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Deuteronomy 26:1-11 * Ps 91:1-2, 9-16 * Romans 10:8b-13 * Luke 4:1-13

The myth of the phoenix rising to new life from its own ashes – has been around since at least five centuries before Christ. Many cultures and religions have found meaning in this myth, including its relevance for the Resurrection of Christ – as the phoenix rises from death to new life. Every year on the Christian calendar, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday when we’re reminded that we are dust and will return to dust. This is a reminder of our mortality, but also as the Christian story unfolds towards Easter, it’s a reminder of our immortality. Christ is reborn into the post-Easter life of ongoing resurrection – ever-present to us as the Cosmic or Universal Christ. But first we are called to take the Lenten journey, step by step, remembering the many ways that the pre-Easter human Jesus had to overcome obstacles on his path, just as you and I have to overcome obstacles on our path of life.

The last thing that happens to Jesus before today’s gospel is that he’s baptized by John and then the heavens open “and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with whom I am well pleased’.” (Lk 3:21-22). Full of the Holy Spirit, we heard today, Jesus was led into the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. Let’s take note then that these temptations did not all happen at once. As Jesus grapples with what that message from Heaven called him to do, these temptations unfold in understandable ways, and of course he’s weakened from long fasting, which makes the human Jesus more vulnerable. Here’s another important but painful truth for our lives: that it’s we often when we are weak and vulnerable, that we’re better able to experience the healing and empowering love of God’s Spirit, healing us with her tears perhaps … like the phoenix tears that kept healing Harry Potter.

The connection between our psalm and gospel today is interesting. Verses 9-11 boldly claim that because we’ve made the Lord our refuge, no evil shall befall us, no scourge come near our dwelling places ‘For God will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all of your ways.’ In the gospel it’s the devil who cites this scripture to try and convince Jesus to jump off a high place – you’ve likely heard the saying of how the devil can quote scripture for his purposes. So, let’s not take that too literally – that having faith means we never have trouble. Rather having faith helps us to get through life’s inevitable problems.

This reminds me of the Dr Seuss story about Solla Sollew – do you know it? The main character there is so shocked when bad things start happening to him, and he’s soon convinced to seek out a marvelous place called Solla Sollew ‘where they never have troubles, at least very few’. He gets into all kinds of nasty scrapes along the perilous path towards this heavenly kind of place. And when he’s finally at the doorway, thinking he’s arrived, there’s a ‘key-slapping slippard’ that prevents the doorman from letting him in. He's invited to search instead for an even more utopian place … but decides to return home, and to stop running away from his troubles. Instead, he arms himself and decides that from now on ‘my troubles are going to have trouble with me’. Have we also spent parts of our lives seeking that elusive trouble-free space or path, only to realize there’s no such thing?

In our temptations gospel today, the devil keeps offering Jesus ways to fast-track his ministry and mission … the quick fix, the easy way out. You must be hungry, says the devil, why not turn these stones into bread – I know you can do it. And then the devil supposedly sees that Jesus is trying to understand the best way to help liberate as many people as possible, so he says something like this: Hey I’ve got a lot of connections – listen to me, trust me to be in charge -- and I guarantee that the world will follow you. And the third temptation is especially interesting – throw yourself down from the temple – why waste time convincing them slowly about who you are – just let them experience how magically special you are to God, and they’ll follow you. That one sounds almost like professional career planning – show them your strengths right away, and you’ll have them in the palm of your hand. Don’t we in the churches sometimes wish that Jesus WOULD perform a flashy miracle so that everyone would see and follow him as God? Then just think how full our pews would be!

But again, Jesus says no. People are not to be coerced into believing by flashy maneuvers – the neon lights of earlier times. Nope. Instead, people are invited gently by Jesus – to consider the compelling attractiveness of a loving Creator God. Or they’re invited to become compassionate enough to join his ongoing battles against the injustices of our times. “Social justice is love applied to systems, policies and cultures” (Bernice King). And after these three temptations, the gospel tells us that the devil departed from Jesus “until an opportune time”.

Unfortunately, evil comes in recurring cycles. The evil we’re seeing in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for example, is something that many in the world thought we would never see again. May we be courageous and steadfast in faith, hope & love despite all the ways that evil still challenges our world today. May we rise from the ashes of the world’s suffering like a phoenix … and bring healing balm with our tears of compassionate love, Amen.