As any parent or grandparent knows, one of a child’s favorite requests is “Tell me a story.” And as most of us know, many stories begin with “Once upon a time.” Lent, too, is a time for telling a story, or maybe it’s remembering a story that has been told to us again and again. It’s a story we love; a story of deep meaning to those of us who practice our faith. It is a love story, although not primarily a romantic love story. It is a story with battles and peacemaking; a story of winning and losing; a story of trying and running away; a story of failing and succeeding.

This story we all know so well is the story of our faith, authored over centuries, to share with us the love of God. The words of the story have been translated many different ways and in many different languages since the story was first told. As I mentioned it is a love story – a story of the love God has for God’s people and the love we, the followers and children of God, try to offer to God and to each other. It is a story that begins with creation, with God’s love being offered through the creation of light and darkness, land and water, plants and flowers, birds and animals, men and women. God’s very breath proclaims that life should exist and that life, as created by God, is good and very good.

It is a story of human beings and their frailty, their tendency towards wanting what we want with little consideration for the will of God and our abandonment of God’s hopes and dreams for us. In the Genesis reading this morning the oldest story of succumbing to temptation is told. This story of men and women who fail to listen to God and who act on their own desires and with their own self-centeredness is as old as time itself. God made us not to be puppets but to be free-thinking individuals with minds and hearts, with desires and with choices. God asks that we obey the Law, the rules that God has given us to insure a positive, healthy and loving relationship with one another and with God, but God has given us the freedom to choose. What we choose to do with our choices is important. How we choose to live is important and is an important part of the story.

Surely we know that the mistakes related to us in this morning’s reading from Genesis are not the last mistakes shared with us in the Bible, this love story of God and God’s people. We could all recount many incidences of individuals choosing to forsake the ways of God and go their own way. Jonah refusing to go to Nineveh, David seeking out Bathsheba, the whole Hebrew nation griping and complaining in the wilderness, Aaron and the creation of the golden calf, Ananias and Sapphira choosing to keep the proceeds from the sale of their house from the disciples, Peter denouncing Jesus, Judas betraying Jesus; the incidences are many and varied. In each case an individual or a group decide that they will act in their own best interest rather than for the good of the community or in faithfulness to God.  That, too, is a part of the story.

Thankfully, God does not stop loving us even though we keep falling into temptation, failing to be all that God calls us to be. That seems to be our natural tendency, to fall into temptation forgetting to love one another, to respect one another, to speak in love to one another.

If the story has a first section which describes the creation and building of God’s people through the Hebrew Scriptures, then the story also has a second section which describes the incarnation of love into the world. Through the coming of Jesus we are being given another chance to understand from where we have come and to where we are going, as well as the journey in between.

If the reading from Romans has anything to tell us, it is as a reminder that we humans often lack an awareness of God’s presence and power in our daily life, and how we might overcome this lack of awareness. Paul’s message is clear. God has presented a clear message to us – we are God’s children, called to be faithful to the Law of God and to the promise of God. We are to believe in our hearts and proclaim with our voices that Jesus Christ is Lord and that through Jesus we are reconciled to God, returned to righteousness and relationship with God and with each other. It’s too bad that we still forget the message, forget to proclaim it, and find ourselves succumbing to temptation in spite of God’s presence and grace. But we do.

Maybe reviewing the Gospel lesson from this morning can help us in overcoming the temptations of our world. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus leaves baptism at the river Jordan and travels on into the wilderness for prayer, fasting, and reflection. One might say that Jesus has a 40 day Lenten journey in front of him. Luckily our Lenten journey does not require us to fast for 40 days, or to go without water. We forget that it is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is able to survive the 40 days in the wilderness. It is the Holy Spirit that comes to strengthen Jesus for what is ahead of him, the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ knowledge of the story of faith and of being God’s child – the same story we have.

In the wilderness, the devil comes to Jesus with temptations. The famished Jesus is tempted by the devil to turn the stones into bread so that he can eat. The tempter would like to convince Jesus that he holds the answer to Jesus’ need. The tempter tries to convince Jesus he has what Jesus needs and that choosing to turn the stones into bread is worth the price. Yet, Jesus is wiser still. Jesus knows that bread is not the only thing he needs for survival. Bread alone will not address Jesus’ myriad needs. Bread won’t quench his thirst or feed his soul. Bread might fill his stomach for a time, but Jesus would gain nothing of sustaining value.

But the tempter has not given up. Perhaps Jesus would like some authority and power? “Just worship me,” the tempter says, “and I will give you power and dominion over all you see.” Once again this seems very generous on the part of the tempter, but Jesus, once again, sees through this offer. The price of this gift is too high. Jesus would have to forget who he is; Jesus would have to choose to honor someone or something besides God. Anything that leads Jesus, or us, from God cannot be of God. Jesus resists this temptation as well.

Still, the tempter has not given up. “Well, if God is the one you serve,” the temper says, “test God. Through yourself off this cliff, for God has promised angels will rush from heaven to hold you up.”

Once more the price is too high and the value is too low. The tempter is asking Jesus to confirm his identity as the Son of God. It is not time for Jesus to be revealed yet. Jesus does not need proof from an outside source that God loves him. Jesus does not need to proof that God is with him or that God will not leave or forsake him. Jesus does not need to prove that God can step in to save him. Jesus is already firm in the knowledge of the character of God, and knows that he is God’s Beloved Son – God’s voice has just been spoken at the River Jordan to remind him.

The tempter has lost this round, but he will be back – he will come to Judas and encourage Judas to betray Jesus, he will appear at the Garden of Gethsemane and will try to convince Jesus to make his own choice rather than God’s choice for salvation.

Whenever weakness or trouble arrive in our lives, the tempter comes along, ready to move us away from God and into sin. When we are spiritually or physically or morally hungry, the tempter will arrive and offer us satiation at the expense of our relationship with God and with each other. Whenever we are asked to make a choice between what is easy or expedient and what is challenging and righteous, the tempter will be there. Whenever we are sick or tired or lost or isolated, the tempter will be there. Whenever we are self-righteous, unforgiving, unloving, prejudiced, self-centered, judgmental, the tempter will be there.

If temptation can happen to Jesus, it can happen to any of us. That is our connection to the story – to both the first and second sections of the story that starts with the words, “In the beginning.” Jesus uses scripture, an intimate relationship with God, and knowledge of who he is in order to counter the temptation. Those are our defenses as well.

Turn to the Word when you are tempted. Find a scripture that speaks to you of the character of God, the character of God’s love for you, and the Law. Allow the Word to comfort and guide you, as Jesus did.

Turn to your knowledge of the power of God when you are tempted. God reigns. If you read ahead in the book of the Revelation of John, and read the third section, you know that God defeats evil and temptation for all time. Cling to that when temptation is all around you and you are tempted to forget who you are and who has authority over everything that is, and was, and will be. Allow the power and sovereignty of God to comfort and strengthen you, as Jesus did.

Turn to your knowledge of who you are in relation to God. Remember that you are a beloved child of God, baptized into the faith, called by God to be one of God’s children, called by Jesus to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no need to test God. God is present with you, always present with you; in good times and in bad, in joy and in sorrow, in war and in peace, in isolation and community. God is present with you, with me, with each of us and all of us.

In overcoming temptation, Jesus says no to the tempter and yes to God.  As we are overcoming our own temptations, that is our defense. Say no to the tempter and yes to God. Always. In all ways and in all days, say yes to God.  Continue the story of our faith, of your faith by saying yes to God. And while we may not live happily ever after in the world where the tempter challenges us, we will become masters at overcoming.