Grace and peace to you from God the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It’s been a full week here in Lake Wobegon. (Just kidding.) But it has been an eventful week, what with snowstorms and Ash Wednesday and primaries and caucuses. A week full of interesting stuff. I even received a cool email forwarded to me that allowed you to fill out a survey and it would tell you which candidate agreed with your positions on the major election issues. I thought it might be a joke, but filled it out as best I could. When my candidate (with whom I had 60% agreement on issues) came up, I had never heard of him! I hadn’t ever seen his face, and I wondered if this actually were a joke. But then I scrolled down and my 2nd and 3rd best “issue-agreement” candidates I recognized immediately. They were tied at 57% and I began to wonder, “If both of these candidates have the same platform, however will I chose for whom to vote? Will it come down to popularity?"

I think it would probably have something to do with how much I felt like I could trust them. Trust them to not be swayed by the “spin doctors,” trust them to be authentic, who they really ARE. It also made me wonder if either of their mothers ever sent them out the door (probably for their first date) with the Ultimate Mom’s Advice: “Just be yourself, dear.”

Identity – being yourself – is what today’s lesson from Matthew is about. It is about the part of Jesus’ life when he was beginning to understand and accept for himself, WHO he was and HOW that would impact the ministry that he was just beginning. Some years ago there was a t.v. miniseries on CBS called simply, “Jesus.” It was somewhat based on the scriptures, but there were scenes that we do not have from the Bible’s telling. Some early scenes showed Mary and Joseph and Jesus in family moments. Then, when Joseph dies, Mary comes to the grown Jesus and tells him it is time to move out (and on!) She suggests he might get in touch with his cousin, John the Baptist, who is preaching and baptizing in the wilderness. Thus, she encourages Jesus to begin his ministry, with what I am sure is some of the same emotion that our parents of high school seniors are feeling right now as their children ready themselves to fly off to college. Mary sends Jesus out with love, and most probably a “just be yourself, dear” well-wish.

Add to that the claim of God that Jesus heard at his baptism, just prior to today’s reading, and echoed again last week at the Transfiguration, “You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well-pleased.” And Jesus hadn’t even done anything yet. He simply had the unconditional love of his human mother, his divine Father, and the companioning of the Holy Spirit as he left the Jordan and trekked into the desert.

We all know this story. We even title it, “The Temptation in the Wilderness,” because it is our human predisposition to go directly to the dramatic part of the story. Ah, the characters representing Good and Evil. The cosmic clash of wills. The title round between the Tempter and the Rabbi, that’s where we want to be. But you will note that there are forty days before that happens. Forty days when Jesus had no food, no water, and was completely alone in the desert – alone in the wilderness with nothing but…God. And it was then that the unconditional love of God strengthened Jesus to face the challenges of the Tempter, to choose to be who he already is - God’s Son, Beloved.

Now, we have a forty-day journey we call Lent. It was, historically, a period of self-examination for catechumens (those being prepared for Baptism) who would take this time to question and be educated about God and the church, and at the end of Lent, during the Great Vigil they would answer the question, “Do you wish to be baptized?” Nowadays, most of us started out with a Baptism, even before we knew there was such a thing. We never got to answer the question, “Do you wish to be baptized?” and thus Lent for us is a time for discipline and re-commitment rather than questions and answers. Because we are still tested by this world, by our culture, and it is easy to fall prey to the call to be “better,” to want to prove ourselves worthy of God’s love. So in a very real sense, this annual 40-day “reminder” is a gift!

American culture has not nourished Christian discipleship. “Deny thyself & take up your cross” is not an advertising campaign we are likely to see. What we are more likely to hear or view on t.v. or the web tells us the most important thing we can do is to be someone else, someone better, smarter, richer or thinner. Because “we deserve a break today,” “we’re worth it,” and because we can. Culture says our job as parents is to work hard to
give our children every opportunity available, but then we find there are too many opportunities, there is too much stuff, and there is ever so much to consume. We come to church just like we come to any other human experience/activity, asking “What do I want? What is in this for me?”

We have forgotten how to choose from our place of identity - to let our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” be simply, “no.” To answer because of who we ARE and who created us as US. To “just be ourselves…”

It’s important for us to remember how God works by looking at Christ’s life. It’s important because the Tempter keeps telling us that God’s love has conditions. This always makes us attempt to prove we are worthy rather than choosing to cling to who God has already told us we are. But don’t feel bad if you’ve been sucked in. Even the founder of our tradition, Martin Luther, had as the main question for most of his life, “What must I DO to find favor with God?” It wasn’t until Luther discovered grace that he understood that the answer to, “what must I do to find favor with God?” is “absolutely nothing,” and the one and only faithful prayer is the prayer that never fails…“Thy will be done.”

So, whether you experienced Baptism, then the wilderness, or the wilderness, and then Baptism doesn’t matter…what matters is Who Loves You for Who You Are. The you that is unique in all the universe and throughout human history. The one and only you that combines your body, your heart, your gifts and talents, your face in a way that has happened and will happen only ONCE. That Identity is the beginning of redemption. “Just remember who you are, dear…and be yourself.” Amen.