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Anxiety Part 2: Mt: 4:5-7
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
This temptation to substitute grand displays for honest sense of identity, that will eat away at your soul. Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad you're here, and we hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information. Welcome today.
Speaker 1:My name is Jeremy. It's great to have you here with us on Father's Day, and I hope you enjoyed our best attempt at a Father's Day dad joke this morning. And you enjoyed a whole lot of donut holes because you love dad a whole lot. Hopefully, people enjoyed that and filled themselves with donuts. But I am so thankful for all the men who have been fathers in different ways to me throughout my life, but especially to my dad who has shaped me in more ways than I even realized.
Speaker 1:And yet at the same time, I know we have acknowledged this already today, but I do also recognize that not everyone's experience of father has been simple or easy. And in the light of all of the various stories that will be collected here in this room today, I don't take the experience of my father lightly. Sometimes, for some of us, the joy of celebrating dad is mixed with the memory of the fact that he's gone, and there is a gap in your heart today. Now for some of us, the thought of celebrating someone who is absent to us is difficult. And for others, there are wounds that have perhaps even long since healed, and yet it feels like they are reopened in moments like this.
Speaker 1:And so my prayer today is that in whatever way you have experienced father in your life, you would come to experience the deep and abiding love that was intended when we appropriated the language of father to speak of our God. May your experience of the divine today begin to heal those memories that are hard. May your experience of the divine today bring life back into memories that are full of joy and love. May your experience of the divine today continue to enliven and transform and make whole your experience of father, whatever that experience has been in the past. And just in case he is listening on the podcast, Thanks for everything, dad.
Speaker 1:I love you. Now last week, we started into this new series together, and Bobby launched us into a discussion around anxiety. As we begin to use this story where Jesus is tempted in the wilderness to look at some of the most common sources of anxiety and worry and discontent in our lives. However, we also wanna make this disclaimer each week as we go that we are talking here about the kind of anxiety that we all experience as part of the human condition. There are also perhaps those times where we face extraordinary anxiety.
Speaker 1:We may experience an anxiety disorder, and this is not that conversation. Obviously, as a church, we recognize the importance of pastors and what we're able to offer, but part of that is equally recognizing the scope of our training and competency. And then appropriately accessing the expertise of others in community who are able to bring that to the body as well. And so if you need to talk to someone about anxiety in a more professional setting, we can certainly help with that as well because we have some great people that we trust very deeply to refer you to in that setting. Now that said, Bobby did a great job of welcoming us into this conversation last week, a somewhat strange little story where Jesus encounters the devil.
Speaker 1:And Bobby's take on this, I think, was really helpful. She said the figure of Satan or devil, even though it only shows up a handful of times in the biblical narrative, has sort of become a fixture in the Christian and and really just honestly cultural imagination. I think she said we all picture Keanu Reeves when we think of the devil, and obviously, that's not true. Keanu Reeves is awesome, and we should never associate Keanu with the devil. It was clearly Al Pacino we picture as the devil from that movie.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, I know Keanu was in that movie too, but let's just get it straight here. Her point, however, was that when Jesus speaks of devil, it's really the human experience of good and evil he wants to invite us to examine. I'll paraphrase her here. Whatever mask it wears, the force to destroy, to act violently towards another, to judge and oppress, to take more than you need, this force is death, it's scarcity, and this is our adversary. And part of what's really fascinating to me about this encounter with this adversary is that the whole setup for this story is that Jesus has gone out into the wilderness, all alone for forty days to fast.
Speaker 1:And so I've always been fascinated by this question, where did this story come from? Mark knows about it, but doesn't give us any detail. Matthew and Luke record more of what happened, but they do that in slightly different ways. And here's the thing, everyone agrees that Jesus was alone out in the wilderness. Meaning, these gospel accounts are secondhand.
