“LOVES ME…LOVES ME NOT…LOVES ME…LOVES
ME NOT”
LUKE 4:1-13
4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
2 where for forty days he was tempted
by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
3 The devil said to him, "If you are
the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."
4 Jesus answered him, "It is written,
'One does not live by bread alone.'"
5 Then the devil led him up and showed
him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And the devil said to him, "To you
I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.
7 If you, then, will worship me, it
will all be yours."
8 Jesus answered him, "It is written,
'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him,
"If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
10 for it is written, 'He will command
his angels concerning you, to protect you,'
11 and 'On their hands they will bear
you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
12 Jesus answered him, "It is said,
'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
13 When the devil had finished every
test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
It’s a simple game
that we all played when we were little. You take a daisy and you pull the petals
off while you say the words, “He loves me…He loves me not,” or “She loves me…she loves me not.” When you get to the last petal the hope, of course, is that the person will
love you.
You see, the
fear of not being loved or liked is there in all of us. That’s why it isn’t
too hard to understand how a former UCLA football coach felt one day while talking to his wife. Pepper Rodgers’ team was playing really bad and things were starting to get ugly. He didn’t realize how ugly until he told his wife that he felt like his dog was his only friend. Then when he said that every man needs at least two friends instead of giving him
a little love and affection his wife went out and bought him another dog. She
love me…she loves me not. He loves me…he loves me not.
You don’t have to be
a child to play that game. Adults also play that game at times. We just don’t use the daisy. The devil tried to get
Jesus to play that game while they were out in the wilderness. It happened when
they got to the third temptation. That third temptation was designed to make
Jesus wonder if God really loved him. The first temptation of course was to turn stones into bread. The second temptation was to bow down and worship the devil in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus quickly turned his back on those first two temptations. After the first temptation
Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man, does not live by bread alone.’”
After the second temptation Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Now the third temptation
was a little more dangerous and devious. That’s the temptation where the
devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem
and then when they got there dared him to jump. According to the devil
if Jesus was really God’s only begotten Son he didn’t have anything to worry about. God wasn’t going to let his only begotten Son fall to the ground and go splat. The devil even quoted
a verse from a psalm to make his case. The devil said, “…for it is
written, ‘God will command his angels concerning you. To protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear
you up. Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
You can almost see the devil
sitting there on the pinnacle of the Temple with a daisy in
his hand and chanting, “He loves you…he loves you not…he loves you…he loves you not. So Jesus, are
you going to jump?” Jesus wasn’t about to play that game though. So, he told the devil to be gone and said, “It is written you shall not put
the Lord your God to the test.”
It sounds good,
but sometimes you just can’t help playing that game and putting God’s love to the test. It happens when you’re frustrated or frazzled. Something
bad happens and you wonder, “If God really loves me, why would God let something like this happen to me?”
That thought
may have gone through the mind of a guy who went duck hunting with a friend out in Wisconsin. It must have been late winter or early spring because the lake was still covered
with ice. That didn’t stop the guy though.
He drove his brand new $42,500 Lincoln Navigator out onto the ice. By
the way, my dad sent me this story a few weeks ago in an email. The email said
that the story is absolutely true and that a radio station out in Wisconsin
ran the story when it first happened. Well, I went online and found the story
on several websites although I wasn’t able to find the name of the radio station.
Anyway, the guy and his friend are out there on the ice with their guns, a dog and the guy’s brand new Lincoln
Navigator. They quickly decide that it might be a good idea to create a patch
of open water to attract any ducks that might be passing by. Of course making a hole in the ice large that big is going to
take a little more power than the average drill auger can produce. So, out of
the back of the new Lincoln Navigator comes a stick of dynamite with a 40 second fuse.
Now the guy and his friend figure that it’s probably not a good idea to light the fuse and run since there’s
always the change that they might slip and fall on the ice. So, they decide on a different course of action. They light the 40 second fuse and then, with a mighty thrust, they throw the stick
of dynamite as far away as possible. Now remember the guys are standing there next to a brand new Lincoln Navigator with their
guns and a dog. Let’s talk about the dog…a highly trained black lab
used for retrieving things; especially things thrown by his master. You guessed
it. As soon as the guy throws the stick of dynamite the dog takes off across
the ice. In no time at all the dog has the stick of dynamite in its mouth and is proudly on its way back to his master. The guy and his friend quickly begin to panic.
