Beloved,
Temptation
By
Griff Martin
On
Luke 4:1-13 and Romans 10:8-13
For
the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith
On
the First Sunday of Lent
March
10, 2019
Incarnate
and Resurrected God, we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it
into a living and breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us
aware of your presence here in this space and in these words, God, for if we
are present to you then nothing else will matter, but if we are not present to
you then nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and
the Comforter. Amen.
Welcome
to the first Sunday of Lent: the journey we began together this past Wednesday
evening as a community with Ash Wednesday. I personally think Lent has a very
poor reputation, largely based on this concept of “you need to give something
up that you really love to prove you are a good Christian” mindset. It seems a
bit holier than thou; a bit pious.
During
our service Wednesday evening I tried to paint a new picture of Lent as a
season of preparation. I tried to compare it to the garden and how as we all
know that spring is getting closer and closer, which means that the time to
plant is now. It’s time to do the work of weeding, removing the fallen leaves,
edging, pruning and fertilizing so that all the bulbs you have already planted
last winter and the perennials you planted four springs ago and the new plants
you are going to plant this spring will all take root and give you a glorious
garden worthy of Yard of the Month.
Lent,
which literally means spring, is doing all that same work in our hearts:
weeding, removing, pruning, edging and fertilizing. Lent is preparing our very
souls so that Jesus Christ can resurrect in us this spring. It’s not a season
of abstinence, it’s a period of preparation so that we can fully celebrate the
Easter miracle – a season of groundwork so that God can resurrect in us this
year.
It’s
some of the most important work that we do all year as a faith community. A
rhythm we find ourselves in year after year after year. And we start the first
Sunday of Lent the same way each year, the temptations of Jesus with these
words: “From the Jordan River,”
Jesus
is still dripping wet from his baptism, fingers a bit prune-y, feet still
covered in the mud from the bottom of the river, still with the words of God
ringing in his ears: Tthis is my beloved son,” and the claws of the dove still
marked on his damp shoulders, the very breath of God still filling his lungs,
and up from the river he walks straight into the desert.
It
tempts me to change our baptismal words, “Buried with Christ in baptism and
raised to walk in a new manner of life,” instead to “Buried with Christ in
baptism and raised straight to walk into the temptations of the wild world.”
Which is actually nicer than Scripture, which begins, “Jesus was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness.”
It’s
one of the harder truths we face today: The Spirit leads Jesus straight out
into the wilderness. It’s about as opposite Psalm 23 as one can get, “lead me
beside still waters.” These are not still waters. In fact, there is no water at
all. This wilderness is a place of rocky cliffs, little vegetation, long, hard,
hot days and cold nights, extremes, it’s home of wild beasts and demons and
predators and evil spirits. The word for wilderness is toou, the place “beyond the safety of the Nile, where divine mercy
alone must suffice.”
And
this is what follows Jesus’ baptism, a trip to the wilderness. And it’s here
that Jesus spends 40 days, alone and fasting. And at the end of those 40 days
is when the temptations come: Jesus is lonely, Jesus is tired, Jesus is hungry,
Jesus is weak, Jesus is vulnerable and then comes the tempter. Perfect
timing.
And
the temptations begin then. Now, the second hard truth we need to face is the
truth of these temptations. I think sometimes at the beginning of Lent we can
get these temptations and our Lenten disciplines mixed up. Jesus’ temptations
are not to do something that is desirable but not good for you – it’s not to
eat an extra piece of chocolate cake, or have a double cheeseburger with a cold
beer, or watch something a big risqué on HBO. Those are not temptations, those
are simply “is this good for you or bad for you” decisions. You choose right,
and you live better. You choose wrong, and you pay the consequences. These
temptations that Jesus faces are good things, even right things, but things
that distract from the will of God. That is the truest temptation, that which
distracts you from the will of God. It’s about directions: Temptations take you
not towards something, but away from something – away from the will
of God.
