Lent 1A 2020
Rev. Adam T. Trambley
March 1, 2020, St. John’s Sharon
Let’s start today with some Bible Trivia. I’m going to read some quotes. Do you think it is in the Bible or not?
· In the beginning was the Word. (John 1:1)
· Blessed is he who laughs last, for he laughs best.
· Jesus wept. (John 11:25)
· The Lord helps those who help themselves. (Greeks – philosophy/Aesop’s Fables)
· God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)
· It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. (Dumbledore)
· What is truth? (John 18:38)
· Surely, I am too stupid to be human. (Proverbs 30:2)
· Do or do not, there is no try. (Yoda)
So why am I starting with a quiz of Bible quotes today? Because both the first reading and the gospel involve temptations by the devil that involve getting right what God says. Knowing what God’s word is matters. We see this in our wider culture, where people on all sides of every issue are willing to claim that God is on their side. We need to know what scripture says and what God is about to make be able to judge for ourselves.
In the first reading from Genesis, God has told Adam, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” All God says is not to eat of this dangerous tree. He is generous in providing every other tree for food. The knowledge of good and evil is deadly to human beings, though, so don’t eat of that tree. God is not making up rules. He’s protecting Adam and Eve by telling them how it is.
When the serpent comes to Eve, however, and asks about the tree, it plays with what God says. The serpent first asks if God prohibited eating of any tree in the garden. He is sowing doubt not only about the instruction, but also about God’s goodness and generosity. The woman says that they can eat of any tree, but that God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” All of the sudden, she’s only gotten the message half-right. Gone is any sense of what the tree might be or why it might be dangerous. She doesn’t call it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And she adds an intimidating phrase, “nor shall you touch it”. Gone is a sense that a good God is protecting her from the consequence of eating of an dangerous tree that was deadly for human beings. Instead, her statement to the serpent calls to mind some sort of horror movie tree where the very fruit is a poisonous acid that starts to eat away your fingertips as soon as you touch it.
The serpent knows that it is easier to overcome an imaginary, crazy fear than an important, reasoned caution. So once it has pushed Eve in that direction, convincing her that God is lying becomes a lot easier. God’s words are now twisted to be about maintaining his own status instead of protecting Adam and Eve. So she grabs the fruit and she and Adam eat. She didn’t know what God really said, so it became easy for her to misunderstand God’s intentions and the purpose of his instructions.
In our gospel, Satan temps Jesus three times. Before he was in the desert praying and fasting, Jesus heard a voice at his baptism saying he was God’s Son, God’s beloved, with whom the Father was well pleased. Then Jesus was driven into the desert for forty days and nights before Satan shows up.
The devil’s temptations all focus on what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God. Satan is telling Jesus that if he is really God’s beloved, God would do some pretty impressive things for him. Jesus’ temptation is to allow Satan to define what it means for him to God’s beloved Son instead of allowing God to define it.
Satan’s first temptation, to the famished Jesus who hasn’t eaten in forty days, is that if he was God’s Son, he could command stones to turn into bread. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong about turning stones into bread, and Jesus is going to create lots of bread for thousands of people in other context. Satan’s temptation is more subtle, however. Satan is saying that if Jesus was really who God says he is, then God should give him what he wants. If he is hungry, the Father should provide him bread. The circumstances don’t matter for the devil. God’s plan and purpose and providence are immaterial. Satan is saying, “If God loves you, you’ll get what you want.”
Jesus is not taken in. Instead of bread, Jesus says we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus commits to following God’s way of life, and not worrying about what he himself wants at any given moment.
Then Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and invites him to throw himself down. Showing he knows scripture, too, Satan quotes Psalm 91 where God promises to send his angels so we will not even dash our foot against a stone. Here the devil’s deceit is that if Jesus is God’s beloved Son, God will protect him no matter what. Satan says that God should send his angels to protect Jesus, even from the consequences of his own actions, like jumping off a building. I mean, who but the devil things that jumping off a building is a good idea?
Jesus response, also from scripture, is that you don’t put God to the test. We don’t get to demand that God be at our beck and call. Jesus knows that being God’s beloved doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not God shows up with a legion of angels in any particular situation just because we think he should.
Then Satan shows Jesus all the nations of the world and offers to give him authority over all of them if he only worships the devil. The temptation here is that Jesus should be in charge. The devil doesn’t talk about being the Son of God here, but the implication is clear. If you are really God’s beloved Son, you would have all this power. Since you don’t, maybe you need to switch over to the other side. The devil asks Jesus what God has done for him lately, and makes him what seems like a better offer.
Jesus knows the Father, however. He knows the plans and purposes of God. His response is swift and sure. Jesus quotes one of the key tenets of Judaism: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. Then the devil left.
We often face these same basic temptations. Like Eve, we can forget what God and his instructions are actually about. What are meant to be life-giving practices, we too often interpret as capricious restrictions. We face this danger especially in a society that claims any number of Biblical restrictions around all sorts of behaviors, many of which are either entirely absent in Scripture or seem to contradict the Good News of forgiveness and love that Jesus proclaimed. Many in our culture have turned aside from God and the church when God has not been accurately portrayed. We have an obligation to know what God is about, and to share his true good news with others. What Jesus says is life giving. What people say Jesus says, not always so much.
We also face the temptations that Jesus did. We are children of God. We would really like being children of God to mean that the omnipotent creator of the universe gives us everything we want, always protects us including from our own self-destructive actions, and puts us in charge of everyone and everything else. It doesn’t quite work that way.
Being children of God means being about our Father’s business. Being children of God means wanting what God wants. Being children of God means that we try to act in the ways that God wants us to act instead of trying to make God act in the ways that we want him to. And being about our Father’s business has a cost.
God loves us. He loves all his children. He is with us in the midst of our brokenness, and he sent Jesus, his beloved Son, to be with us. Jesus could not have done the work God had given him to do without the passion and death he endured. But Jesus bore that cost. And God bore that cost. And sometimes we are called to bear the cost of the hard work of love. Just like with Jesus and countless saints throughout history, sometimes that means we don’t get what we want, sometimes that means we don’t have the protection we think we need, and almost always that means we are not in charge. But God still loves us, and we are still his beloved children. Just like God still loved his Son Jesus during forty days of fasting in the wilderness. And God still loved his Son Jesus during his passion and death.
Part of what being God’s beloved children means is that the story never ends with us lacking or abandoned or powerless or alone. After Jesus’ passion and death, Easter came as God raised him up. When the temptations were over in this morning’s gospel, the angels came and waited on Jesus, presumably providing whatever bread he needed and protecting him from any other harm. When we have done our difficult work of love, God is with us, too, giving us what we need.
Often what we need is to ask for what we want and to receive it. Often what we need is some sort of protection. Often what we need is to know that God is blessing the corner of the Kingdom where we are his chief stewards. God gives all of these gifts to his beloved ones. We just can’t count them as something we are entitled to. And the best way to stay grateful for God’s blessings and avoid the temptation to be entitled to them is to know what God is really about. We do well to know what God really says in his scriptures, and to develop the personal relationship with him that lets us experience how deep, how broad, and how high is his love for us. God’s plans for us and those we love are better than anything we could ask or imagine. What God says to us is truly life-giving. We do well to pay attention.
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