Morning Devotion for the Season of Lent
March 10, 2025
Luke 4:1-13
After his baptism, 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. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 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. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
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, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Meditation: by Glenn Beamer
Reading this passage of Luke, I am struck by verses 5, 6, and 7, and the devil’s proffer of “all the kingdoms of the world.” Looking at the world today, with deadly conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, one could ask, “What is a kingdom, and why on earth would we want it?”
The ambition to desire more land and wealth, i.e. kingdoms, has been present throughout Christianity’s history and truth be told Christians have fallen prey to it. But the circumstances we face today push us to ask how we should animate Jesus’ response to Satan, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”
It is easy to look at distant conflicts, read Luke, and infer that we have no role in other kingdoms – we should tend our own gardens and serve the Lord in so doing. But service to God enjoins loving and serving your neighbor, as Jesus commands in Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31.
At Redeemer our meaningful endeavor to do so is through our outreach and service programs. These programs provide a map for serving our neighbors without endeavoring to make them into our “kingdoms.”
I’ve contributed dinners to the Family Promise of the Main Line. At FPML, we host and accept families as they are, and we provide them with gracious hospitality as best we can. Preparing the meal is essential, but staying to be present with families is where our Christian witness occurs.
As much as the hosted families are a focus, I have come to appreciate FPML as a time in which parishioners come together with some humility. There is a shared appreciation for the stability and abundance that many of us share, there is a recognition of and respect for the courage and perseverance required among the families to journey to a new secure place.
A second “neighbors’ stewardship” practice is our Redeemer Youth Group and its upcoming trip to Asheville, North Carolina to assist in rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Helene’s destruction. Our youth will be in a place of incredible God-given beauty, but also a place where people have suffered through no fault of their own. The Appalachian’s natural beauty juxtaposed with North Carolinians misfortune seems contradictory. Our youth may work through these unjust circumstances, and the limits of their contributions. For me, part of the value of forcing my sons to go to North Carolina is that they will witness in a community far from the Main Line and recognize that God calls them to contribute to its improvement but does not promise success.
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