It’s Tempting (Lent 2)

Deuteronomy 26: 1-11 & Luke 4: 1-13

Roger Lynn

February 25, 2018

2nd Sunday in Lent

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

(the video for the entire worship service is unavailable this week)

We now find ourselves in the season of the Church year known as Lent. It is a different kind of time. The striking purple color of this season reminds us that something dramatic is being considered. It is a time for reflection and growth as we journey towards the center of life. The path of this journey is not always easy. There are dark shadows and painful realities along the way. But the lesson of this season is that we are never alone on this journey and whatever darkness we encounter as we travel is never the final word. We go towards God. We go with God. We are surrounded by God in every moment. This is a season for us to seek again the path which opens us to God and leads us to life. An image from St. Catherine of Siena puts it this way: “All the way to heaven is heaven.” Lent is not a journey through hell that eventually leads us to heaven. Lent is an exercise in remembering that heaven is being fully in the presence of God, and therefore heaven begins right here, right now, and we connect with that reality when we orient our lives towards the center. 

Unfortunately, a part of the human condition is the temptation to believe that we are the center and we don’t need anyone or anything else in order to experience the fullness of life. The problem, of course, is that we don’t have the capacity to sustain such a belief. It’s not that we are bad, or wicked, or evil. It’s not that we are worthless or helpless or stupid. It’s simply that we are finite. At some point our human limitations will catch up with us and we will be disappointed. But somehow we keep falling into that trap anyway. It’s so easy. We know about us. We can see us and touch us and feel us. We know we’re here. At the same time God is a bit more difficult to get a grip on. God is not so easy to see and touch and feel. It is easier to lose track of God’s presence. So of course we think the world centers around us. Of course life is about what we want. Of course it’s all about what we can and cannot do. That’s what makes it tempting – it’s attractive and it makes a certain kind of sense. The only problem is, it just doesn’t work. At least not over the long run. Eventually we find ourselves faced with the reality that we can’t know enough or do enough to continue giving life all the meaning and purpose and direction we need and desire. Eventually we have to admit that we need something more than we have the capacity to provide.

So what do we do? How do we find our way back to the path when we have strayed off course? And how do we keep from straying off course in the first place? How do we resist the temptation of thinking that the universe revolves around us? Well, we might begin by recognizing that we are not alone in facing such a temptation. And we need not be alone in seeking to find another path. As far back as anyone can remember, people have been facing this challenge. And as far back as anyone can remember, people have been coming up with strategies for meeting the challenge. We can draw on those resources. We can align ourselves with the great community of those down through the years who seek to orient their lives towards God. We can remember that we are, in fact, already a part of a community of faith, right here and now, where we can support each other and encourage each other as together we seek the path towards the center of life.

As far back as Moses and the people of Israel we find examples of this challenge being faced. In our reading from Deuteronomy Moses is preparing them for the time when their wandering will cease and they will enter a land where they can settle down. He knows that in such circumstances it will soon be easy to fall into the trap of forgetting about God. They will have worked hard on the crops and then they will bring in the harvest. They will have shelter and security and abundance. It will be easy to focus on what they can see and forget about the One who stands behind those circumstances. So Moses gives them a strategy for remembering. When the harvest comes in, he tells them, set aside the first and the best of the crops. Take them to the temple and have a party – a big, blow-out, celebration feast of a party. But it is vitally important to pay attention to the guest list for this party. At the top of the list, God needs to be invited as guest of honor. It is, in fact, God who makes the party possible, so it is essential that God be included. This can be accomplished, Moses tells the people, in a couple of ways. First of all, go to God’s house to have the party. Go to the place which has come to be associated most directly and most completely with God. It’s not that God can only be found there, but there are places where it is easier for us to remember that God is present. And then, as the party begins, tell your story. Tell the story of where you have come from and how you got here and the ways in which God has been with you all along the way. When you start throwing this kind of party, then you will stand a better chance of remembering God. And it is also important to pay attention to another part of the guest list. In addition to God and all of the folks you always invite to parties anyway, it is of the utmost importance that “the stranger” be included. It is one more way of remembering that we are not the center of the universe. Ultimately it is God’s party and while we have been most cordially invited, we are not the only guests. God’s bounty is so abundant that there need not be any limits placed on who gets included. Come one, come all. Just remember to thank the host. And so it was that Moses helped the people to remember to keep God at the center of their lives.

The story of Jesus’ temptations is, on the surface, a very different sort of story. But a connection can be found when we look beneath the surface to what lies at the heart of the choices he faces. In each case, the temptation is to put himself at the center, to the exclusion of God. They all sound very reasonable – food, authority to accomplish good things, staying safe. But there is a fine line between gratefully receiving the gifts which God gives us, and thinking we can produce them on our own. In fact, the temptation is not really centered in the action (making bread, claiming power over the nations, claiming divine protection). The temptation can be found in leaving God out of the formula. We begin to stray from the path which leads us to the center whenever we start thinking we can get there on our own. Every time he finds himself faced with such a choice, Jesus responds by consciously and deliberately turning towards God. He remembers to trust that God already desires good things for his life. He remembers to maintain the relationship which he has already been nurturing. He draws on the resources of those who came before him as he reminds himself of places in the scriptures where such choices were faced by others. In short, he remembers that his greatest strength is the fact that he is not alone and doesn’t need to do everything by himself.

And so it is that we face similar challenges. Whether in good times and abundance, or in dark times and despair, the temptation is to push ahead and struggle through by sheer determination and will power. And in every case, we would do well to remember that our greatest strength is found in the fact that the world does not center around us. We don’t have to carry that weight. In moments of celebration and moments of sorrow, we are most fully ourselves when we open ourselves to God’s presence. We can do this by drawing on the resources of those who have gone before us. Or by staying connected with those around us in this moment. Or by practicing the rituals of our faith tradition or developing new rituals which speak to where we are and the ways we need to be reminded of God. Or by remembering to pray, not just at meal time, or at bed time, but at odd and random times throughout the day, and particular in those times when we are faced with difficult choices.

It’s tempting to believe the world revolves around us. But when we find ways to resist that temptation we begin to discover that life is, in fact, far richer and fuller than we could ever accomplish or sustain on our own. Together let us seek to walk the path which leads us to the center of life. Together let us remember to open ourselves to the light of God.