January 19, 2025 Jesus’ Baptism and Testing Luke 3:21-4:13

             It may seem odd to lump Jesus’ baptism, his genealogy, and his testing in the wilderness all into one gospel reading.  Yet they all do flow together.  We’ll discover that flow by looking at prayer.

In Luke’s gospel Jesus prays more than in any other gospel.  For Luke, prayer is mostly about opening yourself to the will of God.  Let’s keep that in mind as we look at this text.

            Jesus is baptized.  When does the Holy Spirit descend according to Luke?  He says, “…when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven, (and here we get notice for the next part of the flow) “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

            That voice that comes from heaven is God.  God is saying to the praying Jesus, that he is his Son.  So, Jesus is the Son of God.  That’s not news to us.  We’ve known that since reading about the angel telling Mary she would conceive Jesus.  But here is where it gets interesting.

            The very next thing in the text is Jesus’ genealogy.  It may seem like an odd place to put it.  What does it have to do with Jesus’ baptism?  Why not do it at the beginning of the gospel the way Matthew’s gospel does?  That makes chronological sense.  And let’s note that both Matthew’s genealogy and Luke’s genealogy are suspect at best, and…, quite frankly, inaccurate.  Luke even tells us the genealogy is bogus.  He points out that it goes through Joseph, but we’ve learned earlier that Joseph was irrelevant to the conception of Jesus.) The point of the genealogies is to root Jesus into a heritage, not a DNA path.  The heritage is important.  Jesus does not just fall into the human timeline without any context. 

            The genealogy traces through irrelevant Joseph all the way back to Adam.  At the baptism the voice of God said, “You are my Son, the Beloved.”  What does the genealogy call Adam?  “Son of God.”

            We could land deep in an abyss of heresy if we interpret that the wrong way!  Yet Luke wants us to realize some connections.

            Remember I said that in Luke’s gospel Jesus prays more than in any other gospel, and that prayer is opening yourself to the will of God.  How did things go with Adam and Eve?  How did they do as being open to the will of God?  Not too well!  Adam and Eve took their destiny into their own hands.  They decided they wanted to be their own source of self-fulfillment.  God promised them wholeness of life.  That would come in relationship with God.  Adam and Eve basically decided they’d like to try something on their own terms.  The Garden of Eden had a self-help section and Adam and Eve went for it – to their loss.  Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation.  They failed.  They didn’t trust God.

            What follows the genealogy in Luke’s gospel?  The testing of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness.  Jesus is there for forty days.  That echoes similar times in the ministry of Moses and of Elijah.  Luke tells us that Jesus is led there by the Holy Spirit.

            Let’s make sure we understand what that really means.  In contemporary theology, and I think in common thought, people picture the Holy Spirit as sweet and kind and nice.  Indeed, the Spirit has those qualities.  But the Spirit can also be tough, strong, and forceful.  In fact, all of our understanding of God is that way.  God as Father can be both nurturing and tough.  Jesus as Son was both kind and challenging.  The same goes for the Spirit.

            This can put me in a tricky place as a pastor.  People will sometimes ask if what is happening to them is God trying to punish them or teach them something or reward them for something.  I can never answer with certainty.  God is God.  God is Sovereign.  God does as God chooses without any higher authority.  We cannot domesticate God into something we understand and predict.  Rather, as we are often told, we are to love and fear God.  Yes, God is loving.  But it is a mistake to picture God as a sweet and fragile little spring petunia.  The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to fast for forty days. 

I don’t know about you, but I get hungry a couple hours after each meal.  I have gone a whole day without food several times as part of a challenge.  I was ravenous afterward!  But to go forty days without food is to have your body in a severe state of malnourishment. 

No, the Spirit is not nice.  How is this “Son of God” going to act when his bodily health is depleted by the will of God?  Will he make excuses and say, “Surely God must want me to be prosperous and healthy and do well.  God cannot want me to suffer so and for no real reason.  I’m going to get myself something to eat.”

Temptation is right there with him.  All three tests are to see if Jesus, as the Son of God, will go against God’s will – especially as God’s will appears to be unhealthy and pointless.  Will he use his powers to get himself food?  Will he use his powers to get himself earthly glory?  Will he use his powers to give himself divine protection?

Note that all of these tests are common tests for every person.  God has given you abilities.  How will you use them?  Will you use them to fulfill yourself according to what you want?  Or will you use them as God promises to give you fullness of life?

I think we’d all answer that we’d use them according to God’s promises of what will give us fullness of life.  The problem is, the voice of God is often so faint to us – if we can hear it at all.  The voice of the world with: its comforts, its health, its approval from others, its security… are all available to us always at full volume.

If you want to shake your fist at God and cry out in rage over the situation you’d be in good company.  Many people have done just the same.  It is in the absence of hearing anything from God that we often turn to ourselves and think, “Well, I don’t know what God wants.  So I’ll try to be a good person with what I have and what I know; and generally go along with the world otherwise.”

I’m not in any position to condemn that if that’s what you feel.  So let’s go back to prayer.  Prayer, according to Luke, is opening yourself to the will of God.  It is not asking for stuff for yourself or for other people.  It is constantly reconnecting to God.

Raise everything to God in prayer.  Whether you hear God’s clear reply or not, you are doing something very important.  As part of a broader life of faith, raising everything to God in prayer is mulling over everything you do in your mind in light of your faith.

I’m reading a biography of Myron Taylor.  He was born in Lyons and became president of US Steel in the run up to World War 2.  He became an international negotiator during the war.   Taylor was a man of deep Christian faith.  Even today, over seventy years after his death, every church in Lyons receives usually over $1000 a month from his estate.  In his time as president of US Steel he negotiated with everyone; from major stock holders all the way to coal miners.  He seems to have tried to do what was good and right and fair even as he knew his decisions would hurt and endanger many people.  He mentions the tension he lived in – between the will of God, the wartime threat of Germany, the Great Depression, stockholders who want dividends, and laborers risking their lives and ruining their health.  He was a ruthless businessman on one hand, yet cared about people on the other.  I won’t try to depict Taylor as either a villain or a hero.  People have varied opinions of him.  But I think he gives an example of the complexity of life. 

A life of faith is to take all of that complexity to God in prayer.  Make decisions based upon what you know from the Bible, from church, and from your experience.  Quite likely there will be no answer that feels absolutely right.  But you have acted in response to opening yourself to the will of God.

I want to end with this.  I find it fascinating that President Roosevelt asked Taylor to help with postwar reconstruction even before the US entered the war!  As a diplomat Taylor tried to influence things with a long-term view in mind.  We need to remember that in our lives we do not go from problem to problem or crisis to crisis with times of rest in between.  Life is most likely one ongoing challenge; perhaps even an ordeal.  New problems and new challenges always arise.  What were the final words of our gospel reading?  After Jesus was famished in the wilderness and tested we’re told, “When the devil had finished every test he departed from him until an opportune time.”

What?!?  If not eating for 40 days is not an opportune time to tempt someone with food I don’t know what is!  Yet this was not the opportune time for Jesus to be tested.  We know that opportune time will come at the crucifixion, when following God’s will will cost Jesus life itself.  That makes no logical sense.  But through prayer Jesus wills stay true to it.

For our own lives, we realize that we should not expect things to be easy and comfortable and stable.  That may be what we want but that does not necessarily coincide with opening yourself to the will of God.  Instead, realize that God is with you every step of the complexity and trouble.  Stay open to God’s will and you will stay on the path of God’s kingdom.