Speaker 1:Meaning, Jesus must have been the one to tell this story. Meaning, that Jesus must have told this story enough times that different people began to pick up on different aspects of it. And what that means for me is that this story is more than just a thing that happened. This is a story that Jesus meant to tell, that he wanted to share, a story that Jesus intends to teach us something through. And so what that means is that we would do better to read this more like a parable Jesus wants to teach us something through and less like the disinterested history of an objective observer.
Speaker 1:Now, that does nothing to change the content of the story or the words on the page, but it may help to give you access to a story that has some incredible things to teach us if we're willing to allow it to speak. That's exactly what we want to do today as we move from the first into the second temptation. But first, let's pray. Our father, we thank you for the gift of your son who came and walked and traveled through this life that we now share, who experienced the struggle of the human story, and who walked the path of obedience before us. May we, through the example of your son and the empowerment of your spirit, confront these same forces that seek to distract and dissuade and otherwise redirect our faith onto unhealthy paths.
Speaker 1:When it comes to these basic human anxieties, our need for security, for esteem, for power and control, might we truly learn to surrender ourselves into your loving embrace, recognizing that everything we truly need is found in you. And, God, for those times where we have lost sight of what it is that sustains us and given in to what seemed to be pressing in the moment, would you remind us that we are safe? Would you remind us that we are loved? Would you remind us that you are in control and that ultimately all things will be renewed in your kingdom? In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen. Okay. Last week, we started into Matthew chapter four. We started in verse one where we read that Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry, and the tempter came to him and said, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.
Speaker 1:So Jesus is hungry, and he's weak after fasting for quite a long time. And at his weakest and his most vulnerable, he is now tempted to turn stones into food. And yet Jesus responds to this temptation with scripture, which we're gonna see him do in all of these three temptations. But he says, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And that's actually a response that comes from Deuteronomy eight and from the story of Moses, but it's also one that seems to be a precursor to the Lord's prayer.
Speaker 1:I don't think it's just a coincidence that two chapters later in his first public sermon, Jesus teaches us to pray saying, Lord, give us our daily bread. Now, Jesus hasn't had his daily bread in forty days. And so in that sense, he would be perfectly justified in sitting down to tuck in for a bit of previously igneous snack, and that's a geology joke by the way. But that's not really the point here, is it? Because this temptation, the story isn't really just about food, and Jesus' prayer isn't really just about bread.
Speaker 1:This is about Jesus being tempted to bypass the need for trust. And his response, his prayer is about Jesus teaching us to lean into what it means to trust. See, as much as we'd like it to be different, and as much as we think it will soothe our anxiety, resources simply can't guarantee life. No matter how much you acquire and accumulate and stockpile and store, no matter how much ability you have to create for yourself what you think you need for yourself. What Jesus recognizes here is that there will just always simply be a need for daily trust.
Speaker 1:And if it's not for bread, then it's for breath. And if it's not for health, then it's for peace. And sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that more will meet our need for security, and it won't. We think that resource independence will mitigate our anxiety around trusting about tomorrow. But the truth is you don't live by bread alone.
Speaker 1:You live by the breath of the spirit that speaks life in and through you daily. And that's what it means to trust in Jesus. Now, I also get that that kind of peace is not easy to come by. And yet Jesus knows in his heart that even when he's hungry, independence is a false promise. And learning to trust, this is the only way to calm our anxious need for more.
Speaker 1:But then, without even a moment to catch his breath, we read that the devil then took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. That's verse five. If you are the son of God, he said, throw yourself down for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. But Jesus answered them, it is also written, do not put the Lord your God to the test. So that's verses five to seven in Matthew chapter four, and this is our second temptation.
Speaker 1:But a couple things to pay attention to here. First of all, when verse five says that the devil took him to the holy city, that is language that mirrors something we've already seen from the start of this story back in verse one. There, last week, we read that Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness. And I think the writer of Matthew has constructed this in a way that we're supposed to notice the connection here. And I actually think the English translators have done a good job of conveying the nuance as well.
