RVCC Pastor's Sermon

Sermon - February 10, 2008

“Welcome to Lent”

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Matthew 4:1-11

A priest, who was newly arrived in New York, visited the section of his parish known as the Bowery, haven for homeless alcoholics and derelicts. As he walked along one of the Bowery blocks at night he suddenly felt a gun against his ribs and heard a raspy voice: "All right mister, gimme all your money!"

Quickly, the priest reached for his wallet and handed it over to the thief, but as he did, the robber noticed his clerical collar and was overcome with shame.

"Oh, forgive me, Father. I did not know you were a priest.

The priest replied, "That's all right, son. Just remember to go to confession and repent of your sin. And here, no hard feelings, have a cigar."

"Oh, no, thank-you Father" the thief replied as he handed the wallet back to the priest, "I gave up smoking for Lent."

Welcome to Lent – that uncomfortable season of the church year when we come face-to-face with all those things we would really rather not be concerned with – sacrifice, deserts, no desserts, wilderness, evil, fasting, ashes, and sin.

Welcome to Lent – that uncomfortable season of the church year when, in the midst of the ashes, we come face-to-face with the incontrovertible fact that we will not be on this earth forever and so can not avoid the niggling question of what we are supposed to do with that stark reality.

Welcome to Lent – that uncomfortable season of the church year when, in the turmoil of Holy Week, we come face-to-face with the reality of the cross and so have to ask ourselves not only how we – you and I - should love in a world whose culture is often most unloving, but also what happens when we decide to really be like Jesus and speak up and speak out and love the world as he did more than we love its culture.

Welcome to Lent – and welcome today to its beginnings. Welcome to a desert or wilderness retreat in the mountains outside of Galilee where Jesus arrived not long after his baptism in the Jordan River, where he had heard that voice, that holy and gentle whisper – “You are my beloved son with whom I am pleased”, in whom I have such faith and such hope.

And so Jesus went off by himself – for a long and hungry forty days and forty nights – not unlike Moses and the Hebrew people in the wilderness searching for the Promised Land, not unlike Noah on the Ark, hoping for dry land.

Jesus went off by himself – to get a grip, to get a handle on this ministry of promise and hope that he had undertaken, to figure out just how you get folks to believe that living the Beatitudes is even possible in a world of Roman imperialism, that standing up for the destitute and insisting upon justice for the disenfranchised would undoubtedly make him really unpopular at the very least – but doing so would have the potential to utterly transform the world even as the Kingdom of God was finally ushered in.

Now Matthew tells us about that time alone, those days of fasting when Jesus physically emptied himself to make room for God, those nights of praying for courage in the upcoming struggle for justice and peace and God’s presence in his own trial and rejoicing.

Matthew tells us about this uncomfortable time in the context of a conversation between Jesus and the personification of temptation and evil and everything that was clouding the rabbi’s vision and sense of direction on this sacred journey he was about to undertake. It is like a debate between two spiritual sages or religious scholars, each one drawing on ancient Scripture. Point and counterpoint.

“If you are God’s son, turn these stones into bread.” Hey, come on, you’re hungry. It’s a natural need. How can you possibly change the world with no food in your stomach, no source of power?

Think how good a New York deli corned beef on rye with mustard would taste just about now. What’s with the fasting anyway? Enjoy yourself. Don’t worry. Be happy. Life is not about sacrifice. “If you are God’s son, turn these stones into bread.”

And Jesus responded with a Scriptural citation: “One does not live by bread alone.”

OK, forget the bread, this personification we call Satan says. And not to be outdone, he draws upon Scripture too. "The Bible says that God will command his angels to protect you, so throw yourself down from the temple, and let God save you."

And as William Johnson retells the story, Satan makes the point that, if Jesus is going to be at all successful, he ought to be sure that everyone knows who he really is. “Most people are pretty dense,” Jesus is reminded. “You have to hit them with a baseball bat to get their attention. Why not jump from the temple and when God rescues you, as God must, people will be impressed, and they will follow you. It is just silly to hide who you really are, Messiah of God."

