1LentC, Sullivan Park Care Center, February 14, 2016 by
Annette Fricke
Some people
looking at this gospel text would focus in on the devil and all the questions
he asks of Jesus. Of what purpose is
this story that is also included in other gospels? I look at the bookends of the story. In both the beginning and the end we find
that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit.
We see it in verse 1 and in the verse following this section, verse 14. Prior to this story in chapter 3 where we
heard the account of Jesus’ baptism, we know that Jesus is there also filled
with the Holy Spirit.
We too, are
promised the Holy Spirit when baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Like Jesus, we also have what
could be termed “wilderness experiences.”
Although each of us has our own struggles with temptation throughout
life, like Jesus, unlike Jesus we seem unable to resist temptation. We start early in life. I recall a time when Mom and Dad were away
somewhere and my little brother and I stayed home. Deciding that we should do something, we made
chocolate chip cookies and popcorn. We always made popcorn in the cast iron
pan, so I figured I must have been about thirteen to handle the pan. Upon Mom and Dad’s return, we didn’t feel so
good. I guess we were testing the wisdom
told us about spoiling our dinner by eating too many sweets. Then there were times when we wanted to stay
up till midnight just to see the New Year come in. My parents had always gone to bed before
midnight. I guess it wasn’t any fun for
them. We didn’t see anything wrong with
that practice because it was fun for us. It was also a challenge to stay awake
that long because we never thought of it as losing sleep and it possibly being
difficult to get up in the morning. And
that is where temptation crossed the line into submission. We had submitted to our inclination to rebel
against discipline. We had then given ourselves over to our fantasies that we somehow
thought were better choices when in fact, they probably weren’t. We didn’t understand the folly of our
decisions until we had to face the consequences. What would have happened if
Jesus had given in to temptation? For one,
he would be too much like us.
Later in
life, there are choices about whom to marry, what sort of job to work at, how
to manage your money, what to invest in. Yet even with the morally right choices, things
still have the possibility of not turning out so well. Those who invested in the stock market did
well, but then it crashed. My
grandmother distrusted banks or so I was told by Mom. Sometimes the best way to
do something is with all the patience and determination to robotically do each
step in order, being careful to do not only as the job demands, but with the
best of intensions. I can intend to do
the right thing in every situation, but unless I do it with my whole heart and
attention, I can easily go astray in another direction. I can follow the path to fickleness or stay
on the road that is one of self-sacrifice, to go after my own wants as opposed
to helping others.
Lent is a time when many people focus
on what they want to give up, usually it is something we deemed to be
self-damaging. The “giving up” list is
usually comprised of things we personally consider to be bad habits. For example, I may elect to give up chocolate
or lose weight. One episode in the
series, “Vicar of Dibley” depicts a church council meeting at the beginning of
Lent when each of the members attempts to extinguish their not so desirable
behaviors. One is to quit swearing,
another to quit making nasty food, still another to give up chocolate. They
quickly learn that it is easy at first, but as time wears on, it becomes more
and more difficult to quit long established habits. There’s a new idea floating
around in which a person puts one item each day of Lent into a garbage
bag. The excessive items in ones closet
are items are to be identified as either trash or to be given to another person
or a thrift store. It sounds simple and
I am sure that in the process, someone may benefit; either yourself or
another. But does this truly make
sense? What if we look at this from
another perspective? Instead of taking
away something, what if we added something?
What if we spent time looking at how we display the grace of God? What if we could break out of our usual
comfortable circle of friends? Could we
work together in our little social groups to pool our talents, gifts, and
resources to form a new alliance with people we don’t really know? It seems
that we can go wrong with keeping to our little groups and associating only
with the people we know. How can we
support each other, even those we don’t know well? How can we seriously and
consistently engage in our baptismal promise to make disciples? We all need reminders of what Christianity is
all about and others to pull us back from our wanderings in our own
wildernesses. We should be looking intently at how we can strengthen each other
in our spiritual journeys.
Is this
gospel text in Luke about temptation or is it rather about the faithfulness and
determination of God to make all things right for all people? We are all tempted to do many things, but how
many times do we give in and do that which we might not do if someone was there
to help us resist? Isn’t that really
what the function of the Holy Spirit is for Jesus? We can be just like children whose parents
are out of town. We can be doing things
that could potentially cause us harm or worse yet, causing others harm. We can become just the opposite of a person
who is obedient to the will of God. The
Hippocratic Oath of a doctor is a good place to start. Doctors promise to do no harm, but that isn’t
enough if you really want to realize your potential to be the best doctor of
which you’re capable. That isn’t enough
to really live the Christian life. That
is the bare minimum if you really want to follow Jesus into the wilderness.
Yes, do no harm, but also do well. Do well,
and do one step better, do your very best.
We should strive to be emulated, not tolerated. We should show love where others respond with
hate or indifference. Jesus is faithful
to God with all that he says, all that he teaches, and all that he does. Jesus is our ultimate model. There is no better example of how to live a
human life. We should be saying to the person on the street, “Look at what
Jesus does in the face of temptation. Let’s be like Jesus.”
But when
things fail, like your body when it pops and grinds and your skin when it
starts to become thin, when bruising and soreness are more common than not,
remember this: even though you are dust and to dust you shall return, God still
loves you and will never forsake you.
God will never deceive you or point you in the wrong direction. God will never fail no matter what
happens. God will give you the strength
to get through. God’s grace is
sufficient. Amen.
