March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1 – 11 Lent 1
And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (From here on I’m going to use the word adversary for devil – because for me, it speaks more strongly of a power at work against God.)
And the Spirit led Jesus. Ruach, the name for God’s Spirit, cosmic creating power, hovered over the waters, creating… in Genesis. Ruach, the life giving breath of God brought out of the valley of dry bones, in Ezekial, clattering bones, sinews and muscles coming together and the breath of life breathing into these gathering bones, making these individual human beings – alive! Ruach, in Micah, gave Micah the power to pursue justice. It was Ruach God’s creating and life giving power that led Jesus.
And that made all the difference for him and it makes all the difference for us as well. For the Spirit led Jesus, pointing to God’s life giving purpose for him. And so it is for us – the Spirit points us as we begin Lent, to see God’s life giving purpose for us, one day at a time, and grow. Lent means Spring, a time to grow.
And the Spirit led Jesus. Jesus begins the journey in the narratives of Matthew and Mark immediately after God declares Jesus at His baptism – to be God’s Beloved Son with whom he is pleased. And so Jesus is sent into the wilderness to be tempted by the adversary, knowing He is God’s Beloved. We too, begin this Lenten journey surrounded by God’s love claiming us - Beloved.
This context, this picture of Lent is different from what is so often presented. It does not mean Jesus does not have his Great Struggle. It does not mean we will not struggle if we choose to be engaged - .But it means we are pointed by the Spirit to God’s life giving purpose for us and surrounded by God’s love and that makes all the difference.
Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus had no time to take in, the voice from heaven’s confirmation of His identity, as God’s Son, – when God’s Spirit- suddenly, opened up space… the wilderness space and… 40 days time. This was space for Jesus to – take in the truth of Whose He was; to explore His relationship to His Mother-Father God; to live into his Belovedness; to be strengthened in faith. This was also space in which He in His humanity would have had to struggle for survival. We too, in the wilderness of our own making are still surrounded by God’s claiming us Beloved. And it is in this context of grace, and it is only because of this context of grace, that we are enabled to take the risk of seeing ourselves – as we are – Real (with a capital R).
And so the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. I’m a visual person – so I’m passing out a picture (if you’ll pass it around in your section) of a wilderness between Jerusalem and Galilee.
What words or phrases come to mind about it? Barren, bare, hot, arid, no shade, never ending, without green vegetation, no people or animals, no place to hide, silent, expansive, no noise
What is this wilderness far away from, in your everyday life? Children and dogs, obligations, expectations, packed schedules, cell phones and more…
What does this wilderness picture offer you?
In communities of faith, we have become so accustomed to wilderness, desert, journey language that it just passes right by us sometimes. Most of us won’t have the opportunity to go on a retreat in Lent. So I have asked you to list words and phrases in order that you can create for yourself a new image of wilderness for these 40 days. What words felt important for you in order to feel alone with God? Is it the place that is expansive, or where there is no place to hide, or is without noise or interruption. What image suggests for you, in the midst of your life, – a place where there is the possibility of being open with few distractions to God, even in a small bit of time of the day.
I have other thoughts about the wilderness. There are so many questions one might ask.
What life giving self is God calling me to be? (I bought a card recently that says – “Ask yourself what makes you come alive and do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman) What life giving self is God calling me to be? Then this follows right upon its heels – what parts of myself call me away from that authentic self?
Just two more questions. What systematic injustice am I beginning to see my complicity in. Where do I go from here in my one day at a time to reflect on it? What systematic injustice am I oppressed by – and how can I go on this Lenten journey (to begin or continue to) get the oppression out of me? That’s a lot of questions. Too many. One question will be enough, that is, yours and mine. Merton calls this work “Working out our identity in God.”
And so the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the adversary. And so after 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus is famished. In 12 Step programs this place where Jesus is in call for a time to HALT. This in captital letters stands for Hungery, Angry, Lonely and Tired. It is described as a dangerous place to be for it can be a tipping point, pointing towards filling the hunger with an addiction. So, the adversary takes advantage of Jesus in his tipping point, his human weakness – that he is famished- and tries to seduce him with the first temptation.” If you are the Son of God”, the adversary begins. He introduces each temptation with these words daring Jesus to prove himself by doing the adversary’s bidding. “Turn these stones into bread.” In Matthew loaf is plural. The adversary challenges Jesus not only to feed himself but alleviate the sharp terrible hunger pains of others. But Jesus says, “It is written, One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” With these words, Jesus refuses to use His power for the adversary. He refuses to take on the guise of miracle worker. Instead He stays in the identity God is leading Him in….And so, Jesus knows his own hunger and our hunger…. He is on His way to becoming the bread of life, broken in His ministry and on the cross, for the world.
In each challenge, Jesus chooses to be God’s Beloved Son, and turns over His own will to God’s. To be led only by God. As He enters His ministry, He will embody a Messiah whose love and justice, cross and resurrection, is a result of following His Mother-Father God’s life giving purpose for Him, and the Mother-Father God’s love for Him and all creation.
As the adversary tempted Jesus, we too have temptations that separate us from ourselves, others and God. During Lent we’re invited to pick one or two that particularly tempt us now. This is not an abstract exercise .And this morning as a way of talking about grappling with our own realities, I am going to suggest we look at these temptations through the lens of the 1st three steps of a 12 Step program. I have found that the steps of 12 step programs are some of the most comprehensive and deep approaches to spiritually grappling with our own realities.
Step 1 “Admit we are powerless over - whatever temptation you and I have chosen to work on. This step asks us to admit powerlessness over the temptation. I am going to adapt this a bit. The word powerlessness is utterly essential for addicts, but perhaps it needs to be put a different way in this conversation. (Like this) - we are called to admit we find ourselves in a seesaw battle with that which is unhealthy for us, and we can’t seem to let go….If we are able to admit this in the presence of God – we become naked in our weakness, Real (again with a capital R)before our loving God. This is a profound place for a new begininng. I’ll say it again, we are called to admit we find ourselves in a seesaw battle with that which is unhealthy for us and we can’t let go….
Step 2 says “Came to believe a Power Greater Than Ourselves could restore us to sanity.” The definition of insanity for people in 12 step programs is, doing something over and over again that hurts you. Like walking into a door repeatedly. This Step asks us to believe that God can help us stop our insanity, and help us to change.
Step 3 “Made a decision to turn my will and my life over to God…”.Made a decision asks us to do just that, decide to turn our will and our lives over to God. This step is about surrender to God, letting God lead us out of our old behavior into something new. There is a quality this Step speaks of as being absolutely essential to take this step. That quality is called ”willingness.” So, simple yet so hard. This step says if we are “willing” to turn our life over to God we will discover “a faith that works.” We will become able to entrust ourselves to God, trusting God will bring a new life, even if its not what we expect, one day at a time.
These three steps in Lent simply offer us:
1.) A way to know ourselves in weakness and let God see it and let go.
2.) Come to believe through God change is possible.
3.) That when we surrender our struggle to God, we become co-collaborators with God in living out God’s purposes for us, one day at a time.
Lent means Spring, a time to grow. We’re on the journey with Jesus, now.
Amen.