St.
Alban's Episcopal Church
Austin, Texas
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Austin, Texas
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From the Pulpit:
Life is full of choices! The first choice for me was which of the Sunday readings to focus upon today. I did not want to choose this text. It chose me, undoubtedly because there are lessons here for me. I told myself that my reason for not wanting to choose this passage was that we hear about the temptations of Jesus every single year on the first Sunday of Lent. What can one possibly say that is new or different? But the truth of the matter is that when I look at the life of Jesus and the choices Jesus made in comparison with my life and my choices, I get discouraged. I don’t always make the best choices. I am frequently more concerned with myself and my comfort, or how I might look to others than I am about doing all that I can to bring about the Kingdom of God and giving of myself unselfishly to others as Jesus did time and again throughout his life. Jesus gets it right every time! How did he do it? It could not have been easy for him either. It is somewhat comforting to realize that I am not alone. We come from a long line of folks who don’t do so well on this testing and temptation routine – people who have not always made good choices. We are told it all began in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. God gave them everything they could possibly need, and then gave them a test. They flunked big time when they decided to listen to the Serpent and trust their own logic over God’s direction. The next thing they knew they were looking for a new home. God’s people came out of Egypt and wandered in the wilderness for forty years, where they were tempted and tested. They didn’t always do so well either, grumbling, complaining and being downright disobedient, paying the price, repenting and being forgiven over and over again. Then Jesus comes along and gets it right every time. On one hand, it is a huge relief to see that it can be done. But on the other hand, like Paul, when we look at ourselves, we often find that the things we want to do we don’t do, and the things we don’t want to do are just exactly what we end up doing. So ather than bemoaning our failures, let’s choose to see what we can learn from Jesus in order to do better in the future. The Greek word pei-ra-zo is used in this passage and can be translated as either “to test” or “to tempt”. These tests or temptations, as difficult as they must have been, appear to have served to strengthened Jesus and helped him to more clearly define his relationship to God and his ministry. Perhaps they can serve the same purpose for us. The first temptation, after forty days of fasting, involves using his power as the Son of God to turn stones into bread. Temptations do seem to come to us at our weakest point, and Jesus must have been very hungry. To those of us who never miss a meal and have no idea what real hunger is like, 40 days without food is difficult even to imagine. It’s a choice and Jesus decides that rather than using his miraculous powers to satisfy his own needs, he will trust God to provide for him. Unlike Adam and Eve in the garden, and unlike Israel in the wilderness, Jesus trusts God completely for his sustenance without yielding to the temptation to doubt God or take things into his own hands. We know that Jesus was very responsive throughout his life to the needs, especially hunger, of others, but he didn’t spend a lot of time or energy worrying about his own needs. Jesus trusted God to provide for him, just as God provides for the birds of the sky or the flowers of the fields. The second temptation is a little different. There were no spectators to the first, but here on the south-west corner of the temple there were surely lots of folks around. Tom and I had the opportunity to stand below this corner of the temple when we visited Jerusalem in 1997. It was not even completely excavated yet, but very high. It would have overlooked stalls selling religious goods on the west wall and the steps leading into the temple on the south with the ritual purification baths in front of that. It would have been a busy place. If Jesus jumped off the pinnacle of the temple and was miraculously kept from harm, what an impact that would have on people! It seems the temptation for Jesus was to use his miraculous powers to amaze people and thereby attract followers? Not a bad thing to do if you are trying to begin your ministry and usher in a new kingdom. Jesus makes a choice again and refuses to test God or show off his own powers. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was careful not to perform miracles for publicity and acclaim. Jesus healed people because he saw healing as a part of the coming of the Kingdom of God. He was not interested in his own glory, but dedicated himself to the work of God in the world. The third temptation happens on a very high mountain. It is interesting to note that each of the temptations takes place on successively higher ground. We recall that many important events in scripture take place on mountain tops. The progression is also in terms of intensity and scope. It begins with Jesus own need, widens to Jerusalem and finally takes in the whole world. Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, if Jesus will only fall down and worship him. Jesus makes a choice. He chooses not political power and success, but the path of the suffering servant. He seems to choose right then and there to let God be God and in control of the world. Now for the big question – how did Jesus do it? How did he get it right all three times? There must be something we can learn from Jesus about how to make the right choices in our own lives. Do we make choices in life on our own and trust in our own wisdom, or do we seek to live in obedience to God and by the power of Holy Spirit? And if we make the latter choice, just how do we go about doing that? One answer might involve what we call spiritual disciplines, a few of which are mentioned in this passage. First, Jesus had studied and was well acquainted with scripture and knew how to rightly interpret and put scripture to use in life. It’s a good thing he did, because Satan obviously knows and uses scripture too! That’s a scary thought, until we realize that one can justify almost anything by carefully selecting and removing from context portions of scripture. It is important to look at and interpret scripture as a whole, and to rely not only on our own interpretation, but the reason and tradition we find in the community that we call the body of Christ – the church. Secondly, Jesus fasted. Last year during Lent my spiritual disciplines involved eating more wisely and exercising more faithfully. That has resulted in some weight loss, but this body has truly never had much experience with fasting.. It is a spiritual discipline that many find useful, and that I would like to explore one day. Fasting may not only involve the consumption of food. A friend tells me that she had quite a remarkable experience one year when she made the commitment during Lent to fast from television viewing. Finally and perhaps most importantly, Jesus spent a lot of time, here at the beginning of his ministry and throughout his life in solitude and prayer. I was, for some reason, surprised to realize that the Welcoming Prayer Practice, a short and simple form of contemplative prayer taught by Fr. Thomas Keating, addresses the very temptations with which Jesus was confronted. The trials and temptations of our lives are probably not as dramatic or always as clear cut as those faced by Jesus in the desert, but they involve the same basic human desires we all struggle with. Fr. Keating teaches that it is really our basic and very normal human desires that get in the way of our relationship with God. These basic human desires become sin when we allow them to rule our lives and separate us from God. The desires one names and endeavors to let go of in the Welcoming Prayer Practice are those for safety and security, affection and esteem , and power and control. Spending a little time letting go of these, if only for a short time, and resting in the presence of God, no matter how briefly, is well worth the time. It is a practice I have embraced for several years and would like to make my Lenten gift to you. It is a practice that is useful as I begin a time of prayer or meditation, or by itself in the midst of a crisis or stressful situation. I’ll be the first to admit that what I say I am trying to let go of one minute, I often grab right back the next. But at least attempting to let go of these desires and worries for a few moments, can bring peace and clarity and allow us to acknowledge anew our dependence upon God. It is also a practice that helps us let go of troublesome situations or life events that we can’t do much about anyway. In this simple discipline, our relationship with God can be renewed and strengthened and the awareness of Holy Spirit in the midst of life enhanced. Lisa has kindly included a few brief instructions for your use in the announcements for today. You don’t need to look at it now, but I would encourage you to give it a try during this Lenten season. It doesn’t take long. I invite you for the next few moments to join me in this prayer. It is my hope that you will find this practice useful in your own prayer life and in the choices life brings your way during Lent.
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05/16/2008 | ||||||
Ann Brotherton