Matthew 4: 1–11
Genesis 2: 15, 17; 3: 1–7
|
|
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be
acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
|
One way of describing Lent is “a way other than our
own” – and for good and for sure, it isn’t a way most
of us would ever have chosen. In fact, Jesus didn’t choose
it either, at least not initially. Mark tells us that immediately
after his baptism, the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the
wilderness – there to fast and to pray. And maybe to think
over what God the Father had said about him as he emerged from those
baptismal waters. “This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I
am well pleased,” the voice from heaven had proclaimed. No
wonder Jesus needed some time alone. He needed to ponder his new identity.
|
|
That’s what Lent was for – for Jesus. And that’s
what Lent is supposed to be for us – a time to think about who we
are in God’s sight and how God wants us to live. We are to
remove some of the distractions in our lives so we can better focus,
better understand God’s word about us, God’s plans for
us. In other words, Lent is a time to get back to basics.
|
|
Those basics are all about listening to God, heeding his
directions. And the cautionary tale here is our Old Testament
story of people who refused to heed God’s
directions. God put Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden where
he told them they could eat of any fruit they found – except
from the tree at the center of that garden, the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. That one, he said, they weren’t to
touch – for as soon as they touched it, as soon as they ate its
fruit they would surely die.
|
|
Well, you would think those directions were clear enough,
wouldn’t you? What is it about “No” that
you don’t understand? But, as soon as God turned his
back, Satan was in there — pitching an alternate truth to Eve,
casting doubt on what God had said. “Did God
say?” he asked her. “Are you
sure? Certainly,” he added, “you would not
die. You would only become wise, become more God–like
than ever.”
|
|
Oh, he was crafty, Satan was! He was crafty indeed.
|
|
And he hasn’t changed a bit when we next see him tempting Jesus
in the wilderness. Here again, just as it was for Eve, the issue
is obedience to the word of God. Jesus had learned that word
from his childhood. He already knew it by heart. Only now
there was a new word – the affirming word God had spoken to him
das he emerged from the baptismal waters of the Jordan: “You
are my son, my beloved. In you I am well pleased.”
|
|
So what did it mean to be God’s Son? Satan was only
too ready to interpret that word for him. Only first, just as he
had with Eve, Satan cast doubt on what God the Father had
said. “If you are God’s son,” he said to
Jesus – “then, let’s have a little miracle. Turn
these stones into bread.” And what could be wrong with
that? Bread for the world – and for Jesus too, who
was famished. Only Jesus isn’t having any part of
it. “It is written,” he says to the Father of
Lies, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
God the Father speaks.”
|
|
But Satan hasn’t given up. “Well then,” he
says, “let’s just show everyone the power of
God’s word – that angels will bear you up lest you hit
your foot against a stone. Simply jump off some high tower of
the Temple – so everyone will see the angels swooping in
to save your life. Wouldn’t that simple display reassure
everyone who is struggling to believe?” But Jesus knows
the answer to that one too. “It is written,” he
says, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
|
|
Finally, Satan plays his trump card. “Aren’t you
destined for splendor and power and glory?” he asks
Jesus. “Just bow down and worship me, and I will give
you all the splendor, all the glory of this world – for it has
all been granted to me.” But Jesus isn’t tempted by
the kind of splendor Satan is talking about. The glitter and
tinsel of this world can’t hold a candle to the glory of
God. “It is written,” Jesus says to Satan, “You
shall worship God alone. Him only shall you serve.” And
with that, Satan departed – and angels came and ministered to Jesus.
|
|
This morning we are offered a story within a story, a drama within a
drama. The larger story is what we glimpsed in the account of
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when God offered them the
stewardship of all Creation. But when they turned away from the
script God had given them, God didn’t throw that script
away. First, he offered it to Israel, hoping that they, now,
would follow its plot carefully. He even gave them time in
the desert so they could learn his word and his ways and could focus on
his direction. But when Israel, too, began doing things their
own way, following the example of the world around them, God the
Father finally sent his own Son — to gather a new cast, a new
crew who were willing to follow God’s script.
|
|
And that’s where we come in. You and I, by virtue of our
baptism, are also the children of God. And we are now invited
to join his crew — to redeem God’s ancient plan. We
are now invited to follow – both the old script and the living
Lord. Jesus warns us too to pay close attention to his words
and example – because the drama he has in mind – with
its poverty and humility and gentle concern for others – is very
different from the scenario the power–seeking world around us
has in mind. But that’s what Lent is for. It’s a
time to return to the words and the ways of the Lord, learning them
by heart – just as Jesus did — so we will be ready for
anything that comes our way.
|
|
If we can do that, if we can hide his word in our hearts and remember
whose child we are, if we can live into the obedience God calls
for — then one day, one day we too might hear a quiet voice
from heaven saying, “This is my child, my beloved. In
Her . . . in
Him . . . I am well pleased.”
|
|
I bid you all a holy Lent.
|
Amen.
|
