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Sermon preached by the Reverend Daphne B. Noyes at
The Church of the Advent Attention, fans of crossword puzzles and word play! This one is for you: “Timely word to describe the season…four letters…starts with L.” Think you’ve got it? Give up? The answer is love. Now if you find this surprising - if your head went right to Lent as the surefire answer (and why shouldn’t it), today’s Gospel has some news for you. Commonly (but not entirely accurately) known as “the temptation in the wilderness,” this tale is often understood as a conflict between the just-baptized Jesus, still wet behind the ears, ready to flex his muscles of Holy Resolve, and crafty, scripture-quoting Satan, with his devious attempts to demonstrate that the Son of God is no match for the ways of the world. Now it’s not every Sunday that the Devil makes an appearance in church, so I want to spend some time looking carefully at this story. I want to suggest that the story’s theme and message is more about making decisions than about displaying exquisitely potent willpower. And in doing so, I hope to offer a different perspective on Lent as a season of love. First, let’s take a look at who Jesus is in this setting. He is fresh from the waters of baptism; perhaps the words from on high are still echoing: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The Beloved. One writer describes a “surge of certainty and self-understanding” that comes to Jesus at his baptism. A relationship of mutual love between God the Father and God the Son forms a pattern for their conversation and relationship; it is the matrix on which Jesus’ ministry will be structured and unfold. Neither one of them is in this alone. Nor are we. “Because he is bound to me in love, therefore will I deliver him,” writes the psalmist.[1] Second, Jesus doesn’t take himself to the desert; he is led by the Spirit — and the Spirit comes from God. This provides a view of God as the ultimate initiator of the temptation of Jesus, to allow Satan’s challenges to test Jesus’ discernment and courage, and perhaps in so doing, to strengthen both these attributes. The temptations put forth are “not as bizarre as they appear at first glance; they are all based on various ways of sinning against the great commandment to love God ‘with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might.’”[2] Here is what I believe is a fundamental and often-overlooked aspect of this story, and of the season of Lent, and of the common understanding of resistance to temptation. This season of reflection and repentance is not a 40-day trip to a spiritual gym to work out with the free weights of denied desire and spend time on the treadmill of temptation; nor are we to engage in a spate of resistance or endurance training for its own sake – for the spiritual equivalent of a “six-pack” or to bulk up. No, the most important spiritual muscle to exercise this season is the heart. This is a time to become grounded in, immersed in, and permeated with the Love of God, and to draw on that Love as our sustenance, our protection, and our compass. With that in mind, let’s look at the three temptations. If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. These words were spoken and heard in the context of isolation and hunger. But Jesus’ response comes not from the desire to fill his belly, or put on some kind of magic show, but rather is grounded in his sense of identity as the Son of God, the beloved Son of God. And so Jesus’ response to the first temptation, indeed to all three temptations we hear about today, is drawn from Deuteronomy, and focuses not on legalistic delineations of good and evil, or the importance of flexing one’s spiritual muscles in the face of temptation. It is not about willpower. It is about love. Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”[3] In the passage from Matthew, a new Word has come from the mouth of God: Jesus, the Word made flesh. Jesus quotes this excerpt from Deuteronomy, which carries rich references to Israel’s time in the desert; to the loving care God provided through God’s presence, and through the provision of manna; and to God’s promises to lead God’s people into “a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing…”[4] This is no desert. The next scene of temptation takes place not in the desert but in “the holy city” – Jerusalem. The Devil and Jesus are atop the pinnacle of the temple, where they must have a stunning view of the temple courts, full of God’s people coming and going, men carrying or leading their sacrificial animals, women arriving for ritual purification after childbirth or to present their newborns, just as Mary and Joseph brought Jesus. In the distance is the Valley of Kidron, and beyond that, Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives. Now the Tempter turns to scripture, quoting Psalm 91, a psalm of protection, familiar to many of us perhaps from its inclusion in the end-of-day service known as Compline. Again, he addresses Jesus as “Son of God” and taunts him, urging him to test God’s providential care by unnecessarily risking his life – a life that belongs to God – in a challenge that makes a mockery of real martyrdom and of Jesus’ future passion. 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.’ Once again, Deuteronomy is Jesus’ go-to source. He replies, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test…” I can imagine that these words he speaks as much to himself as to the Devil. In so doing, he conveys his understanding that God has in mind good things for God’s people; that they have been led through their wilderness time and are entering into the new, good, promised land. A relationship of Love with the Lord God Sabaoth is not to be taken lightly, but must permeate all aspects of life. And now, the third tempation. From a very high mountain, the Devil shows Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” and offers them all to him “if you will fall down and worship me.” By now, the pattern has become clear: Jesus turns to Deuteronomy for the response. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”[5] These words come in the context of the great commandment, the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.”[6] Your heart…your soul…your might. Lent, the season of Love, is the time to bring these aspects of your life to God. Your heart, which carries in it the knowledge of good and evil, and the desire to connect with others, to bond with God; your soul, which is your life, your breath, your spirit; your might, which is your possessions, your wealth, your talents, your abilities, your relationships. • • • Do you feel you have fallen short of the mark? Has your relationship with God, or with others, been based on fear or self-interest or even self-hatred, and not in love? Have you concentrated more on strengthening your own will, rather than listening for God’s will? Like the psalmist, do you cry, “My sin is ever before me”? Is your spirit troubled, your heart broken? The psalmist also writes, “The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”[8] Know that God is calling you “over the tumult of your life’s wild, restless sea” to come closer, to grow in love, to open your heart to God’s love. And the forty days of Lent is the time to do just that. I said earlier that the story of Jesus’ temptation and the season of Lent are about making decisions. Here’s what I mean. I don’t know about you, but some of the worst decisions – and by worst, I mean self-damaging, or harmful to others – some of the worst decisions I’ve ever made have sprung from a feeling of not being loved, or of being alone and unsupported, or of having to spend all my time and energy in building myself up. Is this true for you, as well? If so, pray that this Lent will become for you a time full of the richness of God’s love. Pray that when you are faced with difficult decisions or tough choices, you will turn to the love of God that lives in your heart and remember that you are beloved of God. Pray that the agony of sin and despair will be swept away by the pervasive power of God’s love. Pray that you may daily grow in that love, that you may rejoice in the new life promised in the resurrection. Amen. [1] Psalm 91:14 |