Original Airdate: February 26, 2023
Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 | Romans 5:12-19 | Matthew 4:1-11

Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and, by worthy conduct, pursue their effects. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.

We have begun a very, very important season called Lent. The word means springtime, and in the opening prayer, we asked God to bless us with the benefits that anything we do during Lent, the observances of holy Lent, might have an impact on us. And it’s so clear in that opening prayer we’re saying, “The observances that we choose in Lent are there to help us grow in understanding of who you are and what is hidden in you.” So even though there’s a long tradition of choosing things that are difficult or painful, being without certain comforts during Lent is beneficial. Well, it is if it means that we’re creating more space, more time for reflection. Who is this Christ? What is he trying to teach me about my life and about the way I live that would engage me in a more intimate relationship with God the Father?

So let’s look at this first set of readings and see if it doesn’t set a tone for something that we could hold onto through the whole season, and that is the difference between life and death. We have a choice, to live the life that God has called us to or to reject it and pick something else, something that is more attuned to our lower nature and to live that, which is a kind of death. So let’s go back to the beginning. I love that this is the beginning, first Sunday of this particular season, and we go back to the very beginning of God’s relationship with human beings, the Garden of Eden. In it we have a story. We all know that story very well, but it’s funny. This story has a lot of things added to it that aren’t really there. For example, there’s nothing about an apple in this story. It’s about fruit, but we’ve made it an apple. And most people will talk about Satan in the form of a snake that is tempting Adam and Eve, but it’s not a snake at all. It’s the most cunning of human beings but not even a human being, an animal. So let’s say it’s the most cunning part of our lower nature, and the serpent comes to the woman and questions what command that God had given Adam Eve not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, though that’s just implied, and not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Well, the more I reflect upon it, the more I think about it, it’s a kind of desire to become like gods. At least that is what’s told to them by this cunning animal spirit in all of us. It’s saying, “If you really want to, you can use God, and you can use everything in you to make you into this strong, autonomous being that has power over people. Wouldn’t you like to be like God, that kind of God?” I’m sure that was the most primitive sense of who God was. And so the woman thought, “Well, maybe this would be good for wisdom. Maybe ⎯ it certainly looks beautiful. It’s good for nourishment,” logic working its way in. But just think for a minute. She’s choosing to eat the apple, because she thinks it will bring the wisdom of God inside of her, and you’ll notice that, when God talked about the tree in the center of the garden, he said, “Don’t even think about eating that. Don’t even touch it, because if you do, you’ll die. And what is the tree of life? It’s wisdom, the hidden knowledge of who God really is and who you really are, and you can’t take that in now, because you’re not evolved enough to deal with it.” So we have this very strong image that, in the first story we have about God’s relationship with us, we see this warning about death. “Be careful what you choose.” And notice that the cunning animal instinct says, “You know what? You break the rules, and your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be like God. And it will be wonderful.” And then just a few lines later they broke with the commandment of God. Their eyes were opened, and they were ashamed. They were naked. They covered themselves.

Could this story be the story about the choice to evolve as God intends us to or just simply bypass the whole process and demand that we become almost omniscient and able to do anything we want? Hubris, pride, that’s part of it, but it’s also a wonderful story about the evolution of the human nature into a being that has some kind of inner moral code that, when you break it, your body reacts. It’s interesting. Guilt, you feel bad about something you did. Shame, your whole body feels it. Somehow you’re the sin. So maybe we can see very much in this story that the most important thing we learn from this first encounter of God with his people is he wants them to grow slowly, naturally and to evolve into being not like God, being a god, but being in God and being with God.

So now if we look at the beginning of ⎯ we look at this story as the beginning of the Old Testament. Let’s look at the beginning of the New Testament, and the beginning of the New Testament is similar. A temptation takes place, and so we find ourselves, after many centuries of struggling to become who God calls us to be ⎯ God enters the world to fulfill his promises in the Old Testament and to reveal fully who he is, to give his true wisdom. We’re ready now to enter a new stage of existence. No longer are we dependent solely on ourselves and our struggle to do what we’re told, but now we’re entering into a world where we’re going to become someone, not by being like God, being like him in the sense of doing what he does, but being with him and becoming something brand new.

So look at Jesus. He’s tempted by now not the highest form of our animal nature, but no, he is directly confronting evil. So it’s the devil that’s there, and he asks him three things. “Command these loaves to become bread, or jump off this tower to prove that God is there to help you.” Or again he says, “Why don’t you look at the world as it is and know that you could run the whole thing? You are so wise and so talented and so creative.” Think about that. Every one of them is a call to truth. It’s like a temptation not to be in tune with the way things really are. Jesus says, “The only thing I ever long for is the truth, the bread of God. God’s presence in me is my bread. It’s not something outside of me that makes me strong. It is my interior presence of God that offers me the insight into what the world is really like and who God is and who I am.” And then if you look at very much the second one, it’s so easy that he's saying, “Look, I don’t doubt in any way, shape or form that this is taking place. I have absolute trust that this process that I’m engaged in, no matter what it turns into or how it works. I’m going to believe that it’s the unfolding of what must be.” What an incredible decision for Jesus to make at the beginning of his ministry. “I want nothing but the truth. I want to live through whatever is happening to me and accept it, knowing it’s bringing me to truth.” And then at last, with that truth so much coursing through his veins as God’s Spirit courses through his whole body, he’s saying, “I am dedicated to a life not of being served the world, but I’m dedicated to a life of service. I want the truth. I want to trust. I want to be in service. I want human beings to be awakened to what you’ve awakened in me, and I’m living it. And I want to teach it.” And the most amazing thing about Jesus is he spoke less in words and more in who he was.

That’s our challenge during Lent, to be one, to resonate out of your heart that you are longing for truth. You’re longing for things to be understood in your heart, that they must be, and you are open and growing in your ability to serve. That’s our season, and that’s our work. Amen.

So in the first reading, from Zephaniah, there’s something there that struck me, and that is he says, “For those of you who observe a law, you can seek justice, seek humility.” And then he just says, “Perhaps God may not be angry with you.” The reason I say that is because, if you create a rigid system of laws and rules and you break one, you have this sense that God is angry, and God isn’t wanting a relationship like that with you. He doesn’t want you tiptoeing around and making sure you do every single thing right so that he doesn’t get angry, because he's not ⎯ that’s not his major longing with human beings. It’s not to be their corrector and their judge and their punisher. No, he wants them to be intimately engaged with him, and that intimate engagement is really fascinating, because it’s not just for us that he wants to be a part of our lives. But unless he’s a part of our lives, we will never be able to be what we need to be for other people. In other words, the gift that God’s presence brings to you and me, the capacity to love, to hea...