(prayer)
The first three Gospels of the New
Testament all share the story of Jesus choosing a forty day, reclusive, wilderness retreat as a response to his being
baptised, before he begins what will be an active ministry of teaching and
healing.
Mark shares a bare-bones version, while
Matthew and Luke share a more detailed story (that was floating around some
early church circles).
With or without the details, all three
synoptic gospels relay that Jesus spent that time struggling with how he would
approach the ministry he was about to begin... he was tempted by possible paths
that offered advantages, but also compromises.
No easy choices. Jesus had to decide what would be the right thing to do,
In this struggle, Jesus drew on
scripture for guidance and he was open to the presence of holy mystery to
support him as he made his choices.
//
//
Jesus
being tempted in the desert is a traditional
reading for this first Sunday of Lent.
It is quite likely that the forty-day length of this church season is an
homage to this period in Jesus life. As well, forty days serves as a metaphor:
bringing to mind Israel's forty years Exodus journey from slavery to liberation
during the time of Moses.
Enduring forty years/days is - quite
literally - standing the test of time.
The wilderness time is for sorting
things out.
//
//
As we heard this morning from Matthew
chapter four, Jesus was challenging his spirit and mind and body in the
wilderness.
It says that he fasted for 40
days.
I don't know whether that means he literally abstained from any and all
food for a month-and-a-quarter or if he merely subsisted on whatever meagre
sustenance he could scrounge out in the desert.
But I take (as fact) that Jesus was famished.
Weakened in body, tired in mind, Jesus
had his spirit tempted in that time. The
gospels personified the temptations using similar language as the book of Job: ha-satan
(hebrew); ho peirazōn (greek) >>> "The
Tempter".
Temptations are most intriguing when
our natural defences are down.
Three tempting offers were dangled
before Jesus in that moment of weakness.
When we are vulnerable, quick and easy
solutions can be quite tempting.
//
Parable from Ron Howard's Parenthood movie: Larry Buchman announces at
a family dinner: 'From now on, I'm going
to be taking care of all of you.'
His mother (clearly with some history in mind) says: 'This isn't another get rich quick scheme, is
it, Larry? ' only to have his father interupt: 'What's wrong with getting rich quick.
Quick is the best way to get rich.'
//
The first wilderness temptation was to quickly meet an immediate personal
need. Jesus was hungry - Why wait until you leave the wilderness to
have a fulfilling meal? When you were
baptised, the heavenly voice proclaimed you to be the 'belov`ed son' of
God. The true Son of God could just turn
these stones into bread. You have the
power to not be hungry now. Use it.
But Jesus' spirit and mind dominated
the body in that moment as Deuteronomy 8:3 came to mind: one does not live on bread alone, but on the words of God. Jesus had survived forty days, he could last
longer.
Okay.
Jesus was willing to engage in self-sacrifice, inspired by
scripture. Maybe he'd be willing to use
that as a demonstration of his importance to God, especially if it could be
justified by scripture - If God loves you
as a son, you should be able to jump off the roof of the temple in front of all
the priests and worshippers and not get hurt. After all the psalm (91:12) says - 'the messengers of God will hold you up
and not let you dash your foot against a stone'
It was a tempting short-cut, if it was
Jesus' ultimate intent to speak to the place of faith, spirituality and worship
in the lives of the hebrew people, Jesus could command instant respect among
the religious leadership with an obvious demonstration of the fact that God was
his protector.
But Jesus had a sense that this was not
so much an act of proof for the temple crowd, but a call to test God's
commitment to Jesus. Deuteronomy 6:16
came to his mind: Do not put the LORD,
your God, to the test.
//
A personal temptation was averted. As was a national one. Perhaps, Jesus could be seduced by the lure
of ultimate power: all of the kingdoms of
the world - with all of their military might, their wealth and power - could be
yours. Belief that you can seize all
this for yourself. Think about it... you
won't even need God if you are caesar-pharaoh-king of all the world. You can rule anyway you want!
Ironically, this largest one may have
been the easiest temptation for Jesus to reject because his faith in God's
faithfulness was strong.
Deuteronomy 6:13 said it all for Jesus:
Swear your oaths only in the name of the
LORD. Serve your God.
//
When Jesus left the wilderness, he was
content to live out a ministry that would be built on a series of small,
meaningful experiences - rather than big showy demonstrations. Jesus chose...
·
Simplicity
over Gluttony.
·
Changed
Hearts over Forced Allegiance.
·
Mystery
over Majesty.
//
The path that Jesus chose embraced discovery rather than certainty... Jesus willingly accepted
uncertainty because he believed that he was not alone... Jesus knew - in the
depth of his soul - that God was a companion in this life.
//
//
//
This time - this season of Lent - can
be (for us too) a time of focused soul searching and self-evaluation.
What path is my life on, right now?
What choices have brought
me here?
What possible paths lay before me?
What will be important
for me to consider as I choose my next steps?
Not that our times of choosing will be
over and when the forty days are past, but that we hope to have a little more
clarity of what our next steps might be.
At the very least, after this time, we
might be willing to discover what might be next
for us.
//
//
//
Matthew was not our only reading for
today.
//
I must admit that I was tempted to
completely ignore the Genesis passage for today... because it is so often used
to justify a theology of the worst of human nature: that were are unworthy
creations of God; that were are at our core, sinful; that we lean toward evil not
good.
