter 1:15, Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7). Be perfect (Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 13; Colossians 1:28; Hebrews 11,12). We can’t do it ourselves but the Lord will help us. He will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). We need to rely on God and on His scriptures like Jesus did. Turn to the Spirit who lets us endure any temptation. Its like Jesus says, quoting Deuteronomy again, ‘don’t put the Lord your God to the test’…don’t Sin! Don’t listen to Nike’s ‘JUST DO IT’. Listen to God and Just DON’T do it!

So when the Holy Spirit released Jesus into His ministry, the devil tried tempting Jesus with everything he had. Jesus was in the Spirit, he relied on God and he relied on the Bible, and in so doing he resisted the devil and the devil fled from him (James 1:13). Like it says in James 1:12, ‘Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.’

Don’t give up, remain in the spirit, even if you slip up, remain in the spirit and as you do you will find that you read the scriptures, trust in God, endure the temptations, and persevere. Remember what it says in Matthew 4:11: “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” And Luke 4:13-14: “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him –until an opportune time- Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee.” And it will be the same with us.

Let us pray. This prayer for us is from 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you (us) through and through. May your (our) whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you (us) is faithful and he will do it.’ Amen.

So then, we need to remember when we leave here and are faced with temptations from the devil himself, to just remain in the Spirit, like Jesus and the devil will flee us.

God will take care of him.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Jim Davis, “Garfield”, Available on-line at http://garfield.nfshost.com
[2] Cf. R.T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary, (TNTC3: Downers Grove, Il.: InterVarsity Press, 1985), note on Matthew 4:1-11, Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.
[3] Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Know Press, 1993), 23: The devil in saying this – of course – is most certainly well aware of who Jesus is.
[4] D.A. Carson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/II. The Gospel of the Kingdom (3:1-7:29)/A. Narrative (3:1-4:25)/1. Foundational steps (3:1-4:11)/c. The temptation of Jesus (4:1-11), Book Version: 4.0.2 argues that Luke reverses the order of the last two temptations for topographical reasons and that Matthew's order is the original (Schweizer, Walvoord).
[5] D.A. Carson, Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/II. The Gospel of the Kingdom (3:1-7:29)/A. Narrative (3:1-4:25)/1. Foundational steps (3:1-4:11)/c. The temptation of Jesus (4:1-11), Book Version: 4.0.2: Late Jewish midrash says that Messiah would prove himself by leaping from the temple pinnacle; but apart from its lateness, it mentions no spectators. So it is unlikely that this was a temptation for Jesus to prove himself to the people as a new "David" who will again rid Jerusalem of the "Jebusites" (i.e., Romans—contra Kirk, "Messianic Role," pp. 91-95).”

Matthew 3:7-10: Security Clearance (Luke 3:7-9)

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 11 April 2010

and Alberni Valley Ministries, 15 January 2023
By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2010 version; for the 2023 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2023/01/matthew-37-10-security-clearance.html

I can remember when I was in my late teens: I was a janitor. I may have shared some of the stories with you and I will probably share a couple of more with you even before we finish looking at the book of Matthew here. I had a number of different contracts as a janitor in various different buildings and I needed quite a high security rating actually. (I just recently had my RCMP clearance done again here in Swift Current in order to do some chaplaincy work with the RCMP.)

When I first had my clearance done, it was quite something. I was just a teenager then, as I had mentioned, and in my interview they ask me what I did twenty years ago, I respond ‘nothing’ – ‘I’m only 18. I thought it was funny – the police officer interviewing me didn’t. I needed an extra special clearance because one on the contracts I have is to cover for the regular janitor when he is sick or on holidays at the CSIS building (CSIS is Canada’s spy agency, our CIA) on Blanshard Street. As part of the interview, they asked me how come I haven’t held a job for 5 years or more – I reminded them that I am only 18 and smiled – but they didn’t. This interview not only went on for an hour or so but they also fingerprinted me and then they interviewed two of my friends, one by telephone and one in person. In speaking with them afterwards, it was really quite an in-depth interview and because of this I really began to have some faith in our very pre-9/11 security measures and how seriously they take their jobs. I was beginning to have a lot of faith in the Canadian spy agency’s thoroughness and ability, especially when they reviewed this information they collected on me for up to six months before they finally got back to me with my security clearance.

