Charles posted on February 21, 2010 14:01
I’m not a regular, but I have seen the TV show, “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” The show can be fun, but I’d say the name appeals to me more than anything else.
Today’s Gospel reading was the account of the devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness. Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and on their hands they will bear your up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
It’s sort of like the ultimate dare: “If you are really God…” Then the devil tops it off by dazzling us with his ability to quote the Bible. Yeah, the devil knows chapter and verse of the Bible. I’m certain he would defeat me on a Bible history or trivia test. He undoubtedly can recite the books of the Bible backwards…while I sometimes struggle with keeping the Old Testament books in order frontward.
Fortunately for me, and for you, too, we don’t have to be smarter than a fifth grader or smarter than the devil. Our salvation isn’t based on how much we know but rather on whom we know – Jesus.
After Chapel last Wednesday, I asked if anyone could tell me something special about Lent. I was looking for someone to remind us that midweek Lenten worship services were beginning that day. But a Kindergarten student goofed me up by saying, “During Lent we give something up because it reminds us that Jesus gave up his life for us.” (I’m polishing up his sentence a bit, but the message is all his.)
Smart kid. Faithful kid. There are certainly days when I’m not ‘smarter than a fifth grader,’ but I can be O.K. with that as long as God grants me the faith of a little Kindergartner.