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The First Sunday in
Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Jesus and the Human Condition
When the devil had
finished every test, From its very beginnings until today, the Church has perpetually found itself in a time of testing. Right now, the Anglican Communion around the world is being sorely tested by divisions as many of us pray for unity. Lent is a particularly good time to consider all this. Lent is the time when the whole church goes into a retreat. We have good precedent for this. Some type of observance of Lent has been kept since the early days of the Church. But most of all, we have Jesus’ example of being in the wilderness for forty days. As we go through this time of Lent – this time of testing of our faith, we can always rely on the fact that we are God’s people. By virtue of our baptism we know who we are. In his book, The Mystery of Christ, Thomas Keating clearly defines the purpose of Lent. He says, “Easter, with its grace of interior resurrection, is the radical healing of the human condition. Lent, which prepares us for this grace, is about what needs to be healed.” (p.36) Keating, a long-time Trappist monk, says that our basic emotional drives are: survival and security, affection and esteem, and power and control. We have had these emotional drives in place since early childhood, and when they get out of line, we go astray. We have all devised ways in which to nourish and protect these drives. These are the areas in which we need to be healed and learn to rely on God. In our Gospel reading for today, we find our Lord Jesus going on retreat. He is not going to some fancy spa where he can get manicures and pedicures. He is not going to some comfortable monastery where the monks begin praying at 4:00 a.m. No, Jesus is going to the desert. In Jesus’ desert, there are snakes, scorpions and other wild creatures. It’s a wilderness of rocks, and caves, and scrubby vegetation. It’s hot and windy in the daytime and cold at night. He sleeps under the stars and is at the mercy of the elements. There is nothing to eat. Jesus gets so hungry that he is tempted to turn stones into bread. Then he remembers that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He listens for the Father’s voice – that voice that not so long ago at his baptism had called Jesus his “Beloved.” Jesus knows who he is. He has nothing to prove. He leaves the smooth stones in their places. Jesus leaves his survival and security up to the Father. Jesus does not buy into the human program for happiness that says we must have every need or desire met instantly. Sin enters our lives when we insist on getting instant gratification. If the issue is survival and security, then greed, pride, and anger can arise if we do not get our own way. Jesus did not give in to personal sin. He is our pattern for a balanced life. In the next exchange we hear Jesus further identifying with our human condition. The need for power and control grasps all of us. It is one of our energy centers. Jesus did not need the kingdoms of this world in a cheap way. He knew that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” Jesus did not need to control events and have power over others. This was not the time or the place for that. Jesus knew that fame and adoration of the crowds could be short-lived. Jesus’ response is that we are to love the Lord our God and serve him only. Service to God and service to others is the way to true joy and happiness. Domination of others is not true happiness. The greed for power feeds on itself and takes on a miserable life of its own. Jesus also knew that crowds can be fickle. Would some of the same people who would cry “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday cry “Crucify him” on Good Friday? Later Jesus would tell Pontius Pilate that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. Besides, don’t ever believe that the devil controls this world. It appears that way from time to time, but it simply isn’t true. The devil is a liar and the father of lies and confusion. He does not own the glory of this world. That is God’s alone. In the third instance, the devil comes to Jesus and tempts him to give in to the human need for affection and esteem. If Jesus had given in to the temptation to show off in some spectacular way, he could have gained the attention and adoration of the crowd. But it would have short-circuited his ministry. People could have seen that Jesus was a wonder-worker and followed him for that reason. Scripture bears out that Jesus did not want this kind of attention even when the crowds began to swarm about him. Plenty of other wonder-workers had come and gone, but Jesus, who is creator and redeemer of the world, does not need to show off. In his retreat to the desert, Jesus helps us to see how we can detach ourselves from our emotional programs for happiness. Jesus knows these programs lead to frustration and often to sinful behavior. Jesus knows that if we do not get our own way immediately, we might devise a program for happiness that would trample on the rights of others. Jesus gives us an example of patience and self-control. Jesus will come out of the desert preaching repentance, which means changing the direction in which you look for happiness. These forty days in the desert established a pattern for the prayer life of Jesus. When his disciples wanted to find Jesus, they knew just where to look. He could always be found praying in a lonely place apart from the twelve. Even the crowds knew where to find Jesus, and they followed him to lonely places outside of the towns to receive healing. We can still go to Jesus for healing, knowing that he understands these three energy centers of our human condition. He truly knows whereof we are made. He knows that we are but dust. Most importantly, this forty-day period was Jesus’ first crucible of temptation. It strengthened him for all the other temptations to come. Because Jesus won this battle in the desert, he was able to win the war against all other temptations to short-cut God’s plan for our salvation. How did Jesus overcome temptation? It was through the power of the Holy Spirit that came upon him at his baptism. That’s the same Holy Spirit we received at our own baptisms. And lest we forget, it was the Holy Spirit that drove Jesus into the wilderness in the first place. As we enter more fully into Lent, we enter into solitude and silence with Jesus. Jesus teaches us to hold life lightly and to hold God tightly. Lent is the time that we see Jesus’ humanity more clearly. We can identify so closely with Jesus that we, too, can resist the world, the flesh and the devil. God knows our weaknesses, and God comes quickly to help us. There is one thing for sure that we can count on – when we come to this altar to receive the body and blood of our Glorious Lord Jesus, we come to the One who was tempted in all ways just as we are, yet without sin. Let each one find him mighty to save. Amen.
On the grounds of Honey Creek
The Rev. Linda McCloud, Pastor |