They start to wave their arms and holler at the dog. The dog though thinks
it’s being cheered on and keeps on coming. Finally the guy’s friend
grabs his shotgun and pulls the trigger. Since the shotgun is only loaded with
#8 bird shot it doesn’t hurt or stop the dog. So, the guy’s
friend pulls the trigger again. Now the dog is frightened and thinks these two
guys have gone crazy. So, it runs for cover. You
guess it. The dog runs with the stick of dynamite and hides under the brand new
Lincoln Navigator. The guy and his friend scream and don’t know whether
to run to or away from the dog, the dynamite and the brand new Lincoln Navigator. They
finally decide to run for their lives. Meanwhile the red hot exhaust pipe on the brand new Lincoln Navigator touched the poor
dog’s rear end. The dog yelps of course and runs, leaving the dynamite
under the truck. A few seconds later the guy and his friend hear a deafening ka-boom.
Ice flies everywhere and the brand New Lincoln Navigator
sinks to the bottom of the lake. It gets worse though. The guy’s insurance company later informs him that sinking a vehicle in a lake by the illegal use
of explosives is NOT COVERED by the policy. And the poor guy still hasn’t
made his first $560 monthly payment.
Sometimes when things aren’t
going very well you wonder, “Does God really care?” He loves me…he
loves me not…he loves me…he loves me not. Sometimes that question goes through your mind when you’re out
of work and just can’t find a job. Sometimes that question goes through
your mind when the doctor tell us that you or someone you love has cancer. Sometimes
that question goes through you mind when a sister or brother, a son or daughter makes a bad decision and breaks your heart. It’s a question that sometimes goes through your mind when you look at all the
crazy things that are going on in the world today. Does God really love us? Does God really love me? Does God really
love you?
Then there’s the other
side of the coin. You wonder if God really loves you when you really want something
good to happen. Please Lord, let me get that promotion. Please Lord, let me win that $217 million lottery. By the
way, if you do win that $217 million lottery next week that’s fine with me as long as you remember to tithe 10% of it
to the Union Congregational Church of North Reading. Please Lord, let someone
in this congregation win the lottery. Please Lord, make her love me as much as I love her.
Jesus didn’t play that
game out in the wilderness. Jesus didn’t put God’s love to the test. Why? Because Jesus already knew that
God loved him. He already knew that God loved him because of what happened right
before he went out into the wilderness. When Jesus was baptized do you remember
what happened after that dove descended on Jesus? A voice from heaven declared,
“This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Now the
important thing to remember here is that this divine affirmation came before Jesus started his ministry. That love from above came before Jesus healed a single person; before he performed a single miracle; before
he uttered a single word of truth.
Jesus was able to look back
to the Jordan River and know that God loved him. You
and I can look ahead to that Upper Room and know that God loves us. Do you remember
what Jesus said when he broke bread with the disciples that night? He said, “Greater
love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
You and I can also look ahead to the Cross where the first thing Jesus said was, “Father forgive them...”
(Luke 23:34)
The proof of God’s
love for you won’t be found in the bad things that you don’t want to happen or the good things that you want to
happen. The proof will be found in the God who so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:13).
Many years ago
during World War II two soldiers went to see a priest in a small village in Italy. They went to see the priest to see if they could bury their friend in the church’s
cemetery. Unfortunately, the priest said the man couldn’t be buried in
the cemetery because he wasn’t Catholic. Still, the priest felt terrible
and wanted to help. So, he told the two soldiers that they could bury their friend just outside the cemetery’s fence
which they did. When the two soldiers went back to the cemetery the next day
they looked and looked but couldn’t find their friend’s grave. So,
they went to see the priest. That’s when they learned that the priest
unable to sleep had gone out to the cemetery in the middle of the night and moved the fence.
He did that so their friend’s grave could be in the cemetery. He couldn’t change the rules but he could
move the fence.
You’ll find that same
kind of love waiting for you in the God who sent us his only begotten Son. It’s
a love that does more than moves fences. It’s a love that opens the gates
of heaven to all who believe. God loves you…God loves you not…God
loves you…God loves you not…God loves you. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
February 25, 2007
