February 26, 2023 Lent 1 St. Andrew Church Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, 17a, 19
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but 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.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
17 And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Second Lesson: Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
In the very first Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin’s dad is working on the car, when Calvin walks up in a safari hat and says, “So long, Pop! I’m off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I’m sure to have a tiger by now!” His dad replies, “They like tuna fish, huh?” As Calvin walks off, he says, “Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich!” The final frame shows Hobbes, hanging by his foot from a tree, munching on a tuna fish sandwich. He says to no one in particular, “We’re kind of stupid that way.”
Every day we are tempted to be less than we can be. Without giving it much thought, we choose what’s easiest. We seldom consider how much more is possible. We take tuna fish when we could do better. We’re kind of stupid that way (Brett Younger, Disabling Temptations, Sermons.com)
Tempted to be less than we can be, we do that all the time. It is the inverse of trying to do it all ourselves, and edging God out. I start with our human tendency towards temptations so that we can hear the Temptation of Christ with new ears. I stood at the Mount of Temptation, one of the 10 holy mountains in the region. We gathered around as these words from scripture were read. Here is a picture of it so you can hear the words as I did while looking at the place it happened. Read Matthew (Show pictures)
Throughout the scriptures, the wilderness represents a place of preparation, a place of waiting for God’s next move, a place of learning to trust in God’s mercy. For forty days and nights Jesus remains in the wilderness, without food, getting ready for what comes next (Working Preacher, Audrey West). Reminiscent of rain pelting Noah for 40 days and nights (Gen 7:4). Moses climbing a mountain and fasting 40 days and nights (Exod. 24:18). Our preparation during Lent follows this pattern of 40 days and nights. Well, it is really 46, if you count Sundays, but we don’t. As you know Lent started on Wednesday, a time when people often place ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross to be reminded of the temptation, and the journey we are on preparing for Christ’s death. I realize this is not a big part of our faith tradition, so I wanted to bring it forward to Sunday. That is why I am calling this Ash Sunday. It is moment of repentance, acknowledging our humanness and sinfulness and our need for God. This motivates us to read out Lenten devotionals, to pray for those we love, to give up something or take on a new practice of drawing closer to God. Lent is a time of self-reflection, and self-examination.
We also read the first temptation when the serpent encourages eating from the tree of knowledge. Sitting with that text this week, I discovered that God’s command to not eat from the tree of knowledge came before God created the woman from the man’s rib (Gen. 2:21-22). Boy, does she get blamed for a lot, for not having even been created when God laid down the law. Yet she does affirm the rule to the serpent, before taking that first bite and offering it to her husband. We call this the Fall; when humans first sinned against God. I see this as an allegory for how we often turn away from what we know to be right and do what we want instead. It is the temptation to be self-sufficient, to establish our own identity that seduces the first humans, and us (Working Preacher, David Lose). The serpent questioned God’s trustworthiness by telling her she would not die if she ate; and that is true. Neither one died a physical death. But I would say that shame creates a slow death. You see when they were both naked, they were not ashamed, but once they ate, they realized they were naked and hid themselves. So much of our sin is based in hiding. Hiding what we did, trying to hide it from God, not being honest about who we are and what we do. That applies to the big things we hope no one ever finds out, to the kinda stupid ways we limit our potential and fall short of God’s purpose.
There is a saying in the twelve-step program, “You are only as sick as your secrets.” That is so true. So, as we start our Lenten journey you will have an opportunity to share a secret, a sin, a temptation that led you astray and turn it over to God. You each have a post-it note in your bulletin. I want you to jot down a word or phrase naming your hidden secret, your sin, your temptation you want to be released from. The one that you want to lay and Christ’s feet and not have to carry around with you. Soon you will be able to give that away and be freed from that burden.
Tom Long, one of my preaching professors at Princeton wrote, “We think of temptation as the urge to do something we really would like to do but know we shouldn’t do — one more cigarette, one more drink, one more juicy rumor. But the deepest temptation is not the urge to misbehave, to do what we know we shouldn’t do, but rather the enticement to compromise our baptismal identity, to be who we are not called to be.
That’s the message in this story of Jesus’ temptation. The devil is not tempting Jesus to misbehave. He is not tempting Jesus to steal a wallet, or cheat on his taxes, or pick a fight with his neighbor. It’s deeper than that. The devil is tempting Jesus to ignore his baptism, to deny who he is, to forget that he is the child of his Father in heaven” (Sermons.com).
Jesus meets these three temptations; tempted by power, prestige and possession with a scriptural response standing firm in his baptismal identity. We take courage in Jesus’ strength, but also comfort in knowing that Jesus has been tempted just like we have. We have a partner in temptation so that we do not have to feel so alone in our sin. Yes, Jesus was sinless, but Jesus knows the temptations we face and we can lean into our relationship with Christ when faced with a trying situation.
One commentator writes, “From the Genesis story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace…to Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, these readings cut to the chase of what it is to be human… Might it be that a part of being human is being aware that we are insufficient, that we are not complete in and of ourselves, that lack is a permanent part of our condition? To be human, in other words, is to be aware that we carry inside ourselves a hole, an emptiness that we will always be restless to fill. Adam and Eve behold the fruit and conclude in a heartbeat that their hole is shaped just like that fruit. Yet after they eat, the emptiness remains. Today we might imagine that hole to be shaped just like a new car, or computer, or better house, or the perfect spouse…But after laboring and sacrificing and obtaining these things, the emptiness remains. Blaise Pascal once described this essential condition of humanity as having a “God-shaped hole,” and this is what Jesus demonstrates. There is no filling of that gap, no permanent erasing that hole, except in and through our relationship with God. Or, as Augustine said, we humans are always restless until we rest in God” (Working Preacher, David Lose).
We humans are tempted by power, prestige, possession, just like Jesus and often we fall short, often temptation gets the best of us. This time in Lent is our opportunity to reflect on our sins, give them to God and to humble ourselves as beloved children in need of God’s grace and not the titans of power that often tempt us. God loves us in our humanity which includes our sinfulness. But we often think we are not worthy of that love. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors wrote, “What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, Do you love me? We ask, ‘Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom?’ (Mt. 20:21). … We have been tempted to replace love with power” (Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72, Sermons.com) Let us repent and return to love, return to Jesus, return to God. Amen.
