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Game Over!                              Matthew 4: 1-11                                   February 10, 2008

No matter what your rooting interest may have been, if you're even a casual football fan you will agree with me, I'm sure, that last Sunday's Super Bowl game was one of the best we've seen in quite some time. It wasn't decided until the final seconds, when the final, fourth-down, "hail Mary" pass from New England quarterback Tom Brady fell incomplete. Whether your final reaction was, like mine, a loud "yes" or an anguished, Patriot-fan's "no," you were most likely caught up in the game right up until the final second.

And, shifting gears a bit, no matter what your political persuasion may be, most of you will most likely agree that this year's Democratic presidential primary battle is going to be equally interesting - at least for a while. At this point, even after last Tuesday's huge 24-state battle, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are essentially tied for the lead.

The fact is, however, that many contests don't work out that way. There comes a time in many competitions where one of the competitors steps back for a moment or two and says to him or herself, "Ok, game over, this goal that I've been pursuing is just not going to happen."

If you're a sports fan, you've seen it dozens of times. It's the seventh inning and your team's manager has just put in one of his "mop-up" pitchers to hopefully keep the obvious winners from totally embarrassing the losers; or it's the middle of the forth quarter and your team's coach puts the backup quarterback in the game to get some experience-snaps in the losing effort.

We just saw the same thing happen recently on both sides of the political aisle. Rudy Giuliani, once the Republican front-runner, looked around after the Florida primary and declared "game over," accepting that his goal would not be attained. As did John Edwards, whose run for the Presidency ended, finally, after years of campaigning and spending. Then, to cap off this crazy week, just days ago, former overnor Mitt Romney, the favorite of the most conservative wing of his party, also ended his campaign.

To their credit, each of these political warriors conceded defeat with a lot of dignity, but their message was the same: "Game over. Someone is going to win the Presidency, and it's not going to be me."

Clearly, examples of surrendering to the inevitable are not limited to sports and politics. They happen in our legal system all the time, for example. The vast majority of lawsuits end with a settlement and never see a courtroom. And I could probably spend the next hour talking about the times I have recognized defeat and moved on in the business world where I lived and worked for 25 years.

But the most interesting - and important - example of a "game over" declaration is the one we just read about in Matthew's account of Jesus' temptation by the Devil. The text that those of you who are faithful churchgoers will recognize as the story we read every year - in one form or another - on this first Sunday in Lent.

The "Tempter," as Matthew calls the Devil, tries three times, you'll remember, to defeat Jesus - who has been weakened, he thinks, by a 40-day fast in the wilderness:

• He offers Jesus food to satisfy his hunger by tempting him to turn stones into bread,
• He offers Jesus a miraculous rescue by tempting him to throw himself from the top of the temple, and
• He offers Jesus glory and power by tempting him to receive dominion over all the kingdoms of the world.

And the result? You know it. Strike one, strike two, strike three. The devil - the Tempter - walks away. Game over. It had been no contest, after all. The Tempter's power was no match for the power of God.

The good news for us, of course, is that we don't need to put that sentence in the past tense. While it is true that the Tempter's power was no match for the power of God that day in the wilderness, the fact is that the Tempter's power is still no match for the power of God - right now, right here. In whatever wilderness you and I find ourselves.

Our Lord proved that he was stronger than the Devil, or the Tempter, or whatever you choose to call the personification of the forces of evil in the world, when he was able to resist those very real, very attractive temptations, and then he went on to defeat those evil forces once and for all on the cross.

So, the game is over. The Tempter is still no match for anyone who follows Christ. Defeat is not an option for us. All we need to do is claim the victory.

Yet, while that truth is simple and easy to say, it is anything but simple to reflect in our daily life. It is far easier to live as if we believed that the Tempter had been the victor that day in the wilderness. It is far easier to chase after the very things that Jesus resisted:

• We still want to pursue wealth,
• We still want miracles to rescue us from our foolish decisions,
• And we still want power and recognition.

Here is the point: If Jesus had taken matters into his own hands that day in the wilderness, the Tempter would have defeated him. Instead, Jesus surrendered - not to the Tempter, but to his Father in Heaven.

Every time the tempter served up another enticing option, Jesus countered with evidence that he had the power of God within him.

To each of the Tempter's offers, Jesus countered with the wisdom of the Scriptures. He never once told the Tempter "I am stronger than you; I am more powerful than you." Instead, he pointed to the power of God. He pointed to the word of God.

In the end, Jesus defeated the Tempter not with personal strength, but rather by an act of surrender - by an act of surrender to the will and to the power of God.

• Yes, I need food, but I surrender to God because I know that we do not live by bread alone;
• Yes, I could test God by throwing myself off the top of the Temple Tower, but I surrender to God because I know not to put God to the test;
• And yes, I would love to have power over the entire world, but I surrender to God because I know to serve only God.

Victory, through surrender.   Easy to talk about.   Extraordinarily difficult to practice.

Lent, the season we have just begun to observe, is at its core a time for surrender. It is a time for each of us to recognize the superior power of God and recognize the inevitable - that God's will will indeed be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Diana Butler Bass puts it this way: "Lent is neither success nor punishment," she writes. "Ultimately, Lent urges us to let go of self-deception and pleasing others. These 40 days ask only one thing of us: to find our truest selves on a journey toward God."

That is what Jesus did that day in the wilderness. He found his truest self and began his journey toward a destiny that, in his case, was death on a cross.

Our task is to try to find a way to observe Lent this year in a way that reminds us of that journey, leads us along our own journey and reminds us that the game is already over - God has won the victory over pain and evil and injustice and all of those evil things we still see every day around us.

The battle has been won. The game is over. What remains is for us to do whatever it takes to help the rest of the w orld recognize that fact and join in our victory celebration.

The meal we are about to celebrate together is, as the hymn writer puts it, a "Feast of victory for our God. Hallelujah!" Let's join, now, in eating the bread and drinking the cup. For us, as Christians, it is a celebration that no Super Bowl or Election celebration can match.

So gather 'round, my friends.   All of you.

                                                                             AMEN