Speaker 1:Because when the spirit leads Jesus, the word that's used is anago, and actually means to lead up or to bring along. That Ana at the start of the word, that's actually the Greek for again. And so the word Inago has this sort of nuance of someone reaching down in order to bring us back up again. In fact, in Greek, you can actually use this word in the sense of restoring something to health and wholeness. It's a very gentle image.
Speaker 1:It has a sense of the spirit being ahead of Jesus and with Jesus all at the same time. That God is leading him, but he's also bringing him along and he's walking with him in this moment. Now when the devil image comes into play, the writer tells a very similar story. The location is moved, and that movement is initiated by a party outside of Jesus just like it was before. But this time, the writer uses a different word.
Speaker 1:It's the word paralambano in Greek. And this word has the sense of taking something with you, the way you might take your coat with you when you leave or you grab your keys when you go. It actually means to take jurisdiction over something. And in fact, this word paralambano is also a compound word as well. Para is the Greek prefix that indicates where an action is coming from or who initiates an action.
Speaker 1:Lombano actually means in Greek to grasp. So when the writer says that the devil paralambano's Jesus, the image here is that this temptation grabs him and takes him where he might not want to go. This is an intentionally mirror flipped image of the spirits leading from the opening in verse one, where God invites and welcomes and reaches down to walk alongside us, what opposes God, what is antichrist, you might say, grabs and grasps and drags us where we're not sure we want to go. And if your experience of church has ever felt more like the former, As if God wanted to move you somewhere you weren't ready. Then good intentions aside, that was not an experience of God and his spirit.
Speaker 1:Don't kid yourself. This story shows us that the spirit does not always lead us to places that are easy and comfortable. And sometimes, where God wants to walk with you will feel a lot like hunger and weakness and wilderness. But God is not in the business of dragging you, kicking and screaming toward where you're not ready to go. God is patient and compassionate.
Speaker 1:And, yes, he has your best interest in mind even when you're not ready to see it. But loving kindness, not coercion, this is how the spirit of God comes to you. And if you're not sure what voice to follow in your life, sometimes it's as easy as this. Don't look for the path that's easy, but listen for the one that sounds like love. That will get you a long way along.
Speaker 1:Now, Jesus is grabbed and taken to the holy city, and he's placed on the highest point of the temple. Now the word here is peterugion, and that is almost as much fun to say as paralambano. But what's interesting here is that in Greek, this is the diminutive of wing, and so it actually means a little wing. And from the context here, it's pretty clear what the writer's getting at. It's referring to the highest point on the temple, like a peak or a parapet, something like that.
Speaker 1:This is somewhere from which if Jesus was to throw himself off, he would presumably die. We get it. But the interesting thing here is that this is not a Greek word that was associated with architectural features. And so, again, it's a strange word to use, and so something is likely going on here. And the language seems to be intentionally embedded as a callback to something deeper.
Speaker 1:And this one likely comes from two old testament passages. Psalm 91 and Malachi four, remember those because they're both gonna be important later. But Psalm 91 says that God cover you in his feathers, and under his wing, you will find safety. And then in Malachi, there's a passage that was sometimes read as a messianic passage, and it says that the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its or sometimes red his wings. And so we've got here is this neat little play on words where the devil takes Jesus to a high point on the temple.
Speaker 1:Obviously, a very dangerous precarious place from one perspective. And yet the writer describes that place intentionally using the language of safety and healing and refuge within and for the Messiah under God's wing. You you almost get the sense that the writer here is trying to let us in on something that the devil doesn't get. This adversary thinks he has Jesus in this unsettling place, that he's grabbed him and snatched him away into this stressful, anxious predicament, and yet somehow there is actually safety and peace for Jesus here in this moment. Maybe you've had something like this in your life, where you have experienced a moment like this.