And
these are real. There is a lot of horrible theology about Jesus and how his
sinless nature mandates that he can’t be tempted, how we love a Snow-White
Jesus. But the truth is, Jesus is tempted. And for it to be a temptation, there
has to exist the possibility that Jesus might give in. If Jesus can’t give in,
then it’s not a real test. It’s why Martin Scorsese might understand Jesus
better than a lot of our picture bibles.
And
these are difficult tests; almost impossible, when you think about it.
IF
you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Jesus is hungry, so of
course the temptation is for a loaf of bread, food that immediately you can
smell and see and taste. Thinking about the smell of freshly-baked bread coming
out of the oven makes our mouths water, and none of us have been fasting for 40
days. And then, think of what divine magic this could be, there are stones
everywhere in the dessert. Imagine if Jesus turned those stones into sustenance.
The world’s hunger problems are done, that seems like a good thing. Who would
argue against a solution that feeds the world and ends our hunger
problem?
“One
does not live by bread alone.”
IF
you are the son of God, I will give you every kingdom of this world if you
would just bow down and worship me. Jesus is lonely, so of course the
temptation is about power and connection and influence. And again, think of
what this could be for Jesus. If he is the power source of every kingdom, all
glory and all authority, well then, Jesus can bring about the Kingdom of God
through political rule. That seems like a good thing, right? Who would argue
against the entire world following the politics of Jesus? That would seem to be
the reign on the Kingdom of God here on Earth – or at least, an understanding
of such.
“Worship
the Lord your God and serve God only.”
IF
you are the son of God, then throw yourself from this high place and let’s see
if God’s angels will catch you like it is promised. It’s a promise of
protection, of divine guidance, to remind Jesus that God will catch him – a
lesson he is going to need over and over in his life. This lesson would seem to
offer the much needed protection.
“Do
not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Three
temptations…. Or are they three? A lot of ink has been written about these
temptations, but I think they are all the same. “IF you are the Son of God….”
If you are who God has claimed you are, IF you are who God has named you, IF
you are the beloved, IF you are the loved one, IF you are who God says you
are.
Isn’t
that what every temptation starts with: IF you are…. Every temptation we face
asks us who and whose we are. It’s a battle I know very well.
A
few months ago, Abby was watching me get dressed (this is originally how I
planned to start the sermon until Abby told me not to start the sermon on
temptations with her watching me get dressed). She stood there and finally she
said, “What are you doing?” I told her I was choosing my clothes for the day,
and then I began to go through the process by which I pick my clothing.
It
was a day that I was going to be dropping the kids off at school, so I would
see other parents. I had a morning to work on the sermon, and I was then
going to have lunch with a friend somewhere quick and easy followed by a
meeting with one of you who works in a pretty important job downtown, followed
by coffee with one of our younger members who works an important job but
dresses like you work at home, and then a deacon meeting. Which meant I was
trying to find a way to dress to impress parents at the elementary school, a
friend, a professional business person who wears a suit, a professional hipster
and then the deacon body. So, choosing my outfit was mental gymnastics.
I
tried to explain this to Abby, “I think about who I am going to see that day
and then I think about what outfit would impress them, what they would like,
and I dress accordingly.” She looked at me really confused and she said,
“You do that every day?”
“Yeah,
don’t you?”
Abby
then informed me this is not how normal people get dressed in the morning,
which really was news to me. She told me that she chooses her outfit every day
based on what is comfortable and what she has to do that day, and ultimately,
what she desires to wear that day. This was revolutionary to me – to dress not to
impress people, but to dress from who I was and am.
And
First Austin, we have our outfits, our baptismal robes. I think a huge
theological key to this story is the baptismal waters.
I
have been baptized a lot. I was baptized as a child, later as a youth, and then
throughout seminary I kept finding myself as the baptismal candidate for folks
who were learning to baptize in a Ministerial Leadership seminar (an odd place
to put it). I was asked to be the test case. I always thought it was a
compliment, but recently someone asked if maybe I just looked like the type of
person who needed to be baptized again.