And Jesus, again, makes the Scriptural counterpoint: "It is written, do not put the Lord your God to the test." “You just don’t tempt God,” he says quietly.

"Fair enough," says the Satan character as he gives Jesus a bird’s hand view of all the world’s kingdoms, each one affluent and prosperous yet suffering from the evil and temptation that Satan represents.

"Face it, bro. It's a long and difficult road that stretches out before you. Why don't we work together? You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. Join up with me, and I promise your path will become a bed of roses. You've got to admit that it just makes sense to do things the easy way." "Worship me, and all this will be yours."

"Go!" Jesus commands his cagey opponent, his patience gone. Go,” he says softly to himself – and his journey to Jerusalem and all it would bring and all it would end begins.

The first temptation was, as Samuel Candler labeled it, “the tyranny of the urgent.” For Jesus, it was bread. He needed sustenance – and power. For us, it is whatever tempts us to exploit whatever power we have for something less than God would want. And because you and I are blessed to live in the richest and most powerful nation on earth, we need to pay particular attention to this first temptation. After all, we wield tremendous economic, ecological, political, social, and even spiritual power in the world.

And so the question for us is this: what – and who – are we willing to sacrifice for the economic, ecological, political, social, and even spiritual comfort we desire? That was the question Jesus put to himself – and the question that is even now put to us.

The second temptation was to turn the tables and tempt God. How much do you love me, God? How much will you protect me? Will your angels sweep me up as I fall from the pinnacle of the temple? If I pray to you constantly, will you love me enough to keep me from disease? If I go to church every Sunday, will you love me enough to let me live comfortably and prosper? If I send a big enough check to those refugees in and around Darfur and Iraq, will you love me enough to quit reminding me of how the rest of the world lives?

And when we are not testing God, we are testing the ones made in God’s image. Let’s see how much he loves me. How much does she really care? That was the question Jesus put to himself – and the question that is even now put to us.

The third temptation for Jesus was to use the world and all its kingdoms for his own personal gain. The third temptation is tainted with selfishness. "Don't worry about what it might do to others, if it suits you, do it." (Johnson) Everyone compromises in the end. “Saving the best for Numero Uno.”

What will it take for you to ignore the Beatitudes, fudge the Gospel message, convince yourself that the transformative love promised in God’s kingdom is someone else’s responsibility to bring into even the tiniest corner of the world? That was the question Jesus put to himself – and the question that is even now put to us.

The need for bread or whatever give us power. The need to be assured and re-assured that God loves us. The need for comfort and security in a world gone crazy – watching out for numero uno. Those are the temptations that we face as we seek to become Christ’s disciples. Those are the temptations that Jesus faced as he courageously set out on a ministry that would transform the world.

It is ironic, as William Johnson points out, that Jesus eventually did everything the Satan character suggested to him. “But it is all done in his time and in his own amazing way.

Jesus turns a few loaves and fishes into a picnic for 5,000 people. However, the motivation is not to impress or exploit, but rather it is to care for people in need.

Rather than being spectacularly saved from death at the last moment by angels, Jesus plunges into death and then rises to show us all the way to new life. “God so loved the world…”

Finally, in the end, Jesus achieves his goal rules God’s Kingdom in this world, but he did it not with (this character) Satan's strong-arm tactics, but with the gentle and humble power of love.”

May we follow in Jesus’ footsteps as we journey through Lent this year. May we learn that it is better to care for people in need than to exploit them with our power. May we understand that it is better to simply trust that God will transform our lives rather than wonder if God really cares. May we live not depending on might to make right but rather on the gentle and humble power of love.

Sermon - February 10, 2008

“Welcome to Lent”

By Rev. Nancy Foran Matthew 4:1-11

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Matthew 4:1-11