Speaker 1:A space where for every reasonable estimation, you should be sweating bullets right now. And yet there's a sense of preternatural calm and cool. A sense of resting in this unexpected peace. People ask me all the time, do you get nervous when you speak? You know, you get up in front of a lot of people, and a lot people don't like that.
Speaker 1:Isn't that terrifying? There's that old joke from Seinfeld that people list public speaking ahead of death when they're asked to rank their fears. That means that when you're at a funeral, most people would say they'd rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy. So public speaking is a little nerve racking. I get it.
Speaker 1:And when you're preaching, you're obviously speaking in public. You've also got the weight of talking about the divine and wanting to get that right at least as much as you can when you speak of such things. And so people ask, is this nerve racking for you? And honestly, my answer is no, at least not most of the time. Now, I still get do get nervous when I speak anywhere but here.
Speaker 1:And I don't do that often these days, and it still freaks me out a little bit. And yet, here in this room, there's always a sense that we're in this together. Like, I'm not up here trying to impress anybody. I'm not trying to win anyone over anymore, that my credibility doesn't rest on one sermon or one misplaced word. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's still a precarious place to be to stand here every week and think that I have something to say to you. The thing is I know that I'm safe while I do it. And honestly, this is just such an amazing community within which to learn that safety. You can look at Bobby and Scott who've joined our team in this last year, and they are fantastic communicators in their own right. But to watch them lean into this community and experience that safety and be embraced and know that they are welcome to share their voice with us in community.
Speaker 1:That kind of safety makes all of us better at doing what we do. This is one of the significant things about being free from the anxiety of needing to prove ourselves to everyone. Because the less you feel the need to prove yourself, the more you're actually able to simply be yourself. One of the great ironies of how our society seems to be set up right now is that somehow we think we have to earn the right to be ourselves. And yet, the more we desperately try to be authentic, and the more we try to differentiate ourselves from everyone else around us, and the more we try to curate our Instagram and filter our photos and search relentlessly for the next fashion cycle, the less we often seem like ourselves.
Speaker 1:Here, part of the temptation for Jesus is to throw himself off, to make a show of himself, to prove his identity to everyone, and make sure that they know who he is. You can do it. God will command his angels concerning you. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You know it.
Speaker 1:Now show them. But do you know where that temptation comes from? It's actually Psalm 91. The same Psalm that the writer has already hinted at in the setup of this story. The same Psalm that Christ reminds himself that he is already safe under God's wing with nothing to prove.
Speaker 1:You see part of the temptation here is that sometimes we think that other people knowing who we are will substitute knowing for ourselves and it can't. If Jesus isn't secure in his relationship to God then proving it to those around him in some grand display of ancient machismo, that's not gonna fix anything for him. Somehow, Jesus seems to get it. There's actually research that was published this week that worked to quantify the impact that toxic masculinity has, not just on women and the people that surround these men, but on these men themselves. Now, toxic masculinity is a bit of a nebulous term, but this focus on winning at all costs, emotional control, on risk taking and violence, on dominance and self reliance, on the primacy of work and the power over women and disdain for homosexuality, all of these traits that somehow, sometimes make men feel powerful actually lead to suicide rates that are four times higher than the general population.
Speaker 1:So those truck nuts on the back of your vehicle, they're not just silly. They're killing you. But that's not just to say that stereotypical masculinity is evil. Like, I've never punched anyone, but I do enjoy watching UFC as a sport. I ride a motorcycle.
Speaker 1:I have a beard such as it is, and I do struggle to maintain touch with my emotions at times because honestly, it's easier to throw myself into my work. But listen to me, men. If you don't know who you are as a man, overcompensating with what you think testosterone is supposed to look like won't help. In fact, this temptation to substitute grand displays for honest sense of identity. That will eat away at your soul.
Speaker 1:And this is why I love how Jesus responds in this moment. First, says, it is also written. And I love that because last week, the devil said, turn these stones into bread. And Jesus says, it is written, a man does not live by bread alone. Well, now the temptation comes and says, okay, we can play that game.
