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Parade of Characters: The Tempter Matthew 4:1 – 11; Genesis 2:15 – 17, 3:1 – 7 Years ago an Episcopal parish in South Carolina placed three crosses on their lawn. They draped them in purple. The church received a phone call from the Chamber of Commerce, complaining. “This is a big season for tourists. We think those crosses could send the wrong signal to visitors at the beach. People don’t want to come down here for a vacation and be confronted with unpleasantness.” Fortunately, the church stood its ground. The crosses stayed. “It’s Lent” was the message from the church. “People are supposed to be uncomfortable.” Lent, the season of uncomfortability. (Wm. Willimon. Pulpit Resource. Vol 33, No. 1, p. 30) Fred Craddock puts it a bit differently in our Lenten Devotional Book – the Journey to Easter – “the destination is meaningless to those who do not make the trip.” (Fellowship of Prayer. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005) Before you flee the sanctuary – or make the decision not to return until after Easter, please understand that a Lenten journey can be the most awe-producing, amazing journey in one’s life. The commitment to that journey, however, should not be taken lightly. It is work – good faith work. It is work that touches the core of who we are as Christians, beloved children of God, stewards of the faith that has been passed to us through the centuries. The uncomfortability is personal and communal. As a congregation we are committing ourselves to each other and to God…to truly be in a different place…a much deeper place spiritually…when Easter dawns. And so we begin – where Jesus began his ministry. Right after his baptism, Jesus was led – by the Spirit (that is, the Spirit of God!) into the wilderness to be tempted. Mind you, Jesus didn’t decide on his own to wander in the wilderness. The Spirit of God led him there, and stayed with him through the ordeal. That is the promise for us as well. None of us will take this journey through Lent purely by choice or because the pastor made you do it. We are all being led by the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God will not leave us at any time during the journey. Once there (in the wilderness), Jesus was tempted three times:
Let’s consider how the world would be changed if Jesus had met the temptations differently. With the stones turning into bread – all the peoples of the world would be fed – hunger would no longer be an issue. With protection from the angels, there would never again be accidental death, or disease driven death. With incomparable power and prestige Jesus would turn everyone into a believer. Those all seem like good ideas! Those all seem to be great desires of ours! What was Jesus thinking – and did he make the right choices? The word ‘tempt’ can also be translated ‘test’. Usually, temptation is setting us up for failure. And usually, testing is hoping for success. Not all students would agree to that simplification – but there are two distinctive outcomes when using those words. In light of that distinction, Jesus was being led (by the Spirit of God) into the wilderness to be tested, while, indeed, the tempter was thinking about how to cause him to fail through temptation. Jesus was not a young man. If he was going to do this ministry, it was time, but he and God had to know if he was truly up for the job. The wilderness time was considered successful – he must have passed the test. But what did he accomplish? Because he did not accomplish a plan to feed the world, cure all disease, or make believers of all people. But he did keep faith with God. He allowed himself to become the sacrament – the embodiment – the expression of God’s love in this world. He showed us a way through testings – because his testings are the same for us today – and we have to know how to meet them. The tempter was and is a scripture “quoter.” Jesus was tempted to abuse the scriptures for personal gain. We, unfortunately, have plenty of that temptation in our world today. Portions of the church have always had us believe that some of God’s children are outside the realm of the love of God and use scriptures for proof! The church too long tolerated racism because of those who would point to scripture passages about slaves. The church too long has turned its back to poverty because of the misuse of Jesus’ statement ‘you will always have the poor among you.’ The church too long has reinforced discrimination against women because of many statements by the Apostle Paul. The church too long has been silent about injustice to gays and lesbians because of the distortion of scriptural texts. Jesus had a scripturally alert tempter – and so do we. And if – Union Avenue Christian Church – we are going to live up to our vision of being Biblically informed, we must be willing to face that tempter. One of Jesus’ main roles was to be the rightful interpreter of the sacred texts – and he began living into that role during his wilderness journey – when he put away the temptation to abuse the scriptures. Even though most of us haven’t prayed for the personal ability to feed the entire world, or to develop the cure for deadly disease, in our meager ways we long for those miracles. And then we wonder why some are spared and others not, or why we are so fortunate and some are not. Then we must remember that Jesus walked away from those temptations – to feed all and to cure all because that was not the life we were going to face – that is not the life God created. Jesus didn’t concede to the possibility of living a life outside humanity. In these days of wandering, Jesus totally assumed (took on) what we – men and women…full human beings – would live, what we would feel, how we would grapple, struggle and love. To be socially responsible – another point of our congregational mission – would certainly have benefited from Jesus accepting those stones turning into bread and angels protecting every fall. Just think what we could do within this neighborhood! Just consider what we could offer the world! And then remember, it would change the design of this creation, which was not the call placed upon Jesus. He was called to be immersed in the fullness of life – our human life – and to help us cope with, understand, and find meaning within it. Personally, what one of us has not wished for, hoped for, prayed for economic relief – to have better ‘things,’ a bigger home, a newer car, less indebtedness. We also pray for healing, protection, traveling mercies, and we are sorely disappointed when the ways of our lives do not coincide with those wishes, prayers and desires. The temptation is to bargain with God…just this time, please do it for me…send your angels to protect me and do it now. Give me the answer to the dilemma in which I am existing – and make it today. Normal requests – human yearnings – ordinary desires. The test (in which God wants us to succeed but the tempter does not) is that in the midst of those requests, yearnings and desires – we not break faith in God because our way does not come in our time. When Jesus was finished with the tempter in the wilderness, the angels arrived and took care of him…waited upon him…as they will most assuredly do with us. As difficult as it sometimes seems, those angels will come in God’s time – not ours! Jesus didn’t succumb to the possibility of ultimate power – which is also one of our yearnings – manifest in control and prestige. The wilderness tempter was offering Jesus the position of God, and most of us don’t have quite that illusion. However, we often get outside of ourselves, puffed up with how we must control others around us, energized by the limelight and glory of a moment. Although we assume this is more prevalent in folks with a public persona – I believe it happens in every household, every workplace, every circle of friends and family. A dis-satisfaction with ourselves – a lack of real belief that God made us as beloved children is acted out by our need to control others. A lack of centeredness manifests as the need to be ‘the center of attraction.’ Jesus, who could have grabbed at this one when it was offered, instead chose to become fully the one God called him to be…servant leader…beloved Son of God…messiah…the Christ. That’s what God needed…that’s what God desired. Each of us has a call placed upon our life (what God needs…what God desires) and it does not involve clamoring after more, being jealous of another’s gifts, having to control the environment in which we work or live, but, rather, being fully whom we have been created to be. Struggling on this journey – naming the specific tests that are before us, meeting tempters along the way, coming to grips with faithfulness to God, hearing the claim God has for each of us, and for this congregation, all that we are to be about through this season of uncomfortability – are meant to tempt us, to test us, so we will truly experience the joy when Easter dawns. • SW |
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