I
thought those days were long behind me, until last week when Carrie needed to
practice baptism and I found myself volunteering to be her test case. I thought
it was a good idea until last Tuesday afternoon when I stepped in the water and
discovered that the heater had not been turned on and the water was ice cold. I
let out a bunch of words that made me the ideal baptismal candidate.
It
was a very quick tutorial on baptisms – two practices and then I had to get out
before I lost feeling in my entire body. I spent the rest of the day feeling
that baptism; I could not get warm, no matter what I put on or how many heaters
I used in my office. The baptism in cold water stuck with me.
Which
might be exactly what baptism is supposed to do.
To
cling to us so that we don’t forget who we are and whose we are, to be defined
by this event so that it does not matter what temptations come our way, we know
who we are, so that we are clothed in Christ and not dressing to impress anyone
else.
To
know that we belong to Christ, and that is all that matters.
That
every other IF that comes along from the world, the IFs of popularity,
financial success, strength, ego…. that these are all the same. They are all
the voice of fear showing up in a myriad of ways to try and see if we really
belong to who we say we belong to, or if we know better, if we know who we are.
You
want to know how to identify temptation – it’s simple. It’s going to begin with
this phrase: “if you are the beloved child of God.” All temptations call our
true identity into question.
God
says, “You are my beloved, you have all you need.” And then the voices say,
“you will have all you need IF you have this car, this pair of jeans, these
shoes, these sunglasses, these golf clubs, that South By wristband.”
God
says, “You are my beloved, beautiful and perfectly made.” And then the voices
begin… “Beautiful, sure, IF you lost ten pounds before swimsuit season begins.”
Or, “Perfectly made, IF you can make yourself look ten years younger.” Or,
“Sure beautiful, IF you wear the right makeup that hides the wrinkles, and IF I
have the right haircut that hides my bald spot.”
God
says, “You are my beloved, and that is all that matters.” And then the world
says, “Well what about what everyone else thinks about you? What about how your
friends think about you? Your in-laws? Your neighbors? The people who sit
around you in church?”
God
says, “You are my beloved and that is the only name you know.” And then
something in our own souls says, “Wait, what about making a name for myself?
Isn’t that what this is all about?”
God
says, “Beloved.” And everything around us and within us says… power, wealth,
knowledge, security, beauty, youth, popularity, relevance, and prestige.
Temptation
begins with anything that wants to change, challenge, or add to the name that
God gave us: Beloved. Because Beloved
is our true name, and God did not give us an option to hyphenate it with
another name. And trust me, I have tried. I know this from experience.
Martin
Luther, one of our church forefathers and a really important name in church
theology, a man whose faith greatly impacted our faith. One of Luther’s
greatest gifts was translating the Greek Bible into German so that the average
person could sit and read Scripture, and easily relate to and read the voice of
God, the words of God. Obviously not everyone wanted this done, and not
everyone was a fan of this work. So on top of the ever difficult work of
translating Greek to everyday language, he was also dealing with very real
discouragement. Luther told friends that he was dealing with the devil in terms
of doubt and discouragement, and then he came up with a solution. Any time
those things surfaced – anything that brought doubt or discouragement or
questioned his calling and identity – Luther would throw his inkpot at this
invisible tormentor and scream, “I am baptized.”
He
did not scream “I was baptized,” but,
“I am baptized.” He was claiming his
name: “I am the Beloved child of God.”
The
baptism is an interesting exercise in faith because it is something we
experience, that happens to us. And then we are asked not to believe it, but to
behold it. Beloved, this is yours to hold onto… to hang everything on… to put
it all here… to let this define you and nothing else. Because everything else
in the world is trying to name you as something else, and there is only one
name that matters.
Beloved,
as we enter this Lenten season, may we know who we are: Beloved children of
God. Because who we are and whose we are is everything. Amen and Amen.
*artwork: Lent 1 -- Where the Breath Begins, Painting by Jan Richardson, janrichardsonimages.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment