Sermon for February 22, 2026: Power in the Word based upon Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11 The Testing of Jesus (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition) 
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”  Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” 

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. 

---

     Today is the first Sunday in Lent. In a time when certain stories about Christianity are being used to cause harm and when people are very much in need of some foundational support to guide them towards right action in this world, Lent, with its emphasis on discernment, listening to the Spirit, and walking alongside Christ into the greatest of challenges could not have come sooner. Acts of discernment are rarely efficient and often done best in community. Despite the common practice of adopting a particular discipline during this season, Lent is not actually something we do alone. We do it together with Christ. And, this Lent, we will consider the Christian stories being told right now, and the good stories we actually need to hear.

     According to scholar Sharon Fennema, this story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness is probably the basis for the whole season of Lent. We spend 40 days listening because Jesus spent forty days listening. Though, to be fair, this time in the wilderness is likely not the beginning of Jesus’ attentive listening to the Holy Spirit. In Matthew, he has already been baptized, which can be recognized as a sign of his following the Spirit, especially when the Spirit affirms his belovedness by God. That same Spirit, is what led him to the wilderness. He is out listening in the wilderness because he listened at his baptism. As he is in the wilderness, he realizes that he must decide who he’s going to be listening to, because an additional voice began speaking in his ear.

     Many of us have come to think “being in the spiritual wilderness,” as being in a time of confusion or a time when one feels adrift or far away from God. That is not what is happening in this text and it is not the spirit with which we should go into Lent. In her commentary on this text, Aubrey West reminds us that Jesus is not being punished and is not lost out in the wilderness. He is exactly where the Spirit wants him to be to discern his next steps in ministry.  The wilderness, a marginal, in-between space that many thought to be dangerous, was a place of connection to the Spirit for Jesus. How many of us have gained important insights on God in uncomfortable spaces? The same is for Christ.

     This first time we see Jesus in the wilderness, we are told that it is a test. The Tempter will show up. According to Scholar Melinda Quivik, we can learn something about Jesus, and about the God we know through Jesus, in paying attention to Jesus’ response to temptation. One thing we learn is Jesus’ relationship to power. One thing we learn is Jesus’ relationship to power. These tests, like many tests from antagonistic conversation partners, are from the start, obviously not in good faith. “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Imagine saying something so callous to someone who is hungry. Jesus had been intentionally fasting for days and days. This question was intended to be real provocation. Thankfully, Jesus had the resources within himself to see the provocation for what it was: an invitation to use his power to make himself more comfortable. And, that’s not what his power was for. He responded with a scripture that defines his understanding of power: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

     The next two temptations are increasingly goading, with the Tempter, having heard Jesus use scripture, chose to tempt him with scripture. The tempter took him to the high point of the temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’, and ‘On their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Isn’t it interesting to have a literal interpretation of Scripture as a temptation for Jesus? Melinda Quivick calls this the temptation to “abandon deep-reading of God’s word by taking it literally.” I think there is also the temptation to use literal reading to shore up an excuse to use power for personal gain. In a devotional we used a couple years ago, one of the authors, Danielle Shroyer calls this the temptation to use his gifts as a “parlor trick.” Jesus does not fall for this temptation. He does not choose to use the scripture to justify a misdeed.

     The final temptation is to have a kind of power that comes as the cost of allegiance to one who does not share the same values as God. Jesus is offered all the kingdoms of the world and all they have to offer if he will shift his allegiance away from God to the Tempter. Imagine what good he could do with the power? It is in his response to this temptation that we might see Jesus most clearly. When given the opportunity to have tremendous power over people at the low, low price of all of his devotion and loyalty, Jesus declines. His mission is not about his ego or his ability to dominate creation. That’s what Quivik and Shroyer, in their commentaries, argue this question is about. Will he choose ego and domination or connection and justice? The Jesus we come to know in this passage chooses connection and healing, as Rev. Shroyer says, every time. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

     In a commentary on a different text in that devotional we used a couple years ago, Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, who had suffered greatly from a covid infection and had long covid, spoke of that time, three years into the pandemic, as a time that was revelatory in the fullest sense of the word. Our personal response and larger communal responses to the pandemic revealed and continue to reveal some things about us and about our communities: some positive, some negative. With these revelations came the opportunity for us to consider, as Reyes-Chow puts it, “who we can be and become.” In this particular moment, when many Christian voices are using scripture to justify all manner of cruelty, particularly to immigrants and transgender people, Sharon Fennema, in introduction to her worship series on Lent, invites us to do what Jesus did and define our faith according to God’s sense of love and justice.

     Fennema asks, “How might we, like Jesus, re-story our faith with new interpretations and understandings of scripture rooted in liberation and flourishing for all?” One way is to take time to consider what stories about Christianity and within Christianity are being use for harm. She invites us to take them up in our hearts and imagine releasing them, like sand trickling through our fingers. In the same way, consider the scripture that guides you toward a braver, more generous, and move loving faith. Imagine taking it into your hands and holding it to your heart. Our devotional for this year Tell Me Something Good might be able to give you some inspiration for faithful stories if you find yourself coming up a little dry.

     May this season of Lent, in the midst of our own wilderness, be a place where we can hear the Spirit in the midst of our discomfort. May we follow the model of Christ and use our faith to build loving systems, not simply systems to make our lives easier. May we hear something good... that we are called together... that Christ is with us... that we can love each other in the midst of trial.

     May the words of Sharon Fennema’s prayer be our prayer:
     In the wilderness and the wandering and the weariness, lead us, Holy Spirit.
     In the hungering and the holding and the humbling, accompany us, Holy Spirit.
     In the tempting and the testing and the turning, move us, Holy Spirit.
     In the resisting and the refusing and the recognizing, guide us, Holy Spirit.
     Ground in us, as we ground in you.
     Breathe with us, as we breathe with you.
     Turn with us, as we turn toward you.
     As the new way emerges, we pray. Amen.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Melinda Quivik: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-matthew-41-11-5
Audrey West: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/first-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-matthew-41-11-2
Seeking: Honest Questions for a Deeper Faith, a devotional developed by Sanctified Art (2023)
Tell Me Something Good, a devotional developed by Sanctified Art (2026)
Sharon Fennema: https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/lent-1a-february-22/
​