Scriptures: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Psalm 32, Romans
5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11
A song from Green Day popular a few
years ago begins as follows
“Another turning point a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don't ask why
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time
Time grabs you by the wrist directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don't ask why
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable but in the end
It's right I hope you've had the time of your life”[1]
It's right I hope you've had the time of your life”[1]
(Ending my little
karaoke moment now, and that was your weekly reminder why I don’t quit my day
job….) “Another turning point, a fork stuck
in the road”…..I’ve never actually seen a road with a fork sticking straight up
out of the asphalt, which is good, because I’d probably run over the fork and
end up beside the road changing my tire and cursing that fork and the person
who stuck it there. But we get the
point…we all encounter intersections, crossroads, turning points, where going
one way means not going another way, where pursuing one opportunity may close
off other opportunities.
This past Wednesday was
Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the 40-day season of self-examination and
repentance that leads up to Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. It’s a time of taking stock of our lives,
where we’ve been, where we are, where we’re going…..and whether we’re moving in
a direction that’s life-giving or not. We
can look on Lent as a time of spiritual spring cleaning….if we’ve sort of stuck
our faith off in a corner or up on a shelf somewhere, we can clear away any dust
and cobwebs that may have accumulated…..and sort of like taking out the trash, we
can give up any patterns of thought or behavior, bad habits and such, that may
be holding us back. For some, it’s a time
to give up something – chocolate, alcohol or such. For some, it’s a time to take on a new spiritual
practice or a new community outreach effort.
What I would say is, if giving up something or taking on something leads
us closer to Jesus, then it’s worthwhile for us. If it doesn’t, it isn’t.
The forty days of Lent,
of course, is connected to the forty days that Jesus spent in the
wilderness. Remember that this
wilderness time took place right after his baptism, right after John the
Baptist had led him into the waters of the Jordan River, right after Jesus had
gone down into the water and come up out of it, to see the Spirit come down on
him like a dove and a voice from heaven proclaim, “This is my Son, the Beloved,
with whom I am well pleased.”
After 40 days in the
wilderness without any food, the memories of that voice from heaven may have
faded a bit. Jesus was by himself, away
from everything and everyone familiar, in order to pray and to sort out what
God was calling him to do. After 40 days
without food, Jesus was obviously very hungry.
We’re told that the devil came and attempted three times to derail
Jesus’ ministry. The first attempt was
to suggest that Jesus turn the stones around him into bread – after all, Jesus
hadn’t eaten in 40 days, and what was the harm.
But had Jesus taken this route, he would have started down the road of
making his ministry first and foremost a means of meeting his own needs, rather
than serving others. It’s notable that
in order to feed others, he more than once multiplied loaves and fish. But for himself, not so much. Jesus told the devil, quoting Scripture, that
we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God.
The devil next quoted
Scripture to make what may seem to us an odd temptation – for Jesus to throw
himself off the top of the temple so that the angels would come and stop him
from falling. More broadly, this would
have started Jesus down the path of making his ministry about glitz and
showmanship. In my estimation, many of
the TV ministries and the megachurches have fallen for this temptation hook,
line, and sinker. Certainly, some people
may respond to lights and razzle-dazzle by making changes in their lives, even
by praying for Christ to come into their lives.
But what happens when the lights and the crowds are gone, and they
return to their daily lives. Is there
any substance there that will last, or did they just get caught up in a moment?
There are, after all, some people who make a sort of hobby of following the
revival circuit and going up to the altar to be saved over and over again. Certainly, if a ministry is focused on
offering more and better showmanship – and its followers require and demand
this – that ministry will eventually crash and burn. Jesus recognized this when he responded,
again by quoting Scripture, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”
The devil then gave
Jesus a vision of all the kingdoms of the world, and told Jesus that he would
give them all to Jesus, if Jesus would bow and worship him. Of course, this could potentially have led
rapidly to corruption – to quote the famous words of Lord Acton, “power
corrupts, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” Jesus again quoted
Scripture: “You shall worship only the
Lord and serve him only” – and that ended the conversation. Now, I have to say that much of the American
church has given itself completely over to this temptation, seeking political
power at the cost of its spiritual authority, in the end giving its blessing to
nearly any political leader, however amoral and corrupt, that fits its
preferred political agenda. They’ve sold
their spiritual birthright for a mess of political pottage. And they are paying and will continue to pay
a terrible price as they give coming generations one reason after another after
another to walk away from any and all churches, to pursue their spiritual or humanitarian
leanings outside the bounds of organized religion.
