The First Sunday of Lent -- March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1 - 11
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This temptation sequence is the account on which the season of Lent is built. The 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness undergoing temptings and testings are mirrored in our Lenten journeys as we spend these 40 days giving directed attention to our connection with God.
Specifically, the time of testing in the wilderness for Jesus had to do with his core personhood, with who he was in his innermost being. The context of the scene is everything: It immediately followed Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer. In that baptism, God spoke into Jesus: “This is my son whom I love. In him I am well pleased.”
In short, God spoke into Jesus the Divine love which was not conditioned on anything Jesus had done to this point. Jesus’ ministry was just beginning, so he hadn’t yet done anything to earn or deserve God’s love. God simply loved him generously and extravagantly. His identity was Holy Love.
Then, in the temptation sequence, Jesus would hear another voice, a voice that would try to sway him away from his authentic personhood. That voice invited Jesus to good things. The temptations were not lures to blatant evil, but they also were not the things for which Jesus had come. They were not consistent with his innermost life with God. They were lures to trade in his identity for a new identity, one that might include fame and adulation, and one in which he would be squarely at the center of life. Jesus refused.
I believe that the most insidious temptations for any of us are not those invitations to blatant evil or huge moral compromise. The most damaging voices we hear are those which tempt us away from our personhood, away from who we were created to be, away from our core identity. Those temptations come for most of us, not in grandiose, wilderness-kinds of ways, but subtly and daily.
Lent is a time to notice those other voices which call to us, to learn how they snag us, and to reaffirm our commitment to the Voice that calls us “Beloved.”
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This temptation sequence is the account on which the season of Lent is built. The 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness undergoing temptings and testings are mirrored in our Lenten journeys as we spend these 40 days giving directed attention to our connection with God.
Specifically, the time of testing in the wilderness for Jesus had to do with his core personhood, with who he was in his innermost being. The context of the scene is everything: It immediately followed Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer. In that baptism, God spoke into Jesus: “This is my son whom I love. In him I am well pleased.”
In short, God spoke into Jesus the Divine love which was not conditioned on anything Jesus had done to this point. Jesus’ ministry was just beginning, so he hadn’t yet done anything to earn or deserve God’s love. God simply loved him generously and extravagantly. His identity was Holy Love.
Then, in the temptation sequence, Jesus would hear another voice, a voice that would try to sway him away from his authentic personhood. That voice invited Jesus to good things. The temptations were not lures to blatant evil, but they also were not the things for which Jesus had come. They were not consistent with his innermost life with God. They were lures to trade in his identity for a new identity, one that might include fame and adulation, and one in which he would be squarely at the center of life. Jesus refused.
I believe that the most insidious temptations for any of us are not those invitations to blatant evil or huge moral compromise. The most damaging voices we hear are those which tempt us away from our personhood, away from who we were created to be, away from our core identity. Those temptations come for most of us, not in grandiose, wilderness-kinds of ways, but subtly and daily.
Lent is a time to notice those other voices which call to us, to learn how they snag us, and to reaffirm our commitment to the Voice that calls us “Beloved.”
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