Speaker 1:You wanna quote some scripture? We'll quote some scripture. It is written, he will command his angels concerning you, to which Jesus responds, it is also written. And what Jesus seems to understand here is that proof texting is a scam. Like the bible is a big book.
Speaker 1:There's a lot in there. I looked. And if you want to, you can make it say just about anything. The point isn't just to know the scripture. The point is to be so immersed in the story that we come to understand the scripture.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus knows the story, but perhaps more importantly, he knows where he fits in it. But second, he says, it is also written, do not put the Lord your God to the test. Here's the thing. I think the devil thinks this is just about testing whether God will do what he said. When he said he'll save you, jump off the roof and prove it.
Speaker 1:And sure, that's part of the story, but I think Jesus understands there's something much deeper going on here as well. You see, around the time of Jesus, there developed a myth in popular culture That when the Messiah arrived, he would appear suddenly in the temple courts to rally the people and lead them into battle with Rome. And that passage actually came from the Old Testament, from a prophet named Malachi. The same prophet where God said that the Messiah will rise with healing and safety in his wings. But back there in Malachi, God also said that I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me when suddenly the Lord that you are seeking will come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will appear.
Speaker 1:And so people took that passage from Malachi to mean that when the Messiah would appear, it would appear not just suddenly, but miraculously in the temple court in front of the temple. And what better way to do that than to jump off the peak of the temple, descend unharmed, and land in front of everyone worshiping there in front of the temple? And that's how you make an entrance. You see, the temptation here isn't just to see if God will save Jesus. The temptation is, do you want to be Messiah the way that God imagines?
Speaker 1:Slow and secret and unassuming from the ground up. Or would you rather be Messiah the way that everyone else wants you to be? In power, in spectacle, with undeniable proof and showmanship that puts Vegas to shame. In other words, the question is, are you okay knowing who you are even if no one else does? And part of what Jesus is reminding us here in his response is that being celebrated won't fix things the way that we think it will.
Speaker 1:You have to know who you are. And for some of us, that means that when we begin to feel anxious about validation, we sit down and we center ourselves in prayer rather than checking our likes on Instagram one more time. For some of us, that means that when we begin to feel anxious about our value in society, we remind ourselves that our relationships at home really are more important than our bonus at work. And for some of us who work in a public role like I do, that means that when we inevitably begin to think that our value comes from the number of people who pay attention to us, we ground ourselves in the essential identity that comes from God, not from the influence that we think that we wield. Because if the son of God could be content to walk back into town hungry and thirsty and still completely unknown, then maybe being celebrated isn't the answer we think that it is.
Speaker 1:And so if you find yourself at times anxious about your place in the world and wondering if maybe a little more recognition will fix things for you, May you come to rest in the knowledge that you are loved before you have done anything at all. And you are valued before you are noticed by any crowd. And when you realize that you are already safe under God's little wing, then you will never need to prove yourself to anyone again. Because that's what it means to know who you are. Let's pray.
Speaker 1:God, would you be present to us by your spirit, helping us to take a story that is so big and grand and separated from us by language and scope and scale. To realize that in the midst of this archetypal trans or temptation, there is something of the human experience you're trying to communicate. This need and this desire that we all face up against this temptation to feel that being celebrated, being noticed, receiving adulation and adoration and accolades from the people around us will somehow substitute for knowing who we are in in you. God, would we, in the example of your son, come to realize that we are already safe under your wing, and that we don't need praise and recognition and esteem to validate who we are. And our anxiety over knowing that we are known can only ever be answered by leaning more deeply into our relationship with you so that we can know ourselves the way that you know us, so that we can then take that knowledge and lean back into the world to engage in relationships and to contribute to your kingdom, to bring what we have to offer into your story, but not as a source of validation, as an outflow of the love that we know that we've received.
Speaker 1:God, might we answer this temptation the way that your son did and rest in the safety we find in you. In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen.