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Sermon: The First Sunday in Lent (C) - 21st February 2010
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping 7, 8 & 10 am
Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16, Romans 10:4-13, Luke 4:1-15
What image does the word "wilderness" bring to your mind? Does it frighten or appeal to you? In most of the Biblical references and stories wilderness is not an inviting place. The wilderness is without water and food; full of dangerous beasts; or the hiding place of lawless people. Prophecies of hope in scripture often involve the transformation of wilderness into streams in the desert or making a highway for our God and for God's people to safely cross over. Ironically, in our day, wilderness is often thought of as something positive, a place to go for renewal, to get away from it all, a place to save from development and contamination. There are some wilderness experiences that we seek out as intentional times of renewal, while there are others that are more difficult that thrust upon us, such as: serious illness, divorce, grief after the death of someone we love, unemployment, depression, a family crisis, a natural disaster, or the anxiety and separation that comes when someone we love moves to a distant place.
Whether it is an experience we have sought or an experience we are suffering through, being in the wilderness brings us back to the basics. It tests us and often renews us. Even people who suffer terribly will speak of the blessings they found through their experience, or the valuable lessons they learned. The wilderness is where we remember or perhaps learn who we really are, the place where we discern what really matters in life, the place where we realize how dependent we are on the grace of God to sustain us and the place where we can find our way. In the wilderness, we find our way back to God, we're able to gain some clarity and to discern the path God would have us follow.
God formed the people of Israel in the wilderness. The reading this morning from the book of Deuteronomy, has them standing on the edge of the wilderness, ready to cross into the promised land and God, through Moses, is giving them instructions on how they are to live in that land. The people of Israel didn't do so well in their period of testing in the wilderness. They repeatedly failed both God and Moses, but God did not abandon them and leave them to perish in the wilderness. God patiently, and at times not so patiently, kept leading them, instructing them, sustaining them and preparing them for the promised land.
The people are told that after they have entered the land and begun to establish their homes and to plant crops, they are to take the first fruits they harvest. The offering of the first fruits is a way of remembering who they are. They belong to God. God knows that once they leave the wilderness and begin to be comfortable and prosper in the land, it will be all too easy for them to forget God, to forget the covenant God made with them, to forget God's commandments and teachings. The lessons of the wilderness will fade quickly when they become prosperous.
In the gospel from Luke, we read about Jesus' wilderness experience. Like Israel he was tested; unlike Israel he remained faithful to God and to his identity as the Son of God and now, in the wilderness, he is tested as the Son of God.
The first temptation is to use his power to feed himself. Jesus has had nothing to eat for forty days and is famished. How simple it would be to turn just one stone into a loaf of bread and eat. After all later on he will turn five loaves and two fish into enough food to feed thousands of people. Why not turn one stone to bread? That is not how the Son of God uses his power. He trusts in God to provide and to sustain him. In his response to the devil, he quotes Deuteronomy, "One does not live by bread alone”. Jesus knows that God has not abandoned him. He trusts God to lead him safely through and out of the wilderness. By resisting this temptation, Jesus shows that he is not going to use his power for his own sake. It is for healing, feeding and ministering to others.
The devil then leads him to a high place and shows him in an instant all the power in the world, all the earthly dominions. He offers to give Jesus all their glory and authority. He will rule the world, if only he bows down to Satan. He is testing Jesus' allegiance. Think of all the good he could do, if Jesus had authority over every human realm. However, all that authority would be meaningless if he denied who he was and to whom he belonged. Once again, he quotes Deuteronomy, "Worship the Lord your God and serve only him”. Jesus' allegiance is to God alone, and all the power in the world will not tempt him to change that allegiance.
For the final temptation, the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and this time he quotes verses from today's psalm. Jesus once again finds his answer in Deuteronomy, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test”. Jesus does not need to deliberately put his life at risk in order to test God. In fact, putting God to that kind of test is a sign that one does not trust God. If we trust in God, there is no need to test God's love and care for us. Trusting in God means believing, like Paul, that "whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's."
Jesus' temptations in the wilderness echo Israel's temptations. Jesus is tempted as Israel was tempted. Where Israel failed, Jesus faithfully lives out his calling. He is continuing the story of the people of Israel and bringing it to fulfilment. He shows through his temptations that he is indeed the Son of God. He will use his divine power not to meet his own needs, but to serve others. He will remain faithful to God alone, and he will trust in God and not put God to the test. Through his time of testing in the wilderness, Jesus determines the way in which he will carry out his ministry on earth. He affirms what it means to be the Son of God, and at the end of the forty days he is ready to return to Galilee and begin his ministry.
Jesus' experience in the wilderness serves as an example for all of us. Whether we find ourselves in a wilderness not of our choosing, or whether we have sought time away in order to get ourselves back on track, our wilderness experiences are times when we can rely on the Spirit to help us find the way. Jesus' temptations mirror the temptations we face throughout our lives. We don't have the power to turn a stone into a loaf of bread, but we are bombarded daily with the temptation to use our resources, gifts, time and energy solely for our own gain. The “Way” Christ calls us to, is one where we use our gifts, powers, and resources in ministry to others. Like Jesus, we also are tempted to give our allegiance to persons or ideals other than God in order to gain authority, power, wealth or security. We are called to trust that God is there and is sustaining us even when the wilderness seems never-ending. Faith is knowing God is with us, even when we feel forsaken by God. Trust is taking to heart the words of the apostle Paul that even if we suffer hardship, distress, persecution, peril or the sword; we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us; believing that nothing in all creation, even death, "can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Some of us are currently in a wilderness of some type. Some of us are struggling with illness or supporting a loved one as they fight a life threatening disease, some are grieving the recent loss of a family member or close friend, others are keeping watch and keeping company with a loved one who is dying, some are seeking employment or experiencing profound change in their lives. Many of us are on an even keel at this moment, with things going well, but all of us are entering the season of Lent together, which is its own wilderness time.
Wherever you are in your life at this point, I invite you to observe Lent as a wilderness experience. Use it as a time to become conscious of the temptations that you might have succumbed to and use that as a positive force for good. How have you given in to using what you have and what you are solely for your own benefit? How can you turn that around and use what God has given you to serve others? How deep is your trust in God?
Jesus' wilderness time was preparing him for his ministry, preparing him to fulfil his purpose as the Son of God among us. This season of Lent is preparing us to celebrate his ultimate victory: the gift of life that we have through his death and resurrection. In the wilderness of Lent we can once again find the “Way” that opens us to this gift of life. We are all sons and daughters of God, but like Israel, we fail repeatedly to live as children of God. In Lent we can take ourselves back to the wilderness: to remember who we are, to reaffirm our identity as children of God, and through the guidance of the Spirit, we can find the way anew, the “Way” that is our true home through all the wildernesses of life.