A common interpretation of that part of
the Eve and Adam story is that humans made a selfish choice that forced God to
change the original plan for creation and to punish Adam and Eve. As a result, all people (that would ever
exist) are born with this punishment infused into our nature. We live lives that contain challenge and
struggle, even pain and hardship because two people once ate an apple.
You will find no shortage of preachers
who will proclaim that this original sin
continues to disrupt our ability to truly connect to God.
//
As tempting as it might be, I won't
ignore this commonly preached theology by claiming that I don't believe that
the Adam and Eve stories are literal.
[Adam and Eve were not real people of
history. It is a story used to explain
the known human experience. It is
actually one of two very different metaphoric creation stories that we find at
the beginning of our bibles.]
But... I won't ignore the content of
Genesis 2 and 3, just because they can be claimed as metaphor not history. Meaning is always more important than
historicisty.
//
And so (today) I chose the harder path
of actual bible study on our Old Testament reading.
//
The verses we heard this morning are part of a longer creation story that
begins halfway through verse 4 of Genesis chapter two and continues through
chapter four...
The imagery of this old origins-legend
begins with a new garden that blossoms in the dryness of pre-creation because
God causes springs of water to bring the desert to life.
As a first act of creation, like a
master potter, God created a living being out of the newly mudded dust and
placed this dirt creature in the garden to till and care for the garden
(hebrew: ha-adam, from adamah: ground or soil).
In this garden were many tasty fruit
trees... include two special trees: (1)The Tree of Life, and (2)the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God told the-adam to eat any fruit it
wanted, but warned against eating the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because that would result in
death (whatever that is).
Then God formed other living creatures
to keep ha-adam company in its work
as gardener. But none of these new
animals were fully suitable as a companion for ha-adam. So, God reworked
the clay that was the-adam and reformed the one living being into two
new living beings: one called ish (man)
and one called issah (woman):
co-gardeners, free to enjoy the garden's fruit.
That is where we picked up the story
today. The forbidden fruit looked really tasty, but a fear of death (whatever
that is) kept it on the tree. Until...
the temptation pot was sweetened a bit, by a smart and crafty creature who
claimed that... eating that tree's fruit would not result in instant
death, but increased knowledge.
First
she took just a little pull;
then
she filled her apron full.
When the issah and the ish ate the
fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they did not die, but
gained a greater understanding of the impact of choices... exactly as the serpent had predicted. The tempter had
told the truth. (A question for another
time: does this mean that God had lied?)
As a result of the meal, the emotions
of greed, regret and humility entered the human experience to accompany the
already existing emotions of curiosity, delight and wonder.
The ish and issah made a choice, but it
was not really a choice between life and death.
They chose morality over mortality. A phrase I got from John Dominic Crossan.
The real result of the
Garden of Eden story is that humans become moral beings.
They chose the ability to use the gift of free will... to make decisions
about the course of their lives. They
rejected a life of mindless servitude.
//
As moral beings, human choices have
consequences... some serve us well, others don't.
//
Evil (expressed in
violence, hate, greed) exists in the world not
because the devil made me do it, but because (with free will) people make
choices and some of those choices are made in shadowy edges of morality.
//
//
We can look at the Genesis
2-4 creation story and lament that we do not live in the mindless bliss of a eternal garden of paradise, or... we can accept
that we have been gifted with ability
to think (and to make moral choices) about how we fill the limited life we will
have in this world.
//
Personally, I do not see
the opportunity to make moral choices as a punishment. I like the way the Genesis chapter one
creation story phrases it: So God created
humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them: male and female he
created them. (Gen1:27nrsv). I see
that as a short summary of the whole Garden of Eden version: When
you eat [that tree's fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil. (Gen3:5) By knowing good and evil, humans are
reflecting an image of their creator.
//
I reject the overly
simplistic theology that being moral beings is a divine punishment.
I think that our moral
nature is better seen as part of what it means to be created in the image of
God.
//
So, let us embrace morality
as gift of our existence.
//
Yes, there will be times
when we bite off more than we can handle.
Morality is constantly
being refined by experience.
And yes, since each of us
has the free will to define the nature of what is moral for us, as societies,
as a species, we will differ in the choices we make: resulting in challenging
moral conflicts and moral dilemmas.
//
And so, each us seeks to
discover what will be important - for us
- to consider as we make our moral choices.//
For those who have chosen
to be Christian, we naturally will look to Jesus as our guide... we will seek
other guidance in our sacred writings and the example and witness of those who
have come before us in the faith... and we will be open to new inspiration from
a living God.
//
//
In the wilderness, Jesus
considered whether it would be right or not for him to grab a personal or
spiritual or political advantage over an uncertain future.
In the end, Jesus chose to
trust in his ability to respond to the various path choices as they would
arise... not to pre-judge or force a direction, but to trust that a right path would emerge... and he would
know what that was when the time came.
//
The lives we live are full
of movement... we move towards new things, we move away from old ones.
We are adventurers, explorers,
of the time given to us.
We may not know precisely
where we are going. Even our best hopes
and plans can get derailed, but (I believe) that good opportunities are always
before us.
//
Even as we walk these days
of Lent again, we accept that this year is a new experience. We will venture forward knowing that we may
face hard choices.
But - from our scriptures
today - we can be reminded that we have
been gifted with the ability to know what will serve us (and our shared
humanity) well and what will not.
Like Jesus in the
wilderness, we can have faith that - even in the midst of scarcity and
temptation - that God journeys along with us.
That we are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
//
//
Let us pray:
Guiding God, on the paths ahead of us,
we will rely on your companionship.
Amen.
***offering***
No comments:
Post a Comment