“The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm”(Deut. 26:8).
Students of the Scriptures tell us that our first reading, from Deuteronomy, contains one of the most ancient confessions of faith that we find in the Bible: the bit that begins with “A wandering Aramean was my father…” (Deut. 26:5). As the confession of faith goes, God led the Hebrew descendants of this Aramean into Egypt and then liberated them, “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut. 26:8), and brought them to the promised land, as we heard. In recounting what God had done, ancient Israel confessed their faith in the God who had saved them.
This is very much the form of Deuteronomy. Before the People enter the promised land, Moses tells the story once again. He recites the history of what God has done to save them, and the assembly reaffirms their faith and their loyalty to God’s covenant with them. Deuteronomy looks back to the beginning, and exhorts the People, in their own day, to renewed obedience and commitment. God has been faithful to them, and now they are called to be faithful to God.
In our Gospel today, Jesus goes back to that same book, to Deuteronomy, to address the devil’s temptations. He does this three times, to match the three temptations. “One does not live by bread alone” (Lk. 4:4; Deut. 8:3), reflecting God’s miraculous provision of manna in the wilderness; “worship the Lord your God and serve only him” (Lk. 4:8; Deut. 6:13), an echo of the commandment to have no other gods before him, also in Deuteronomy (Deut. 5:7); and finally, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Lk. 4:12; Deut. 6:16), a reference to the ways in which the People of Israel, by their disobedience, had provoked or tempted God.
By going back to Deuteronomy, Jesus frames the struggle with the devil in terms of the People’s long-term relationship with God. Our Gospel is more than a story of individual temptation: it has a longer history, and cosmic implications. Later in Deuteronomy, Moses says to the People, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity…blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him…” (Deut. 30:15, 19-20). Just as God had once placed a choice before ancient Israel, so now Jesus chooses life for all of us, by being perfectly obedient to God.
He is the One who loves God, obeys him, and holds fast to him, as it says in Deuteronomy. He takes up the mantel of God’s People, and fulfills the promise. Jesus steps into the shoes of the “wandering Aramean” (Deut. 26:5) who God first set into motion, and brings the journey of faith to completion.
Not only does Jesus choose life; he has become the means of life for us. Think for a moment of our Gospel and the promised return of the devil at “an opportune time” (Lk. 4:13). Good Friday is that time, and the three-fold taunt on the cross corresponds to the three temptations. “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one” (Lk. 23:35). Or “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” (Lk. 23:37). Or finally, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Lk. 23:39).
You might say that the crucifixion is the devil’s payback to Jesus for not accepting his offer. “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours” (Lk. 4:7). The devil is all about revenge, and in this case is a bully. The onlookers try to shame Jesus with his helplessness, but of course the shame is on them. Jesus is the Savior. For God, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, as he did at the Red Sea, has saved all of us in him, by raising him from the dead.
Lent is the time in which we renew our relationship with God, recommitting ourselves to God’s covenant with us in Christ. We too are looking back and taking stock. Just as Moses called the People to enter more deeply into the relationship God had established with them long ago, so now the Church calls us once again to follow Jesus as his disciples. We step into the shoes of the wandering Aramean ourselves as we walk in Jesus’ footsteps, on the journey of faith.
Our confirmands this Lent are showing us the way. They are re-affirming their renunciation of evil and renewing their commitment to Jesus Christ. All of us have the chance to join with them in promising to continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship; to persevere in resisting evil; to proclaim the good news of God in Christ; to seek and serve Christ in all persons; and to strive for justice and peace. Lent is the season in which we recommit to Jesus Christ and reaffirm him as our Savior. We know we cannot save ourselves, but the good news is that Jesus Christ has already done it.