Luke 4:1-13
We’re going to start a little differently today. If you don’t mind, can you get your wallet out? No, I’m not going to ask you to take all your money and pass it to the front. Instead, I want you to pull out your loyalty cards. I’ll go first. I’ve got a Costco card. Can’t go wrong with that. I’ve also got an AMA card, a Sewing card, a Lego card (of course), a book points card, I’m supposed to have a Shoppers Optimum card, but I have no idea where it’s gone. And I don’t have a card, but I also have a Co-op number. And I also have an Amex. My husband and I debated a lot about that last one, because I don’t really like credit cards, but this one is supposed to give us a lot of points that we can use for plane tickets to visit the States.
I’m guessing you have some of the same loyalty cards, and maybe some others as well. We sure do like our cards, don’t we? It seems like these days you can’t shop at any store without being asked if you want to sign up for their loyalty club, so you can get rewards. That’s because marketing research has shown that loyalty cards work. People do prioritize spending money at places where they have loyalty cards. I get points for gas at Costco and at Co-op. Unless it’s an emergency, those are the only two places I fill up. Because of the benefits I get with my Lego card, I only ever buy Lego at the actual Lego store. Because we’re wanting to fly to the States this year, I’ve changed my spending habits so that I charge things to my credit card instead of paying directly through debit. I am living proof that loyalty cards work. It’s a bit creepy, if you think about it, the degree to which loyalty cards actually shape our spending habits, the way they actually change our behaviour.
It’s something I’m not entirely comfortable with, because sometimes loyalty cards work better for the company then for me. While it’s true that I get points and rewards, the company actually gets my money. And we have all felt the frustration of trying to access our rewards and the company coming back and saying, “Well... there are these black-out dates,” or “It doesn’t apply to this particular line of products,” or, my personal favourite, “your points don’t carry over to the next year and so we’re sorry to say that they’re expired.” Loyalty card companies don’t always fulfill their side of the bargain, and yet, they still shape the way I shop. And they still have my money.
Today’s Gospel reading is about loyalty. And I want to thank the confirmation class for pointing this out to me last Wednesday. We call this story the Temptation of Jesus, but really, this story is about loyalty. As the students noticed, all of the scenarios that the devil presents are really about the devil asking Jesus to demonstrate his loyalty - underneath each episode, from Jesus’ physical well-being, to the temptation of total earthly power, to self-preservation, is the test: is Jesus going to be loyal to God?
Of course, it should be no surprise that Jesus demonstrates his loyalty. Jesus continues to choose God above all the other choices––indeed, he is loyal to God all the way to his death. But I think this is not the only point of this story. As we know from our experience with loyalty cards, it’s not just about whether we are loyal to the company, but also whether the company is loyal to us. And so I want to suggest that Jesus is loyal to God under this intense pressure because God has first been loyal to Jesus.
We often miss this, in part because of the way the lectionary divides up the Gospel so we can get through all of it in 52 Sundays. But if we actually look in the Bible, we find that right before Jesus went into the desert, he was baptized by John. And remember what happened then? “The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.” And how does our reading for today start? “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
Before going into the desert, Jesus was signed up for God’s baptism loyalty card. And a perk of that membership is being filled with the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God. Before Jesus was asked to show his loyalty to God, God demonstrated that God was loyal to Jesus. No black-out dates, no restrictions, no expiries. It was because of that, because of the perk of being filled with the Holy Spirit, that Jesus was able to say no to everything the devil offered, and to remain loyal to God.
The story about Jesus’ temptation––or Jesus’ loyalty––in the desert is always the first one to start our Sundays in Lent, because Lent calls us to show our loyalty to God above all. It is a call that comes to us over the next forty days (minus Sundays) that encourages us to see where in our world we are being called to other loyalties, and to consciously resist those calls in favour of showing loyalty to God. Lent is a time when we lay all our loyalty cards out on the table, and see how they’re changing our behaviours, and decide if that’s really how we want to live.
But we are not sent out into these forty days alone and unequipped. We are only sent into these forty days after we have seen that God’s loyalty to us comes before anything else. God does not ask for your loyalty first; even your baptism is the result of the Holy Spirit first moving you or your parents in that direction. God does not threaten you into loyalty either, saying “Show me loyalty or else!” God does not ask you to go out on a limb, uncertain or afraid. Rather, God demonstrates God’s unwavering love for you, God’s unshakable loyalty to you, what we call God’s steadfast lovingkindness to you, first so that you might learn to turn to God as well.
And so, as we enter these forty days of Lent together, into a time of examining our loyalties and our behaviours before God, I have something for you: A loyalty card for you, issued by God through Christ.
Feel free to tuck it in your wallet for the next forty days. May it be a reminder for you not only who you are loyal to, but, more importantly, who is loyal to you. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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