Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Have you ever found yourself spending time looking for something that was “lost,” something you later discovered really wasn’t “lost” after all? Maybe it was a pair of glasses that you carefully perched on your forehead for safe keeping, only to spend 10 minutes looking everywhere around the house for them? Maybe it was one white sock that you were certain had been deposited into the washing machine and dryer, only to discover it laying in the middle of the hallway on the way to the laundry room? Or maybe it was a half gallon of milk you were certain you had placed into your grocery store cart, only to discover you had instead placed it by mistake into someone else’s cart, puzzling both them and you.

While my Grandma and Grandpa Schaar were living in Florida, they had a large retail mall about two miles from their home. It was not unusual for them to spend time at the mall, especially during the afternoons. They really didn’t have shopping to do, but, truth be told, Grandpa was often too cheap to turn on the air conditioning at their home, so they’d go to the mall where Grandma would enjoy an Orange Julius and Grandpa would talk the ears off the guys working in the tools section at Sears. They, like probably most of us, usually parked their car in about the same area of the massive parking lot. One time they walked out of the mall to discover their car missing. They conducted a thorough search of the entire area, until a mall security guard stopped to help. They reported their car missing and when the guard asked them what kind of car they had and they responded a 1987 Dodge Omni, the officer chuckled and said, “Well, it’s got to be here somewhere. No one would steal a car like that.” And, sure enough, riding around in his little golf cart, they located their car on the opposite side of the mall, only then remembering that, due to road construction, they had entered the mall parking lot a way different from their usual routine.

Looking for something “lost” that really isn’t “lost” is a theme we see in our Scripture readings this First Sunday in Lent.

Look back to the Garden of Eden [Genesis 3]. The serpent, named “crafty” even by Moses, approached Eve about the fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden. Now Eve knew what God had told them. She was certain in her relationship with her God to know without any doubt or any wavering that God had told them not to eat that fruit and that the penalty was death. Notice the follow up from the crafty serpent: “You won’t die, but you will be like God if you eat that fruit and that’s something God doesn’t want so that’s the real reason He told you not to eat the fruit.”

Did you catch the search for that presumed “lost” which wasn’t really “lost”? The temptation that eventually won Eve over – and also Adam for that matter, if truth be told – was that they would be like God. What was the real truth? Well, Moses had earlier told us that Adam had been made in God’s image and that Eve had been taken from Adam so that meant they were already like God. They already reflected Him. They already knew good from evil, which is why they were at first hesitant with the presence of the serpent and with the words He was speaking to them. They were tempted and they fell into sin – ushering sin into the world for each of us – because they went looking for something they already had, something they had never truly “lost,” something they had already not been without.
The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that “there is nothing new under the sun” [Ecclesiastes 3]. That’s particularly true when it comes to how the devil operates.

Fast forward a couple thousand years to the events of our Gospel today, Satan’s temptation of Jesus after His 40 days in the wilderness. It’s interesting to note that the devil chose a time to tempt Jesus when He was alone, just like he had done with Eve, a time when others weren’t around to help and to support and to strengthen.

Look at the temptations the devil threw at Jesus. Temptations 1 and 2 start with the phrase “If you are the Son of God...” “If You are the Son of God tell these stones to become bread ... If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down because we know God’s angels will protect You.” The temptation hidden there in challenges 1 and 2 is for Jesus to doubt His identity, to fall into the trap of desiring something that was already His, to search and prove something that wasn’t “lost.” The truth is that Jesus was the Son of God and needed do nothing to prove that to Himself or anyone else.

The third temptation basically does the same thing, trying to create within Jesus a desire for something that was already His, trying to create within Jesus a passion for something claimed to have been stolen by the devil, something that was supposedly available for the asking to be reclaimed. “I will give You the kingdoms of this world.” The temptation hidden here is for Jesus to inherit the earth. The truth is Jesus already was the King of kings and the Lord of lord, that already nothing happened in this world without His knowledge and control.

Now fast forward again a couple thousand years to 21st Century Pasadena, California. You and I discover on a daily basis that there is indeed “nothing new under the sun.” The devil continues to find opportune moments in our lives when we are alone, when we are weaker than when we are surrounded by fellow believers, when we are more susceptible to listen to his temptations. I daresay the devil doesn’t tempt us while we’re involved in corporate worship. I daresay the devil doesn’t tempt us when God’s Word is open in front of us. Those are battles he’s sure to lose. But find us alone and suddenly we’re looking for something that’s not even lost.

“There is nothing new under the sun.” The devil tempts us during times of illness to believe that God has forsaken us. The devil tempts us during times of stress to believe that God is not in control. The devil tempts us during times of problems to believe that God doesn’t care. The devil tempts us during times of sin to believe that God won’t forgive. Do any of those sound familiar? Of course they do because we’ve all spent time looking for stuff we assume is lost, stuff that never has been lost.

That’s ultimately the message of the Cross of Jesus. There, because He was and is the one person ever able to not only withstand but also to conquer the devil, there are certain things of which we need never be uncertain: that God never leaves us; that God never relinquishes control; that God never not cares; and that God never stops forgiving. Those are things that are not lost, but are safe and secure in the Cross of Jesus, so stop looking for them.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena