1. Temptation
What have you given up for Lent?
Those who were at the Ash Wednesday service will have heard
me say quite a lot about this and it has
been turned into a ritual that doesn’t
really get to the point, how its no good
if you give things up for Lent for self improvement, for self gratification so
we feel holy and important, but a time to get closer to God, to make God a real
part of our lives. And this is the theme that we will follow during Lent Holy
week and Easter. Its called it making the Sacramental Real, and can you really think this week about bridging
the gap between the sacred and the secular. For you can’t act one way in the
secular world and then switch on Sunday and become holy and righteous.
Its really a matter of how we see ourselves in relation to
God, how we become a truly sacramental
people.
Now
as said on Wednesday our Lenten journey should not be an easy one, a way to
improve our health, our figures it should be a journey of discovery that significantly affects our everyday
life, that focuses us on the fact that we are dependent upon God for life and
breath. That everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God, and
that all the good things we have, even life itself, are God’s gift to us. That
every day in every way our lives are sacramental as we ‘break the body and shed
the blood of creation’ (Wendell Berry) for our food, our clothes, our energy. Our
daily subsistence isn’t separated from our spiritual journey; we are whole
beings, not dualistic creatures. The mystery and wonder of the incarnation is
that we have an embodied faith - Christianity is a holistic religion - mind,
heart, soul AND BODY are all involved here.
And they come
together in the man Jesus who faces all the things we do in our gospel reading
this morning as he looks temptation in the face and chooses the Jesus
chose three great paths, sacramental paths to freedom. When similarly tested,
many of his followers have failed to choose the same pathways; and the same
goes for each of us here today, for we have all at times failed to choose these pathways of
freedom.So despite the fact that Lent is a time for fasting and penitence, its not about dwelling on how sinful we are, its not about trying to be holy, so if you have made resolution for Lent and you slip up and eat the chocolate bar or have a glass of sherry don’t berate yourselves, you haven’t failed, real failure is forgetting that we are God’s children and that our living should be a sacrament of love for all of God’s creation.
This means being loving and careful in all our dealings in all our doings, its about living life as the sacrament it truly is. So despite saying that ‘giving up’ or using our own personal preferences to ensure what you might call selective fasting for Lent is not what its all about. Lets be clear about this it is important to look for something that we might do that will deepen our relationship with the creator.
How about this for an idea. In our culture we are so fixated on the individual that we forget we are part of the whole, how can we love God and his creation if we forget that we are part of it, part of the web of life, part of the dust of stars, part of the body of Christ. We can’t, and this thought came to mind, did you know, there are some languages that have no words for I or Me only words for us, we (the people). So my goal is to cut those words out. This is so hard to do but trying it has created a great awareness of how often I use these words, and when you try to stop you realise what a new perspective it gives to everything you say and do, and that what this is all about, Lent is about finding a new perspective for your life, for you relationship with God. And that new perspective is right there in the temptations Jesus faces, when he chose not to ‘give up but to ‘take up’ a way of living
1.The first temptation is for Jesus to turn stones into bread It is the allure of materialism, the belief that our happiness comes from things. Of course, physical things are not bad in themselves Food, clothing, shelter—these things are good. For that matter jewellery, perfume, a membership at the gym, can all be good as well. The problem is when we forget the relative importance of things versus love; when we forget that the things we own say little about our Divine identity and purpose. We in the wealthy developed nations fall most easily into this pitfall because we have managed to attain so much. It’s been calculated that if everyone on earth used up the same amount of raw materials, fuels and so-on that the average European consumes, it would take four worlds to sustain the earth’s population.
When Jesus says to the tempter, ‘Thou shall not live by bread alone,” he ’took up’ the pathway of Simplicity –of being content with fewer things, and with things that matter more. That’s a great recipe for a life that depends on a vital connection with God, and that enables all of God’s other creatures to live in peace alongside of us.
2.The next temptation is that of coercion. The devil says, “I’ll give you power—let me show you how.” This is upping the temptation scale;. Coercion is a great temptation for bright people, because bright people know the world is askew and wish to change it—and if we can knock the world into shape then everyone will be happier. That’s how the devil presents the case. Its we know best.
Beginning with the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, Christians have chosen the way of coercion.—this is what Gandhi had in mind when he said “I like your Christ…but your Christians are so unlike him.” Jesus, in contrast, ‘took up’ the path of Service. God knows that people transform not because they are forced to do so, but because they see examples of sacrifice. Ultimately, the way of Jesus is the way of the cross—the way of costly love. This is why Mother Teresa is so well loved, and our politicians…less so.
3.The last temptation of privilege. Can’t you just hear the devil saying, “Hey, Jesus, why don’t you throw yourself off the top of this tall building? Ordinary folk, they’d fall and end badly. But you’re special. Angels will catch you—won’t that be cool? Won’t people just be so impressed with you?” You don’t have to spend long in the corridors of Christian influence before you can spot the temptation to privilege and fame. It may not be stated so bluntly, but I’ve sure caught the tone of Christian messages that say, “I’m really exceptionally cool and successful—and you can be too if you come to my church.” But Jesus ‘took up’ the way of Humility. We are called to the spirit of Jesus “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:5-7). Jesus, God incarnate chose to live as a very ordinary Middle Eastern peasant, subject to all the hardships of our common humanity. He ‘took up’ our humanity And today, despite the increase of those who are spiritually unaffiliated some 2 billion citizens of earth still own the name Christian, having been influenced by the suffering servant.
So as we begin the season of Lent, perhaps we should not think so much of what we can “give up,” but what we can ‘take up’ what we can learn from Jesus’ experience, the choices he made in the desert so long ago.. Take a moment, and cement in your mind the choices that Jesus made in the wilderness: those of Simplicity, Service and Humility. Ask yourselves : what can I do to walk these paths on my this Lenten journey? AMEN
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