Traveling

 Traveling

[Newsletter article for March 2026] 

Over and again I re-read the wilderness account of the temptations of Jesus. I think I understand “bread one.” For sure, bread is important for life, but we are not to place the gifts of God before the Giver. He is the great provider. His living Word – our Lord Jesus – is our primary source of satisfaction. Maybe I just scratching the surface of the meaning – I find it sufficient for now.

But what about the other two? What puzzles me is not the response of Jesus – the whole approach is off: jumping of a pinnacle of the Temple? (Matthew 4:5-7). I can easily see how Jesus steps out of the roof and very slowly descends to the ground without ANY angelic help – as He did it later in His ministry walking on waters. So, what was devil trying to accomplish there? Test the boundaries of trust the Son has toward the Father? See is it really the incarnate Creator who rules over the law of gravity He embedded into the nature?

Sermon: 1st Sunday of LENT

 Date: March 9, 2025                                                                                                       Text: Luke 4:1-13

Scavenger Hunt

(video can be found here go to 42:08)

I. Intro

What is a scavenger hunt? It’s a game where participants go through a set of different challenges (usually in different places) to reach a final destination to obtain a prize.   

With some limitations, we can see that the Temptations of Jesus is a scavenger hunt. Think about it – right after His Baptism He is led by the Spirit to the wilderness for 40 days, he is tempted by the devil – honestly – throughout these 40 days. Then, by the very end, devil through at Him three more challenges Jesus needs to overcome. Spoiler alert, He won!   

 

II. Text – Luke 4:1-13

a. Stone into bread

b. Glory of the kingdoms vs. faithfulness to God

c. Premature victory vs. fighting to the end

 

III. Take away

It would not be a sermon if I would stop here – it would be a TED talk.

What makes it a sermon – let us read carefully the very end, v. 13. What is an opportune moment? Passion time:

a. He shares the bread even with Judas

b. He stays faithful even begging to find another way

c. He proclaims the completion of the mission

He came to the world to restore our relationship with God based on His righteousness – righteousness of forgiveness and righteousness of active vibrant Christian live. When we are guided by the Spirit throughout the days of our earth wilderness.  

NEWSLETTER: March - THINKING of LENT

Faithfulness to the Lord, loyalty to the Church

Dear brothers and sisters,

The time of Lent is upon us. Thinking of Lent, there are a few layers to consider. On March 9, the first Sunday of Lent, we’ll read Luke 4:1-11. Allow me to explain these layers based on the Gospel reading: First, the time of Lent reminds us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Right after His baptism, Jesus was led into the wilderness where natural dangers were testing His will, and when the absence of food, comfortable sleep, and the lack of joyful fellowship with other people reached its peak, the supernatural temptations came to surface.  The devil came, trying to penetrate the guard of the Son of Man. Everything began as a simple earthly question: what about this bread, the basic means to survive? The same questions we have here at Zion: what about the money, paying the bills, etc. All of them are reasonable and should concern a genuine believer, but the focus should stay on the LORD who generously provided in years past. 

Advent Readings: Luke 4

Luke 4

The chapter begins with a story of temptation. Many of us know it almost by heart. Bread, glory, false humility… Jesus gloriously defends Himself with the Word, to be precise – with the words of Moses from his last sermon, delivered right before Israel left the desert going to the Land of promise. Even a pitiful attempt of the devil to misinterpret Psalm 91 [which rabbinical tradition assigns to Moses], didn’t break through the Torah based shielding or a very unique technic of fencing with the Word of God (cp. Eph. 6:17).

Overview of the Bible: Deuteronomy

 Book of Deuteronomy

Title: Deuteronomy, from Greek Deuteros – “second” and Nomos – “Law”, second time when the Law is given.

Hebrew: D’varim – Words, cp. Ex. 4:10 (lit. I am not the man of words)      

Date of writing: 1446 – 1405 BC

Date of Narrative: 1406 – 1405 BC

Structure:

A. 1:1-4, Moses speaks on the plane of Moab

  B. 1:5-4:43, Historical Overview of the Journey

    C. 4:44 – 5:33, Introduction into the Teaching

      D. 6 – 27, Sermon on 10 Commandments

    C’. 28 – 30, Sanctions on keeping or breaking the Teaching

  B’. 31 – 33, Historical succession: person and song

A’. 34, Moses dies on the Mountain Nebo      

Main themes:

Seriousness of sin – Ch. 4:1-6, Ch. 27:9-26

Godly leaders – ch. 17 – 18

Succession of power – ch. 31 – 33

Israel as a beloved nation – 4:7-8; Ch. 7

Relationship with the neighboring nations – 16:9-12  

Main Characters: Moses, Joshua, 12 tribes of Israel, King Sihon of Heshbon, King Og of Bashan. 

Reflection in other parts of the Bible:

Blessing of 12 tribes (33) – Genesis 49, Rev. 7

The reason for Moses’s death (1:37; 3:26; 4:21-22) – Numbers 13-14, 20

Rules for a king (17:14-17) – 1 Kings 10:14 – 11:8

New prophet like Moses (18:15-22) – Structure of the Gospel of Matthew

Lutheran teaching:

Teaching of the people of God and – particularly – young generation the articles of faith is based on Deut. 6:7 (SC, Pref:6-7; LC, I:61, III:79).

The Ten Commandments (both Ex. 20 and Deut. 5) – SC, I and LC, I

The doctrine of the Third use of the Law is drown from the Book and supported by Deut. 12 (FC, SD, VI:20).   

Lutheran hymnody:     

LSB 581 – These are the Holy Ten Commandments

LSB 814 – O Bless the Lord, My soul (stanza 6)

Relevancy of the Book:

Reading the Book of Deuteronomy, we see the rules and regulations that people of Israel should follow upon their entrance into the Land. Many places in the New Testament show that in Christ we reached the Promised Land. Therefore, many of these rules and regulations, commandments and testaments can/should be a helpful guiding line for the life of a Christian.

Notice also that Jesus, being in the wilderness (Lk. 4:1-13), uses the words of Deuteronomy only: Deut. 8:3; Deut. 6:13, 16. Jesus shows us an example how to engage properly into a spiritual warfare – using the Word of God that teaches us the great doctrines of God’s love.         

Memory verses:

6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house on your gates.