We have ‘a new’ sheriff in town!

SERMON first SUNDAY in Lent 9/3/25, 5PM TEMPLETON Luke 4: 1 - 13

WHO you are… and to WHOM you belong… is vitally important because when you know to whom you belong… you’ll also know WHO you are: THE “heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends and a voice tells Jesus WHO he is and to whom he belongs: “My son, my dear son! I am DELIGHTED with you!” (Luke 3: 21 - 38)

As Jesus was praying God revealed his identity and THAT kick - starts a time of testing! Jesus is driven by the Holy Spirit into the arms of the accuser HIMSELF. The elephant in the room is: but who has the right to rule the world and its inhabitants? As they stand - off, as they eye each other; but at the same time Jesus must ALSO focus again on the words of his Father:

“My son, my dear son! I am DELIGHTED with you!”

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Why should our time of testing be any different? The specifics may be different. The dynamics are the same… yet… so when tested… what’s your reaction? An expletive? A sigh of resignation (here we go again) OR: the Jesus equivalent of that his Father told… him: (NAME) MY DEAR CHILD… (says Jesus) I AM DELIGHTED WITH YOU! (pause and repeat)

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I’VE been filling in for Patrick at SOMERSET Rest Home… and for the New Year’s I used the Methodist Covenant Prayer, part of which says, “Let me be put to doing… put me to

suffering…” Followed by a collective ((( ))))! Yes, it DOES take your breath away… doesn’t it! Yet the everyday reality for Jesus - as a child - is that he grew up with people being crucified… and he didn’t hesitate to say to HIS apprentices: ”… take up YOUR cross… and follow ME”… and we ALL know where THAT lead, don’t we!

Have we become a soft - touch? ‘Life’ tests us ALL… why don’t we… in the spirit of Jesus… ENTER into the reality of what is? Why don’t we ‘introduce’ the wounds to Jesus to the wounds of the world or view our wounds as something beautiful… something Jesus - shaped both for God… and others?

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(NAME) MY DEAR CHILD… I AM DELIGHTED WITH YOU!

These words are the key to your identity… in Jesus… and in a time of testing it means you will be totally in touch, with Jesus, as you are tested. Remember, then Jesus is tested… HIS only recourse is… to his FATHER… and IFF that’s true for Jesus… it’s true for you, too! What happens in Jesus are two dynamics (1) His identity with his Father (as the Father’s Son) (2) His identity as a human being… someone who is tempted just like us… yet someone who can ALSO make US… TRUELY human… someone beautiful… THAT’S why ‘to be filled with the Spirit’ isn’t a ticket out of this world… or a ticket into personal, mystical experiences… it IS… so that WE embrace the wounds of this world… with the wounds of Jesus - and by the spirit of Jesus and… the vocation of Jesus… because in and through Jesus we have the right to rule the world. Did Jesus not say, “As the Father sent me… so I send… you?”

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When we look at the ACTUAL temptations we also see this dual emphasis (1) OUR identity with Jesus (2) OUR identity with human beings. Firstly, our identity with the authority and power of Jesus.

“IF YOU are God’s son” (see vv 3 & 9). Do you REALLY think your identity is with God? That God delights in YOU… in a unique way? That you can do for God is critical for the kingdom? IN other words, what’s the source of your power and authority? We can loose our power and authority… simply by worshiping the devil… or worshiping one of his many idols… and… THAT’S is the challenge before our world… as I speak! Right now - ‘Authority” and ‘Power’ are the hot topics… … and not just ANY power (HARD) power… and (TOTAL) authority more than ever before.

Apparently, we have ‘a new’ sheriff in town! Yet, in John’s gospel JESUS makes it clear that when HE is crucified… ie, raised up… HE WILL BE THE leader of ALL nations… all sheriffs (including the dark powers of evil… it’s self)… As Jesus is raised UP (on the cross): they will be brought DOWN… and held accountable!

THEY will be… dethroned! (see Jn 12: 32ff) THEN Jesus’s precious children (his apprentices in whom he delights) will rule the world. And it all starts (according to John Chapter one) with the power Jesus gives… for ONLY Jesus has the ‘right’ (or in Greek exousia’ which means the ‘power’)… to make US… to GOD’S children… (NAME) MY DEAR CHILD I DELIGHT IN YOU! (and you and you)

THAT signals the death of the… love of power… and the birth… of the power of love. And Jesus categorically says that we cannot use power and authority like this WORLD’S rulers…

Only HE can be this world’s ruler, it’s true president, it’s CEO, it’s true… sheriff! To wonder the Devil is desperate to test Jesus… so that the Devil retains ALL THE POWER AND AUTHORITY… TO HIMSELF! Did not the Devil say to Jesus “THIS WORLD is ALL READY MINE”… and will not Jesus say, through his Father… “NO IT’S NOT YOURS…I`m reclaiming it. It’s MINE! The devil says, just BOW down to ME…and I'll give YOU… everything ((( ))) AND Jesus says: THE LORD GOD ( my Father) IS THE ONE YOU MUST WORSHIP!

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It’s on a knife - edge. The ‘ultimate’ “hard” power of satan and THIS world’s rulers… is death. Crucifixion. This is first of many jousts with the Devil… which built up to the final bout… of crucifixion and death. Once again, ALL could be be lost… without the testing of Gethsemane where would be NO cross and with no cross there is no resurrection. When Jesus is raised… his children, his apprentices, take his yoke upon themselves and exercise his rule, this power and the authority (of BOTH heaven and EARTH) is given to the apprentices until Jesus comes again… as… Commander in Chief! (Matthew 28:18 - 20) Your identity is Jesus: shaped (NAME) MY DEAR CHILD I AM DELIGHTED WITH YOU!

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Finally, we are the children of Jesus, who by the spirit of Jesus takes the wounds of Jesus into the wounds of the world… into the devil’s strong holds… and yes we WILL be tested… This is the second dimension 1st: We identify with Jesus 2nd: we identify with other human beings. Jesus felt HUNGRY… so would you if you hadn’t eaten for forty days… In the desert the ‘sons’ of God, the Hebrews, moan and groan when they had NO food… so how does THE son of the Father deal with the temptation to change stones into bread? Like ALL humans, Jesus is tempted… to abuse the power his Father gives him… When tested we learn there NO short cuts: ‘life’ is more than bread… and we can’t use God’s power as our own; our REAL motivation us… is our true identity as… a dear child in whom Jesus delights! If your response an expletive, a sigh of resignation… then where’s still some work for Jesus to do in shaping you… and making you more beautiful… as a human being!

What satan says are sensible suggestions; they make a logic of their own; they make “sense”… they’re scriptural… so we are to discern the difference between truth and lies… The lie is that testing makes you LESS than human… the truth is testing makes us more human… the lie is we can control everything - it’s ALL about US - the truth is how God see us in Jesus. The truth is if YOU see the the wounds of Jesus in your own wounds… and your own wounds in the wounds of others… then you have identified (as Jesus did) with our human condition! If Jesus was tested, so will you be. If you are tested then you, like Jesus, will also be raised and… made new..! ‘My dear child” says Jesus, “I am delighted with YOU! Kia ka ha!

Rev Don Pilgrim

Let us pray.