Just out of curiosity, I when I finally did get my clearance back, I asked why it took so long and they said it took so long to notify me of my clearance because they – Canada’s spy agency - couldn’t find me. I pointed out that my address and phone number were on the application form and that I hadn’t moved during that time. I laughed; they didn’t. I was assuming that they were joking when Canada’s spy agency said they couldn’t find me. I was wrong. I laughed – they didn’t. Shortly afterwards I worked my first shift at the CSIS building and as I was emptying one garbage can at a desk, the officer told me that if I looked at anything in it he’d have to kill me, I laughed – he didn’t. The next week, my boss told me to go and cover another shift at the CSIS building because I was the only one with clearance. I said no. She laughed – I didn’t. I had done my last shift as a CSIS janitor. John the Baptist, to some here in our story today, must seem about as humourless as the CSIS agent I encountered (re John the Baptist, cf. Josephus, Antiquities 18.5.2). Matthew 3:7-10:

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

This is interesting too because if we just read this pericope it can look like an uncalled for attack upon the religious leaders of the day. It could be like if myself, a priest or pastor or even the ministerial executive all heads out to a Christian concert in the park and Larry – or whoever is singing – puts down his guitar mid-song and says to us, “you snakes…who told you about this event; you think you’re so good, well, you’re not! You say you have Christ as your saviour, I tell you he can make followers out of this dirt here, if he wants to!”[1] You can see how we and they might be taken aback but as we read through the rest of Matthew’s gospel, John’s reaction to the religious leaders showing up at his concert – though still very bold - doesn’t seem quite so out of context as all that (but cf. Luke 3:9).[2]

Biblical Scholar Eugene Boring draws our attention to the fact that, “in Matthew’s view they [the Pharisees and Sadducees] represent the Jewish opposition who come to inspect him rather than to be baptised by him”[3] (cf. 21:5, 23-27; but cf. Luke 3:7). It would be like a year ago or so when the federal Conservatives were spying on the NDP and they got caught, the NDP rightfully weren’t so happy to have the Tories hiding in the crowd and they publicly called them on it.[4] Our scene here would raise the same emotions for those present as the Conservative spies being caught at a NDP meeting (after the Conservatives had already gotten in trouble for allegedly illegal actions and secret tapes around Grewal and the Cadman affair…); for the people with John outside in the wilderness, it would have the same emotional effect as if a venomous snake is seen in the grass; or of a brood of vipers being spotted very nearby, ready to strike. This latter phrase is the one that Matthew lets us know that John used as a comparison. He called the religious authorities a ‘brood of vipers’ (cf. Matthew 12:34, 24:33). As well as the remark just being an insult that John feels he is entitled to deliver here, John could very likely be comparing the religious leaders of his day to the snake in the Garden of Eden. The phrase that is translated ‘brood of vipers’ literally means ‘sons of snakes’ and could be interpreted to mean ‘sons of the deceiver’, whose teaching is like venomous poison (cf. Genesis 3; Jeremiah 46:22).[5]

So this is quite a greeting that John gives the religious authorities who come to hear him. Verses 8 and 9 let us see what is the point of his public comments here. John tells the crowd (cf. Luke 3:9, re: ‘crowd’; cf. 1QS 2:25–3:12, re: repentance), “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:8,9). Alongside John the Baptist, The Salvation Army in our ninth doctrine proclaims ‘that a continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.’ We can’t just say that we have Abraham as our father, Jesus as our saviour; we need to bear fruit keeping with repentance.

John is telling the people that salvation isn’t dependent on who you are or who you claim to be; who your ancestors are, or anything like that. John is telling the crowds that our continuance in a state of salvation is evidenced by a continued obedient faith in God.[6] The way it is presented here it would be obviously an affront, as we have mentioned, but it could be a shock for the religious leaders as well – especially the Pharisees.

The Pharisees, at their best, were an early Jewish holiness movement. However, they seemed to fall prey to a temptation that the devil tends to offer up to holiness movements even today (of which we are one and this temptation is one that I hope and pray that we will never be tripped up by). The Pharisees believed that they were saved because of who they were; they tried to be holy but they went overboard. Throughout the gospels they are accused of wrong judgment, hypocrisy, and burdening the people with extra rules and regulations. Matthew will go on to highlight their short-fallings in his gospel (Matthew 5:20; 9:1-34; 12:1-13, 22-46; 15:1-28; 16:1-12: 19:1-11; 21:23-46; 22:15-46; 23:1-39). John the Baptist here points out that they are not saved just because of who they are if they do not act as if they are saved (cf. 1 John 2:3-6). If He wanted to, God could simply create who they are and who they claim to be, ‘sons of Abraham’, simply from rocks (cf. John 8:33, 39; 8:11–12; Romans 2:17–29; 4:16–25; 9:6–8; Galatians 3:7–29), or anything else nearby, I would presume, for that matter.

It is the same for us, we must produce fruit in keeping with repentance, a continuance in a state of salvation depends upon (is evidenced by) our continued obedient faith in Christ (cf. Romans 11:16, Ephesians 2:8-10, Galatians 1:15, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, Hebrews 5:4).[7] We weren’t chosen for a state salvation because we are Canadians or because we are from Saskatchewan. God doesn’t need us; we need God. He can raise Canadians from those flowers over there if he wants to do so. He can raise Salvationists from that chair over there and God can raise good, temperate, teetotalers from the carpet if he wants to; that doesn’t mean that because we are any of these things that God will raise us from the dead to eternal life in Him. That is something altogether different.

We were chosen because God loves us. God loves everyone in the world so much that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life (John 3:16).

You see, Salvation isn’t so much a state of being that you can be born into, as it is the expression of a relationship which one can continue in for both now and forever.[8] The sinner’s prayer, that is rightfully so important in many of our lives, is like a police check, a security clearance. Do you know how long a police security clearance is really good for? …about 5 minutes. In between getting your criminal record checked and handing in the piece of paper to your boss – in theory anyway – you could stop by the bank and rob it. The paper may say that you have never committed (or at least been convicted of) a crime but as soon as you leave the station it is no longer necessarily accurate. You may decide to stop by the 7-11 on the way home and rob it, for all anyone knows. That is why when people work with vulnerable people they are supposed to get criminal record checks done on a regular basis.

The experience of salvation itself is more like a marriage. There is the initial event that starts off the marriage – the covenant that you make with God; the wedding ceremony - this is much like the ‘sinner’s prayer’ in most evangelical churches or baptism in some main-line churches. The wedding is just the beginning of the marriage relationship. It is not its culmination – and hopefully not the best part of it! There is a little bit more to marriage than simply standing at the altar and saying ‘I do’. Our proclamation of salvation, similarly; our saying the ‘sinner’s prayer’ is just the beginning of our salvation; it is not the totality of our salvific relationship with Jesus Christ. And thank the Lord for that!

Some of the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day here in our text today are being accused of relying on their position (religion, race) rather than on their relationship with God for salvation. They are accused of not producing fruit in keeping with repentance. Doing this is akin to getting married and then going away, never again ever doing anything with your spouse: never seeing your spouse again, never talking to her again, never even calling her on the phone from the time you say ‘I do’ until the time they lower you into the grave, beneath the grass and beneath the dew. In that case you will have been a part of a wedding ceremony once but you will have never experienced any blessings of the marriage and as long as you are estranged from your husband or wife, wearing that otherwise important ring on your finger in this situation is pretty useless and so is the Pharisees implied claim that they are sons of Abraham useless (Matthew 3:9; cf. Luke 3:8). It is an expired security clearance. This is, I think, what Matthew warns us about when he reminds us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance and when he later tells us in his gospel to be perfect as Christ is perfect (Matthew 5:48; cf. 2 Corinthians 13; Colossians 1:28; Hebrews 11,12; cf. also 1 Peter 1:15, Lev 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7).

This is some of what Matthew in retelling this event with John the Baptist is explaining to us: unless we continue producing fruit in keeping with repentance, we will never eat of the tree of life (cf. Genesis 1-3); unless we continue in a state of obedience faith in and faithfulness to Christ, then we will never experience the full salvation blessing of continued obedience in Christ. “While trust in Christ’s salvation is a first requirement, it is not the last.”[9] As Paul reminds the Corinthians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10; cf. Matthew 7:12-29; 25:31-46).

The eternal covenant with our Lord is the most wonderful thing in the entire world. Being tied together with Christ in a holy covenant means that whatever life throws our way, Christ can handle for us. We no longer need to rely on our own strength (1 Thessalonians 5:22-24). The church, as the bride of Christ, is able to defer to him as our head and love him as our salvation (Ephesians 5:23). There is no other name under heaven through which men (and women) will be saved (Acts 4:12). So today on the week after our anniversary of Easter and the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), I invite us all to turn to the Lord for, even more than the most loving and faithful spouse; Christ is always there for us. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Romans 3:3,4). As long as we still have breath in ourbody, we still have the opportunity to return to God and be saved.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Know Press, 1993), 20.
[2] R. T. France : Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), CD-ROM Note on Matthew 3:7.
[3] M. Eugene Boring, Matthew (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 157,
[4] The Canadian Press “NDP wants names of Tories involved in taping of private caucus meeting” Reported by CBC. Last Updated: Sunday, January 4, 2009 7:13 PM ET. Available on-line at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/01/04/ndp-caucustape.html#ixzz0kFwSb4w7
[5] M. Eugene Boring, 157. Cf. Also R. T. France : Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), CD ROM note on Matthew 3:7, where a parallel is drawn between this event Egypt’s being referred to as a snake by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 46:22)
[6] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Grace and Works: a Look at Doctrines 5-10 of The Salvation Army’. Available on-line at http://www.sheepspeak.com/Michael_Ramsay_Theology_TSA.htm#Works
[7] Cf. The General of the Salvation Army. Salvation Story: A Handbook of Salvationist Doctrine. (London, England: The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 1998),73-77.
[8] Cf. The General of the Salvation Army. ‘Salvation Story: A Handbook of Salvationist Doctrine’. (London, England: The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 1998), p. 59.
[9] Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 20.

Luke 24:1-12: Why do you look for the living among the dead?

Presented to Swift Current Corps Easter Sunday, 04 April 2010 and The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 21 April 2019 by Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the 2010 version; to read the 2019 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/04/luke-241-12-why-do-you-look-for-living.html

Now I must admit that when I was a kid I used to be quite good at hide-and-seek and I still have a great way to not get caught – Rebecca and Sarah-Grace, cover your ears – you see, when I am hiding and they are looking for me, I keep my eyes open and watch to see where they are or listen to discover where they are looking and as soon as they have looked in a particular spot, I will move from where I am to that spot where they just were, knowing that they won’t look there again. This works really well with a house with an upstairs and a downstairs because as soon as the kids come upstairs, one can make a beeline straight for the downstairs.

Hide and seek: Did you ever play hide and seek? There is one thing that you notice playing ‘hide and seek’ with mostly little kids – younger than my two – but sometimes with older ones as well. It is really quite neat. Most of them when they are hiding, they close their eyes. So when you call out, ‘1-2-3, I see you’ – you will sometimes hear – ‘no you don’t! …I have my eyes closed’ or ‘1-2-3, I see you’ - ‘you can’t; I’m invisible still…I still have my eyes closed.’ This is not totally unrelated from our text today, as people are here wondering why they can’t see Jesus.

In our pericope today the disciples and the women are convinced that they know where Jesus is and what is happening. They look in the spot where they know he went, the tomb for the dead, but Jesus has moved. He is back in the land of the living. And so the angels ask, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

The people in our story today have no expectation that Jesus will rise from the dead. Even though he alluded to the fact that he will rise from the dead (Luke 9:22, 44; 18:32-33) and even though he himself has raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11), no one had ever been raised from the dead like this before so they did not expect it – and really can we blame them? When is the last time you went to a funeral and the funeral home director or the minister opens the coffin and says, now where did your uncle John get to? Did anyone see John? Hmm, I wonder if he has just become alive again and walked out the door. I hate it when that happens…

The women head out to the tomb it says with spices in hand. Luke 23:56 tells us that the women in Jesus life prepared these spices before the Sabbath began but waited until after to anoint the body;[1] so what is the purpose of anointing the body? Some have suggested that it has to do with an embalming practice of sorts but, of course, the Jewish people never practiced embalming;[2] however, it does still have to do with a burial rite of the first century Palestinians (cf. Shabbath 23:4,5).[3] The women are preparing to see a dead man. They don’t believe yet in the imminent resurrection.Mark – in his gospel - lets us listen to the women’s conversation en route to the tomb. On the way to the grave, what are they talking about? What’s on their minds? Are they discussing the possibility of the resurrection? Are they wondering if…maybe…could he have risen from the dead? No. What Mark records in his gospel is that they are concerned with the rock in front of tomb. Who’ll roll it away they wonder? They think they are going to see a dead man sealed in a tomb. They don’t know he’s alive.It must to them then seem like everything that the women and the disciples had pinned their hopes and dreams on was for nothing. Do we ever get like that? Do we ever get disillusioned? This must be what it feels like for the women at first, seeing as they head out with these spices. They are in mourning going out to pay respect to a dead leader rather than a risen saviour. They are out there looking for the living among the dead.

Do we ever get like that? Do we ever look for the living among the dead? Do we ever come here to church as if we are headed out to a funeral rather than a victory party? Do we ever come here on Sunday morning to pay tribute to a dead historical figure and read eulogies about his life? Sunday – do we treat it like a funeral service?

