The First Sunday in Lent March 8-9, 2025
“Lies, More Lies, And the Truth” Luke 4:1-13
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
I read the most amazing account of tenacity a few weeks ago. It was written to tell us that Anna Marie Hochhalter had died. Anna Marie was shot in the back at Columbine High School on that terrible day of April 20, 1999, almost 26 years ago. Two deranged students killed 12 students and one teacher, and injured many others that morning, including Anna Marie.
Anna Marie was only 17 years old at that time and has lived these last 26 years in a wheelchair. Her nerve pain was constant. But her losses grew even more severe shortly after April 20. Six months after that horrid day her mother, Carla, committed suicide.
There is every reason to think that this story would have a terrible ending. But into this picture came Sue and Rick Townsend, who lost their daughter, Lauren, at Columbine that day. The Townsend’s reached out to Anna Marie and formed a special relationship, calling her their “acquired daughter”. They spent many holidays and vacations together.
I never met this woman but what I read impressed me. Even with all she went through she didn’t want others to see her as a victim. Sue Townsend said of Anna Marie’s stubbornness, “It was this attitude of ‘I’ll show you, you’re not going to get me down.’” In 2016 Anna Marie wrote a letter to Sue Klebold, the mother of one of the killers. In part it read:
Just as I wouldn’t want to be judged by the sins of my family members, I hold you in the same regard. It’s been a tough road for me, with many medical issues because of my spinal cord injury and intense nerve pain, but I choose not to be bitter towards you. A good friend once told me, “Bitterness is like swallowing a poison pill and expecting the other person to die.” It only harms yourself. I have forgiven you and only wish you the best.
I’m sure that in that 26-year struggle there was the temptation to give up, quit fighting and stop persevering. It would have been easier to turn bitter and be filled with hate. I am sure that the devil with his lies, and more lies, kept calling.
When you think of the devil, Satan, what do you picture? Something dark and sinister? Evil. Dirty. Cunning. Tempting. Lying over and over again. You see his face and you don’t want to see it again.
How about this? Relentless. Never giving up. Persistent. Tenacious – the type that grinds on you. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1-2) After those 40 days of harassment we read, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13) One translator gave these words to that verse, “The devil left him only ‘till a fresh occasion would present itself.” Like the Terminator, “I’ll be back!!”
I’m sure that there were more than three lies that the devil presented to tempt Jesus, but you’ve heard the three. Stones into bread. Bend the knee to the devil and receive all the kingdoms of the world. Fall down from the height of the temple and let the angels come to His aid. I read that the first temptation carries with it the delusion that we find the fullness of life in material things. It never happens. The second, bowing the knee to the devil, is the temptation to compromise. At the Ash Wednesday service part of the confession of our sins was quite painful to acknowledge, “We are not the people You would have us to be; we are not what we had hoped for.” We compromise our values and standards. The third temptation was for glory. Falling from the height and letting all the worshippers witness a real miracle would be amazing. Pride and glory are the downfall of many of us.
Did you know that the devil is truly relentless? I bet you know that. Addictions, harmful habits, persistent sins, rob us of our freedom and joy. The Bible says, “A person is a slave to whatever has mastered them.” (II Peter 2:19) Peter also writes, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” (I Peter 5:8-9)
Did you know that the ultimate goal of all the relentless onslaught of lies and more lies from the devil is? It is to steal your faith. His work is to take Jesus away from you. He wants you to be in darkness and not light. He wants you to live in despair and not hope. He would like you to be in hell; not in heaven.
He is relentless. But he is so limited. St. Augustine has this quote, “Satan can do no more than suggest – only the tempted person can do the wrong act.”
Do you know who is more persistent than the devil? Jesus. Peter, in all of his pride, said that while others might fall away when Jesus was going to come under attack, but he would stand strong. Jesus addresses him. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) Jesus knew what Simon Peter would do, how he would crash, how his pride would be shattered. But He didn’t give up on him. After Peter fell, Jesus wanted him to still have faith in the forgiveness of God. He didn’t want him to become isolated from the other disciples, together they would need to strengthen one another.
In the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book one of the twelve steps toward recovery from the enslavement to alcohol is “We had to reach out to a power greater than ourselves.” What is that power? It is God. It is Jesus. He is more persistent than any drug or alcohol, or sexual addiction or pornography, or anything that controls our life.
Those temptations presented to Jesus were real. He could have taken the step away from God’s call for Him to be our Savior. He could have sinned. But He didn’t. In the New Testament book of Hebrews we read, “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17-18) In chapter 4 of Hebrews the relentlessness of Jesus is spoken of like this, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)
Some people have physical ailments that don’t go away. They have chronic pain. Most of us can take a pill and in a little while we are ok. How difficult it is for those whose hardship is relentless.
Some of us, maybe all of us, have spiritual temptations that are daily. Like Paul says in Romans 7, “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” (Verse 21) The devil is relentless. Sin is relentless. Evil is relentless.
But God is greater than any lies the devil will speak to you. The Bible, God’s true word says, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (I Corinthians 10:12-13) But..but. When sin was there, we didn’t run away but ran in!! This is what God says of that – “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the righteous one.” (I John 2:1)
His love. His sacrifice. His forgiveness. His victory. All His truth. It is relentless. How good. Amen!!
