Church of the Good Shepherd
3700 Rutherford Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17111-1997
The Reverend Kester T. Sobers, III, Pastor
First Sunday in Lent
2002
2002
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
In the old days the Synod's Candidacy Committee was known as "The Examining Committee." It sounds pretty awful, doesn't it. Kind of clinical. Sort of like "put on this gown and get up on the table." Barbara Taylor Brown in her book Bread of Angels has a chapter entitled "The Wilderness Exam." She comments, as I'm sure every person who has ever preached on this text has, on how quickly Jesus, with his hair still wet from baptism, is whisked from the river to the desert to see just how the beloved Son of God would behave. Candidates for ministry in our tradition at least are put through some pretty dreadful moments, but after ordination all is forgiven, there are hugs and handshakes all around. In Jesus' case, the "exam" seems to come after the ordination. The same dove that fluttered around as the voice of God boomed God's approval at the river now turns into a kind of turkey buzzard leading the only child of God into forty days and nights of pure hell.
It almost seems reminiscent of the Book of Job, with God and the Devil in some kind of collusion. "Now look here, Satan, I want to check the boy out; see how he will do. How about your administering the testing for me." I thought about the times that I have had orthopedic surgery and the kindness of and comforting care given by the nurses during the post-operative period. Then they turn you over to the physical therapy department where there is no mercy!
In her book, Barbara Taylor Brown talks about spending some time in the desert herself and what an awful experience it was. I recalled a time some years ago now when I was attending a church meeting in Arizona. We had free time on Sunday afternoon and after Eucharist and breakfast, my friend Pastor Miller and I ventured out into the desert. Now, you know my sense of direction anyway, but I can tell you that one part of the desert looks pretty much like every other part of the desert. Pastor Miller is far more adventuresome than I am and he had the bright idea to travel off the road for a bit. I can tell you that there was nothing spiritual about it, and the only sound I remember is my voice pleading with Pastor Miller to get us back on the road! I can only imagine our Lord after forty days and forty nights. I had had enough after forty minutes! You remember very quickly that you are dust, and how easily you could return to it!
Temptation is a strange and awful thing. It's much more subtle than being tempted by chocolate when you've given it up for Lent. It's much more insidious than being tempted to stray from marriage vows ans baptismal promises. Real temptation that we read and hear about each year on the First Sunday of Lent is the kind that led our mother Eve to bring Adam into the family "rebellion business" and so on and so on to this very day. It's the dynamic that makes us question who God is and what is our relationship with this one whom we acknowledge to be the Lord. Jesus had heard the voice. So had everyone else. The heavens had opened, the dove had descended. Talk about a CALL. Talk about affirmation. And now this kind of treatment. It goes so far beyond the conversation we all know by heart between Jesus and the devil. If Jesus is not asking the question, we might be asking it for him. If he is the son of God, why is he being treated this way? If you are sick, if you are poor, if you have lost your job and your pension, if you had stock in Enron (or Tyco!), if you have just been diagnosed with a terminal disease, how can you still love this God? It's like the born again people with the painted smiles on their faces. Everything is going so well, they are prospering, their kids do all the right things, their wives are obedient and know who the head of the house is, they tithe so God is doing his part. And then something goes wrong, a piece of the perfect puzzle picture is lost, the blush is off the peach, and the paint begins to crack on the perpetual smile!
Jesus shows us how to be fully human. He will not seize power, he turns it down. He won't practice magic, ask for special protection, or seek political power. Jesus teaches us that there is more to life and living it abundantly than being turned in on ourselves. A full belly and claiming our fifteen minutes of fame is fleeting indeed compared to baptism into the life, death, and resurrection of the One who has claimed us forever.
Watching Jesus today is the only way for us to know what it means to be the Son of God and what it means for us to be his sisters and brothers. If someone tells you that you shouldn't suffer so or you think your kids should have turned out better, or your stocks should be doing better, or you should smile more if you are really a Christian, name that voice for what it is and to whom it belongs: "Away with you Satan!" But, the next voice you hear will be, "You are my beloved child. With you I am well pleased." Thanks be to God.
--K.T.S.
February 17, 2002
February 17, 2002
First Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
Spiritual Growth & Resources