February 21, 2010
Christ and Grace Episcopal Church
Petersburg, Virginia
Romans 10: 8b-13
Luke 4: 1-14
Woe is me! Temptation, Lent, ashes, woe is me! You know what I'm talking about. Whoever says, "I'm looking forward to Lent this year?" Huh? We don't need another sermon on temptation, heck we could give that one! That dessert looks mighty tempting. Those prices at Sam's Club are just too good, let's sock up for the winter. But that job would give me so much power and prestige if I accept it, think of all that we have! That investment firm is really promising me assurance and prosperity for my future, if only I promise them my faithfulness in giving. Woe is me! Temptation, the basic human condition we fight day in and day out. We know temptation so very well.
Luke's Gospel today reminds us of Our Lord's exile in the wilderness, and the temptations by the Adversary which serves as the capstone moment in Jesus' formation before his public ministry begins. There in the wilderness, the desert of wasteland, Jesus is confronted not once but three times by the Adversary to tempt the Son of God to show his hand and see if this new Light in the world could be snuffed out. Perhaps this would have made him so weak and vulnerable that Jesus would do almost anything. Wouldn't we? Bread, power, and fidelity. Simple temptations, promising and awesome: great power over creation, authority over the kingdoms of the earth, and all the promised glory and honor due a mighty king. Bread, power, and fidelity. Simple, eh?
"If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread!" There is no doubt, that Jesus the Son of God could in fact do this. If he would only do this, he could have something to eat. But this question goes deep into the heart of the ministry of Jesus, for what would the Christian narrative be if Jesus was simply bread for himself? A selfish Jesus, that doesn't seem to fit. Jesus' whole earthly ministry was spent being bread for everyone--feeding, nourishing, sustaining, and filling hungry mouths with the Word of God. "One does not live by bread alone," Jesus says, and so we know that we ourselves cannot sustain life without the spiritual nourishment from God alone.
"But, I'll give you glory and authority over all the kingdoms of the world, and I can give it all to you in a nanosecond! It's yours, if you will only worship me. Come on, it's easy!" The King of Kings, a king whose Kingdom is not from this world, without missing a beat says, "worship the Lord your God and serve only him." But the world could have changed in an instant! No more injustice, war, famine, or disease! But would the price be? Whose power would be exalted? Surely it wouldn't be God's.
Stubborn until the end, the Adversary tried once more, "if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the temple, and let the angels catch you." From the dizzying heights of the pinnacle, looking out over creation, Our Lord fights vertigo, "do not put the Lord your God to the test." Bread, power, and fidelity the testing of the soul, the triumph of Christ.
It is no accident that our Gospel lesson falls on the First Sunday of Lent. The Lenten journey can easily be mistaken for a time of "woe is me" and heaped upon by teachings against temptation, selfish abstinence for the avante garde, and a great way to show others that we're really working hard at this Lent thing. Perhaps this is why some don't look forward to Lent. So then, what does it all mean?
The Gospel truth in all this is: bread, power, and fidelity. Consider these temptations of Christ in the positive. What are we tempted to do with our bread? Or better yet, who are we being bread to? What are we doing with our God-given power, prestige, or influence when we are vaulted to the pinnacles? Are we tempted to work for justice? Are we tempted to use what we have to fight disease, end hunger, heal addiction, and eradicate homelessness? Are we tempted to be faithful to God? Tempted to a life of discipleship and prayer? Are we tempted to live in forgiveness to ourselves and those who have wronged us? After those forty days, without food, our Lord took up his public ministry.
If we look to Christ for the answers, than, yes, you guessed it. We should succumb to those temptations. These are the temptations to us, the beloved of God, not from the evil in our world. The Lenten journey is the greatest season in which we are invited to deepen our walk with Christ, to see in ourselves the God-given love that drives us out from our own deserts and into the streets--witnessing a message that the Adversary and the powers and principalities of this world don't want to hear! We cannot live on bread alone. That's what our Eucharistic fellowship every Sunday primes us for, and this happens year-round.
St. Paul's letter to the Romans furthers this idea that Christ is so near to us He is in on our lips and in our hearts. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved--no one is excluded or left out. To confess with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord, then we cannot ignore the temptation to follow the Master. This Gospel truth is not about who is saved and who is out, it's about our ability to "walk the talk"--being bread to our neighbors, striving for the Kingdom with every thing we have, and a complete and total dependency on the wounded, risen Christ.
Leaven, influence, and faith. If we wait for Lent to be the time of "giving something up" then we truly miss the mark of the Master's call to discipleship. Our temptation is corporate and communal. The Kingdom is not about individuals, but the whole of the creation moving sweetly to God's song of love. The temptations of Our Lord reveal the ingredients for a life of discipleship: the need for spiritual, enriching food, striving for justice and peace, and a complete trust in the sovereignty of God. Our Lord is modeling these staples in the face of great evil and temptation that promises all the riches and glory of the world. But that's just it. We are in the world but not of it. We are working to bring about God's Kingdom here and now.
May our Lenten journeys be full of temptation: temptation to be rising bread for a hungry, hurting world; temptation to use our power and influence to bring about the Reign of God in the streets of Petersburg and beyond. May our Lenten journey be full of temptation to walk each and every step of the way with the Lord and Master of love and mercy.