Look – church services have some of the same trappings as funerals / memorial services. In a funeral we sing some favourite songs; in church we sing some favourite songs. In a funeral we read some favourite scriptures and at church we read some favourite scriptures. We often have flowers and pictures of the deceased. There are often flowers and pictures, depictions of Christ in church. At a funeral we talk about the life of the person who has passed away. In church we speak about Jesus; do we do it as if he has passed away? Do we ever come here as if we are looking for the living among the dead?

I think of some comments that I read on-line recently. I often scan newspapers and such quickly on the computer to see what the top headlines are and what is going on in our world. Nowadays a lot of these stories have an option for people to post comments at the bottom of a story. I was reading this one story recently. It was a horrible story actually. The CBC headline said ‘Christians celebrate Palm Sunday’ or something like that and when you clicked on the article it had nothing much to do with that at all.[4] It was just an open attack on the Roman Catholic Church, highlighting some of the sex abuse scandals that the press likes to report ad naseum. The headline said ‘Christians celebrate Palm Sunday’ and then the article just attacked the church. This is certainly a sign of the times in our country as we move further and further away from our Lord and Saviour but one of the things that struck me was the comments underneath posted by the general public, readers of the article. There were a number of commentators upset at the article, of course. There were a lot of anti-Christian comments as well, however, and people attacking religion in general and Christians in specific. One comment someone made caught my attention. This person wrote that with all of this fighting going on about the church, Christ is probably ‘rolling over in his grave’…now I don’t know if you catch the significance to this comment or not – Christ is probably ‘rolling over in his grave’- but someone did because the reply to that comment went like this… Jesus won’t be rolling over in his grave because he is no longer in the grave. He has risen from the grave. This is an important distinction. He’s not dead; he is alive. We should not look for the living among the dead.

In our story today, we are told that the women who go to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body are perplexed by all this (Luke 24:4) because Jesus isn’t lying in his grave, like their other friends and relatives that have passed away. They are perplexed and while they are staring at where is body is supposed to be … suddenly these two men (Luke 24:4), angels (cf. 24:23, Matthew 28:2-5; Mark 16:5), appear beside them! Can you imagine? It says that the ladies are frightened – no kidding – can you imagine? Again, you arrive at a viewing before a funeral. Uncle John, or whoever, isn’t in his coffin where he is expected to be, and the room that he is supposed to be kept in for safekeeping is wide open and while you are standing there with your cards and flowers in hand - suddenly two brightly shining angles appear beside you. This would be quite a thing. Is it any wonder that the women were afraid? Who wouldn’t be just a little bit startled at all this? Is it any wonder too that when the women told their friends this story that their friends didn’t believe them (NIV); it says that they thought the women were talking nonsense (NIV) or making up some idle tale (ESV, Luke 23:10-11). And really what would you think? Would you think that an executed person – a person that you may have seen executed yourself - would be found among the living or the dead?

The women go on, of course, to tell the disciples all that these two angels, these two men in shining clothes, told them[5]: “‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again’” (Luke 24:5-7; but cf. Matthew 28:7, Mark 16:7; cf. also Luke 9:30-31) It is after that that they remember Jesus words and begin to realize the truth of the resurrection and what exactly Jesus has been talking about all along (cf. 9:22, 44; 18:32-33). You see they had come to the tomb looking for Jesus – who is alive – among the dead. Now even in the midst of all this unbelief, Peter runs out to the tomb to take a look for himself, verse 12, and he takes a look and he sees the Jesus burial clothes, the linen strips lying there and he doesn’t quite know what to think (cf. John 20:3ff.). It says he left there wondering exactly what had happened.[6]

Now – of course – 2000 years later, we know what happened (cf. Mark 16, Luke 24:36ff., John 20:19ff., John 21; Acts 2-4, 10,13). We have a mass of eyewitness accounts and historical documents explaining to us that Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus rose from the dead (cf. Mark 16:9ff., Luke 24:13ff., John 20-21, Romans 1:3-4; 1 Corinthians 15:3-5; Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-20; cf. also Gospel of Peter 35-42). Even in our Bibles here, all four Gospel accounts relate how Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the World rose from the grave (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20). Historically, legally, theologically there is no compelling evidence to direct us to any other conclusion than that he rose from the grave,[7] defeating death but that doesn’t make it any less surprising when you are in the midst of it but the good news is of course that they all do get it – and I invite you to read the end of the story in your Bible this week. There is only another page to Luke’s Gospel if you have been reading it along with the rest of us as we have been looking at it the past few weeks. And even if you read the whole book of Luke from cover to cover, I can’t imagine that it would take you much more than an hour to read. It is exciting too because as the days and weeks unfold, a number of the disciples – hundreds of them – actually do see Jesus (cf. Luke 24:12-29). They see that he rose from the dead and they get it. They understand that what they thought on Palm Sunday was right: Jesus is the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace. He isn’t just a dead good moral leader or a failed revolutionary, he really is not only King of the Jews, as was written on his cross (cf. Mark 15:26; John 19:19-21; Luke 23:38; cf. also Matthew 2:2, 27:12; Mark 15:2-12; Luke 23:3); but indeed he is Lord of heaven and earth. He has risen from the dead. He is real and we have a real access to God today.[8]

