Nate and I have a long history of being very annoying board game players because we tend to not play by the rules. This drives serious board game players nuts. For example, when we play Scabble, we generally start with the usual rules with good intentions, but pretty quick it turns into helping each other come up with ideas. And then we’ll start trading tiles. And then we’ll give each other permission to put back three of the the four I’s we’re stuck with so we can get something better. And then we start making up words with made up definitions. It’s a lot of fun to play this way, imho, though you can see how this is absolutely heresy to real Scrabble players.

When you play a game by different rules, the goals automatically become different. Because we tend to play collaboratively, it doesn’t make sense for the goal to be getting more points than the other player. The goals become different, like making satisfying words together or making fun patterns with the tiles or laying down a really long word that can support lots more play. Or it’s about making each other laugh. With different rules the goals change and the definition of winning becomes different.

Like Scrabble, our world works by a certain set of rules. For the most part, the goals of our game of life are mostly about amassing power, money, security, and influence. And the rules of our game support these goals.

However, Jesus has different rules and different goals for us.

The 4^th chapter of Luke actually begins with Jesus’ sojourn in the desert and the temptations of the devil where Jesus explicitly rejects the rules and goals of our society. He turns down fame, wealth, power, and pride. Jesus’ ministry and life will be defined by a different set of rules and goals for himself and us.  

From our gospel reading, we hear that he aims to bring about healing and justice, freedom and kindness among us, for all of us. We humans are very capable of living this way. Well, we’re capable of this when we are following the rules of Jesus and striving for the goals of our Lord. We’re far less capable of this when we are following the rules of domination and winning.  

The struggle for us normal folks doing our best to follow Jesus is how do we make that transition from following one set of rules to another. It’s surely not all a cognitive exercise. We can’t just decide to make this change and then simply do it, in case you haven’t noticed. That’s not how change happens. Our impulses and fears get in the way. We are prone to acting as if our well-being and safety is all up to us and we need to do what we have to in order to survive in this dog-eat-dog world. We get caught up in the outrage and the desire to fight, hate, condemn, and mock. We also get caught up in our propensities to flex and humiliate others when power is on our side.

We do indeed have the two wolves inside of us, with one wolf playing by one set of rules and the other with a different set of rules. And for the most part, we are mostly caught in the messy middle.

How you see this struggle playing out will be different for each of us, no doubt. Some of us are paying a great deal of attention to our national politics with dismay and fear while others are watching the same events with hope and assurance. Some of us are not watching the news and yet see this struggle at play in our families, at work, even just inside our own heads.

We can feel stuck in this mire, feeling the tug and pull of these different sets of rules. We may want to be generous, understanding, and wise. We may want to be peaceful and deeply trusting of God. But wanting these things and being these things are different. In addition, we can’t muscle our way into being that person who always plays by Jesus’ rules. Thus, we say our words of Confession and Forgiveness fairly often, because we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.

Shifting our being from following one set of rules to Jesus’ rules is a transformation that takes place over time. And it’s not all just about ourselves. It’s about the world. The world is also transforming, but I do believe our personal transformations have everything to do with our societal transformation. It’s all connected, from the personal to the global. People of great faith and spiritual wisdom have changed their families, neighborhoods, or world again and again for the better. But this goodness starts with people of great spiritual wisdom who are living their lives by a different set of rules and with a different set of goals than our cultural norms.

Societal change starts with people who have been transformed by God, by grace, maybe by a whole lot of therapy, or all of the above.

In the gospel story of Luke leading up to this point, we have the story of Jesus’ conception, birth, and boyhood. (We’ve recently read all this) Next is the story of his baptism and blessing. (Read that, too) Immediately after the baptism and blessing, Jesus goes into the desert for 40 days. (This part the lectionary skipped for now.) Right after the desert is today’s reading about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

It’s quite important, in my mind, that Jesus experienced this time in the desert between his baptism and the beginning of his ministry. He has this important and long time with God in prayer and contemplation.

In addition, 40 days in the desert for Jesus is an echo of the people’s 40 years in the desert after being freed of slavery in Egypt. The people experienced a baptism of sorts by passing through the Red Sea into freedom and a new relationship with God. But they had to learn how to be God’s people next and they did this during their 40 years in the desert.  It was a time of transformation, individually and collectively.

So, was Jesus learning in the desert, as well? Or being prepared in some way to take on his vocation and special relationship with God? Whatever happened for him, he was able to defy Satan’s temptations at the end of his time in the desert. He denied the usual rules we tend to live by. And immediately afterwards in the gospel of Luke, he preached to the people that he, in his being, fulfilled the promises of Isaiah.

What if we consider this narrative arc of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry that we’ve been talking about (baptism, sojourn, and proclamation) as a template for us in our spiritual development and engagement in the world? Can we use this as a model for ourselves?

It seems to me we folks take seriously our baptisms and entrance into this relationship with God. We also mostly take the ministry of our lives seriously. How we live, speak, love, give, work, consume, and play are all potential ways of living out our own ministry. What I think we tend to take less seriously is that 40 days part. That time of personal change and transformation for our very beings to be in alignment with God through silence and contemplation. That time and space where we find the courage to say with the truest of hearts that we wish for God’s will to be done in our lives and our souls, regardless of consequences. Yikes!

I can honestly say that I feared this when I recommitted my life to Christ, when I came back to the church as an adult. I knew I was opening myself up to God’s action and who really wants that, really?! Well, Jesus did. But the rest of us tend to be a bit more resistant than Jesus, particularly when it comes to playing purely by God’s rules in life. This might be why the ministry of our lives is a bit messy.

But we don’t have to manage this part alone. In fact, I don’t think we can. Jesus had the 40 days to be extra prepared for ministry. The Hebrews had 40 years of preparation to live as God’s people.

So, my invitation to you and me is for us to focus ourselves on our time in preparation for our ministry with God. Instead of 40 years or 40 days, we can do this in maybe 40 minutes! Folks who practice Centering Prayer teach that it should be done in two 20 minute session per day, once in the morning and once at night. 40 minutes!

Because this is mostly a silent prayer, it is a form of submission to God to acknowledge our rambling and at times adorable brains are not the center of the universe. God is. It is a daily sojourn to help us move through this arc of transformation that Jesus showed us in his life; from baptism to sojourn to ministry.

Changing the rules of our world to reflect God’s kingdom won’t happen through force or domination. That’s inherently breaking God’s rules to set the new rule. The means would corrupt the ends. It won’t happen by making people behave or even making ourselves behave. It will emerge and it will emerge through individuals, families, and communities practicing what Jesus has shown us! It will emerge through us.

We are given the path and the way to follow Jesus, not just in proclamation that he is Lord. But also in how we live our lives, how we find hope, and how we will live in ways that are Spirit-filled for the sake of us all

AMEN