Sermon preached on March 9, 2014 (First Sunday in Lent) at St. Augustine's Church, Wiesbaden
Genesis
2:15-17; 3:1-7, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11, Psalm 32
For some years now
there has been a debate about whether it would be better to take something on
for Lent, rather than give something up. I bet, at least I would do if I hadn’t
given up betting for Lent, that you have heard at least one sermon to this effect.
The preacher will have suggested that you take on a spiritual discipline during
Lent: perhaps read a devotional book, attend special services, like our weekly
‘Way of the Cross’ devotional
service, or participate in Lenten study groups, like our program “LoveLife: Living the Gospel of Love.”
And they are right and you should.
But there is also
nothing basically wrong with giving up something for Lent. Like everything we
do it will depend on the motivation. There are good reasons, and bad ones.
Perhaps you want to share in and relive Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness
through a symbolic fast. Maybe you want to test your resolve and commitment. Or
you might want to show solidarity with the poor and donate the money saved by
fasting from alcohol or chocolate. And of course a fast can be an aid to prayer
and reflection.
But there are also bad
reasons, at least in a spiritual context: using it as a form of self-punishment
or just for health reasons, for example as a means of losing weight. I also
wonder if sometimes we do not use giving up little things to forget the dangers
of the big, the real temptations. While we congratulate ourselves on having
resisted having a beer, a piece of chocolate, or in my case a bag of potato
chips/crisps, we forget about the big temptations that we can so easily fall
prey to: putting ourselves and our own desires before the love of God and of
the other.
This week’s readings
are all about temptations, both those that were resisted and those that were
succumbed to. The reading from Genesis reminds us of that first, all too
successful temptation in the Garden of Eden. The temptation to eat the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and by doing so, at least that’s
what the serpent suggests, to become like God, to gain power through knowledge
and wisdom, despite an explicit command from God to the contrary. It’s no
surprise then that for Paul this first act of disobedience is the root of all
evil, the way in which sin enters the world and with sin, death. Death stands
here both for physical death and even more importantly for spiritual death: for
separation from God. Not as a punishment but as a result of humanity’s choice
to put their own will above God’s.
In a very roundabout
and complicated manner Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Jesus. Adam is the
one man through whose disobedience death and sin were made possible, a
possibility that humanity then made very extensive use of, while Jesus
is the one man whose act of grace and righteousness, whose act of love, leads
to justification and life for all. Adam’s sin estranged us from God, Paul says,
Jesus takes that away and offers us all the chance of a renewed relationship
with God.
Jesus’ 40 days and
nights in the wilderness show him resisting the temptations that Adam and Eve
succumbed to in Paradise and that the people of Israel succumbed to during
their 40 year trek through the desert to the Promised Land. It’s no coincidence
that all of Jesus’ answers are taken from the book of Deuteronomy that
describes their odyssey and in particular from chapters 6-8, which contain God’s
promises of blessings for obedience as well as clear warnings not to forget God
in prosperity. How strange that we never forget God in adversity? Moses tells
the Israelites: “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing
to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am
commanding you today.” (Deut. 8:11)
That’s what the devil
or tempter wants Jesus to do of course, to forget God:
-
To rebel against God’s will, to show
impatience and to abuse the power Jesus has as the Son of God by turning stones
into bread before his time of fasting and preparation is over.
-
The devil wants Jesus to test God’s care
and love by throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple.
-
Finally Jesus is presented with the
option of putting power, wealth, and might above the love of God.
In essence all the
temptations are about sinning against the one great commandment, to love the
Lord our God with all our heart, choosing good over evil, all our soul,
choosing life over death, and all our might, choosing God over power, wealth
and possessions.
Adam and Eve were
unable to resist the temptation to eat the fruit that was good for food, a
delight to the eyes, and able to make them wise like God. Out of hunger the
Israelites wanted to turn back and return to Egypt, they made themselves little
gods, idols, that they could have power over, and they vied for power and
influence.
Jesus resists all these
temptations on our behalf, he does what Adam and Eve and the Israelites could
not do, and he cleans the slate for us. Through disobedience, Adam was unable
to fulfill his vocation to till and keep the garden – to be a steward of
creation on God’s behalf. Through disobedience, Israel was unable to fulfil its
vocation to be a light to the world. By being obedient to his vocation to show
us God, to bring salvation, and to be a servant to the world, Jesus gives us the
chance to fulfill the vocations God gave to humanity through Adam and the
nation of Israel. Humanity is renewed by Jesus’ life, teaching, example, and
obedience. Jesus’ act of righteousness and obedience unveils grace and life in
the place of sin and death.
Satan, the tempter, the
physical presence of evil, wants to stop Jesus from being true to his vocation
and to prevent him from carrying out God’s mission, the mission that he has
just been commissioned for at his Baptism when the voice from heaven announces
that Jesus is “my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew
3:17)
The temptations we
experience are also meant to distract us, to turn us from the path of
servanthood that we committed to at our Baptism, they are meant to stop us from
choosing renewal and new life. Baptism does not make us perfect or holy,
unfortunately. We have to continue to resist evil. The big, the real
temptations are not the little pleasures we try and do without during Lent, but
us putting something else above God. Moses’ injunction, “take care that you do
not forget the Lord your God,” is still valid.
So, whether you fast or
not, whether you give something up or just take on an extra discipline, use
Lent to “renew your repentance and faith.”[1] Own
up to the temptations we have not managed to resist in the past, repenting, and
asking God for the forgiveness that is guaranteed for all who truly repent.
Follow Jesus into the
wilderness and follow his example there. Follow his lead in living by Gods’
word, in trusting God, and in worshiping and serving God alone. Follow Jesus
out of the wilderness to Jerusalem and the pain of Good Friday, follow him to
the glory of Easter Day, and follow him into the new life and the renewed
relationship with God that he came to bring us.
Amen
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