I am reminded of an object lesson that I saw from an Officer – Captain Gord Taylor – when he was posted in Maple Creek a few years ago. It made an impression on me. Do you remember those bracelets that were once so popular? They said WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? Now these are good for a couple of reasons: 1) when we see them we hopefully think of Christ and 2) Hopefully they can be a wonderful tool for evangelism as people see them and ask us about them we can share our faith with them. Gord made a very good point about those bracelets though: He said that instead of WWJD, What Would Jesus Do, they should say, Jesus what should I do?

Do you get the subtle difference? The difference is that he is alive – so we can actually ask Jesus what we can do. This is the difference that I invite us all to recognize here on this Easter Sunday. Jesus isn’t just a dead leader - moral, political, or otherwise, whose code of ethics or political ethos we should follow, Jesus is Lord whom we should serve. Rather than just talking about what we think he would do in a difficult situation, we can come to him in any situation and ask him, “Jesus, what should I do?” This is important. We don’t just need to talk about a person who lived 2000 years again, we can speak to the directly to the ruler of heaven and earth, who is alive, who is here and who is -in essence- standing in our midst.

Let us call upon him now.
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[1] CF. RCH Lenski. The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel. P. 737, for a different opinion: he believes that these indeed may be entirely different spices.[2] Walter Wessel: Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: Mark, The Resurrection (16:1-8), Book Version: 4.0.2 : it was a single act of love and devotion probably meant to reduce the stench of the decomposing body. Palestine's hot climate causes corpses to decay rapidly. Thus the action of the women seems strange. Perhaps they thought that the coolness of the tomb would prevent the decomposition process from taking place as rapidly as it otherwise would.[3] Leon Morris Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, (TNTC3: Downers Grove, Il.: InterVarsity Press, 1988), note on Luke 25:53-56, Disc: Tyndale Old and New Testament Commentaries (US) (3.0f) version 2009-10-09T22:50:34Z.[4] CBC News, 'Christians observe Palm Sunday' Last Updated: Sunday, March 28, 2010 11:06 PM ET (cited 28 Mar 2010) Available on-line: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/28/pope-palm-sunday.html#ixzz0jgY29PGv[5] Luke Timothy Johnson, ‘Luke 24:1-11’ in Interpretation 46 no 1 Jan 1992, p 57:
“Luke's diction in describing their ‘shining clothes’ recalls to the careful reader the "two men" (Moses and Elijah) who conversed with Jesus at the transfiguration (Luke 9:30-31) as well as the "two men" who interpret for the disciples Jesus' ascension (Acts 1:10). We recognize in these intertextual signals an allusion to Luke's presentation of Jesus as "the prophet like Moses" whom God raised up.”[6]Cf. Walter L. Leifled.The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: Luke/Exposition of Luke/VI. Concluding Events (19:45-24:53)/C. The Resurrection and Ascension (24:1-53)/1. The Resurrection (24:1-12), Book Version: 4.0.2 : “Peter leaves, "wondering" (thaumuzon) to himself about this. In Luke people "wonder" about things that are hard to understand. The word does not in itself imply either belief or unbelief. We conclude that Peter is still incredulous at this point, not because the verb implies it, but because his visit to the empty tomb fails, in spite of the evidence, to evoke a statement of belief from him (cf. John 20:8).”[7] Cf. NT Wright, ‘The Challenge of Easter’ (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP: 2009), pp. 30-32.[8] Frank J. Matera, ‘John 20:1-18’, in Interpretation 43 no 4 O 1989, p 406: “Jesus is most present to the church precisely because he has returned to the Father. Although the church no longer experiences Jesus in a physical way as the disciples once did, its experience of him is real and intimate because of the life-giving Spirit he has sent upon it.”