That’s not to say that
churches should ignore government policy – far from it. But it’s one thing for faith leaders to criticize
those in power and hold them accountable, as the Old Testament prophets did and
as Jesus did; quite another to seek to hold power themselves. From the time of Constantine through the
Middle Ages, when Popes could set kings up and tear them down, until today, the
mix of spiritual authority and political power has been a toxic brew. To use an analogy from the Lord of the Rings
series, the call of the church is not to wear the ring of oppressive power, or
to ignore it, but to destroy it.
Certainly, in Germany in the time of the Third Reich, many churches,
both Protestant and Catholic, supported Hitler and his brutal policies – thus
showing how utterly worthless their professions of faith were. They worshipped
God with their lips and Hitler in their hearts. Other churches kept their heads down and kept
quiet, going about the business of baptizing and marrying and burying,
preaching pious sermons and declaiming dogmas that offended nobody in power and
completely ignored the murder of millions.
Only a very few, Protestant and Catholic, took a stand against Hitler,
and many of those paid with their lives.
But these few were faithful – some of those few literally faithful unto
death.
Like Jesus, we will face
temptations – as individuals, as a church, as a nation. Like Jesus, we need to be able to sift
through the voices hear, to discern which are true and which are false, which
are leading us closer to God and which are leading us farther away. Fortunately, God has given us some tools –
prayer, and Scripture. During his time
in the wilderness – and throughout his whole ministry - Jesus prayed, and it
was by quoting Scripture that Jesus resisted the devil. Among other things, the Bible, Old and New
Testaments, is a record of decisions that God’s people have made through time –
some good, some awful. We don’t have to
re-invent the wheel. We can use the good
decisions and mistakes of the past – and their consequences - to help us make
decisions that lead to good consequences, not bad. As our reading from Deuteronomy from a few
weeks ago told us, “Choose life, that you may live.”
All of us are in the
process of becoming – becoming what God would have us be, or in our rebellion
becoming someone or something God never intended. And so, while I don’t see any need to obsess
over what color socks to wear or such, for any major decision, we should pray
about it and ask ourselves, “Is this leading me closer to God, or not? Is this leading me toward becoming a more
loving and caring person, or not? Is
this making me better able to serve God and neighbor, or not?” Certainly, one
of my besetting sins is gluttony – all you have to do is look at me to see that
I’m not an authority on fasting and that I miss very few meals, though perhaps
surprisingly I do miss some. But I
wasn’t always a glutton. I started out
life as a skinny kid, and up to about age 40 was fairly trim, but the last 15
years or so I’ve become more eager for seconds and less willing to push away
from the table…and with less exercise, my metabolism has slowed down....and
when I’m bored or stressed out, food can be a pacifier….and today here I am….and
my bad eating habits have certainly left my body with less energy for ministry,
have left me short of breath….have left me fatter, not fitter. And, of course it’s possible to eat less and
exercise more and lose weight…though it takes considerable effort. Infinitely better
not to become overweight in the first place. And alcoholics have described the addiction
process as “a man takes a drink, a drink takes a drink, a drink takes a man.” And so as individuals, as a church, as a
nation, we should all evaluate our words and actions, our procedures and
policies, not only for their impact in the moment, but for where they may lead
us down the road. As a church….if we
only stay within our comfort zones and minister to the families who are already
here, eventually from age and illness and eventually death they will be here no
longer – we can no longer count on their children and grandchildren to keep the
church afloat. Only by stretching
ourselves to help and serve and invite new people can we as a congregation hope
to have a future. Our life as a
congregation is bound up with the lives of our neighbors by our ability to work
in God’s name to change other lives for the better. And as a country… As we read stories of
Jewish cemeteries being vandalized, with hundreds of headstones topped; as we
read stories of mosques being burned, as we read stories of people who have
been in this country for decades suddenly getting a knock at the door, in a
moment being ripped from their families and communities and deported, we need
to ask ourselves where all of this is leading….lest we end up like the person
who asks the question, “how did I end up here, and why am I in this
handbasket.”
Actions have
consequences. All of us are in the
process of becoming, and what we become will be the result of our decisions at
a lifetime of turning points. By God’s
grace, may we become the persons God is calling us to be, and by God’s grace,
may we be used by God to help those around us become what God is calling them
to be. Amen.
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