I’m in a “Words with Friends” duel with my sister, and when I got home from church Sunday, I found it was my turn. And what do you know? The best word I could make happened to be “reborn!”
“Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born anew.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
Maybe Jesus is being frustratingly figurative – and Nicodemus unnecessarily literal in his question about re-entering the womb. It does, though, prompt Jesus to clarify what he means by “born anew,” or “born from above” (the Greek allows either). He is saying that physical birth – our mere humanness – does not equip us to see nor “enter” the kingdom of God. We must be born of water and Spirit.
Water hints at baptism – John’s Gospel was likely the latest written, when baptism as a Christian ritual would already have been well established. His is the only gospel to mention Jesus baptizing anyone. And, of course, water, or fluid, is an integral part of physical birth as well – that’s partly why it is such a potent symbol of new birth for Christians, because every human comes into being in a bath of amniotic fluid. It is life outside the water, post-birth, that is the real shock.
But what does it mean to be born of Spirit? Well, even before Jesus came on the scene, John the Baptist is heard to say, “I baptize you with water; one is coming whose sandals I am unworthy to tie – he will baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.” The idea of being “baptized” with the Holy Spirit suggests being bathed, immersed, drenched in the power and presence and peace of the Spirit of God. It implies spiritual purification and transformation so complete, it’s like a new birth. In fact, we claim a new creation does result from that union of Christ’s Spirit with ours in baptism.
Does your head hurt yet? Don’t worry – this conversation gets more confusing. Today let’s try to wrap our minds around the idea being born anew or born from above. One thing that occurs to me is this: no one can get themselves born – being born is something that happens to us. It is someone else’s work. We can’t even really resist the birth process – it happens, ready or not. The only difference with spiritual birth is, we get to say “yes.”
Have you ever had an experience of the Holy Spirit that you could feel? A sense of filling, or being surrounded with love? Sometimes there are manifestations like tingling, or our hands getting hot, or even weeping. Sometimes we feel our spirits want to praise and thank God. If you would like to know that aspect of God, simply ask the Spirit to come. “Come, Holy Spirit, I’m open…“ will do just fine. Or ask someone else to pray for you to be filled with the Spirit. And don’t worry if you do or do not feel anything – sometimes we know the Spirit’s been with us later, by the fruits that result from that encounter.
Our physical birth was one event. Long, short, easy or challenging, it was eventually done and we were born. Our spiritual birth lasts a lifetime. In some ways, what we are doing all our lives in this world is being born anew, being prepared for life in that Life where there is no death, only life and more life.
3-10-14 - These Signs
This Lent, our Sunday passages are from the Gospel of John, richly drawn encounters several people have with Jesus. The passages are lengthy and told elliptically in John’s sometimes tortured style, and can be hard to follow. They’re worth the work; I will do my best to highlight themes in them.
This week’s concerns a meeting between Jesus and an important Jewish leader named Nicodemus:
“Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’”
Many assume Nicodemus came by night because he wasn’t ready to be seen publicly talking with this controversial miracle-worker. It’s clear, though, that Jesus’ miracles have gotten his attention: “For no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” That is one reason miracles are referred to as “signs” in John’s Gospel; they are demonstrations of how things work in the Life of God, signs pointing beyond themselves to the power that animates them. Water into wine, sight to the blind – these transformations have a purpose beyond the immediate needs they address.
So does the church, meant to be the Body of Christ made visible in the world. What we are about is more than meeting needs. We are to be making known, showing forth the Life of God that is around us and in us. Our mission is to reveal the spiritual reality of God as we go about God’s mission of restoration and wholeness. So what we do always has a purpose beyond the short-term good.
In what ways do you make known the spiritual reality of God-Life in your own life and ministry? When have you last experienced that spiritual reality, even in ways that appear miraculous - maybe in timing that seems suspiciously God-driven, or with unexpected answers to prayer, or urges to reach out to another person in a way that bears fruit?
If you have answers to those questions, note them, give thanks, and explore why you may have been open to manifesting or discerning that God-Life. What are the optimal conditions for you?
If you found yourself unable to answer, there in itself is a question to explore – might you be more open to the mysterious, the movement of spirit? Might “religion” be getting in the way of “relationship” with the Holy, the transcendent?
Jesus answers Nicodemus’ opening statement with a comment that puzzles: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Whatever else “born from above” means, at the very least it is being able to discern a reality not immediately apparent to our physical sight. That might be a good prayer for today, “Open our eyes, Lord, to see your hand at work in the world around us.” Tell me what you see.
This week’s concerns a meeting between Jesus and an important Jewish leader named Nicodemus:
“Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’”
Many assume Nicodemus came by night because he wasn’t ready to be seen publicly talking with this controversial miracle-worker. It’s clear, though, that Jesus’ miracles have gotten his attention: “For no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” That is one reason miracles are referred to as “signs” in John’s Gospel; they are demonstrations of how things work in the Life of God, signs pointing beyond themselves to the power that animates them. Water into wine, sight to the blind – these transformations have a purpose beyond the immediate needs they address.
So does the church, meant to be the Body of Christ made visible in the world. What we are about is more than meeting needs. We are to be making known, showing forth the Life of God that is around us and in us. Our mission is to reveal the spiritual reality of God as we go about God’s mission of restoration and wholeness. So what we do always has a purpose beyond the short-term good.
In what ways do you make known the spiritual reality of God-Life in your own life and ministry? When have you last experienced that spiritual reality, even in ways that appear miraculous - maybe in timing that seems suspiciously God-driven, or with unexpected answers to prayer, or urges to reach out to another person in a way that bears fruit?
If you have answers to those questions, note them, give thanks, and explore why you may have been open to manifesting or discerning that God-Life. What are the optimal conditions for you?
If you found yourself unable to answer, there in itself is a question to explore – might you be more open to the mysterious, the movement of spirit? Might “religion” be getting in the way of “relationship” with the Holy, the transcendent?
Jesus answers Nicodemus’ opening statement with a comment that puzzles: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Whatever else “born from above” means, at the very least it is being able to discern a reality not immediately apparent to our physical sight. That might be a good prayer for today, “Open our eyes, Lord, to see your hand at work in the world around us.” Tell me what you see.
3-7-14 - Devil May Care
“Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”
There’s nothing like getting to the finish line, is there? Whether we’re running a race or finishing chemo or turning in a final paper – to suddenly have the pressure lifted, know we’ve survived, be able to let down our guard, rest, recharge – it’s a wonderful feeling. So Jesus comes to the end of his trial period, knowing he’s prevailed. Matthew says angels came and waited upon him.
The reference to angels reminds us what level of cosmic entity we’re dealing with when we talk about the devil. The New Testament is unequivocal about the existence of the devil, as was the early church, as are our Episcopal baptismal rites. But the Christian tradition never considered the devil is God’s equal – he is among a sub-order of angelic beings. The devil is talked about in the Bible as a fallen angel, who turned against God in pride and rebellion. He is described as a tempter who is always seeking to draw humans away from God, as the Accuser and the Father of Lies.
Early Christian thinkers held that evil is the absence of good – evil is what you get where God is not. And the source of evil, in the Christian worldview, is the devil, or Satan. C.S. Lewis once said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” Martin Luther likewise had a strategy, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.” (He also said, “The best thing you can do is rap the Devil on the nose at the very start. Act like that man who, whenever his wife began to nag and snap at him, drew out his flute from under his belt and played merrily until she was exhausted and let him alone.”)
Because our story tells us that Christ has overcome the devil, we don’t have to be afraid. We want to be alert and wary about one who seeks to corrupt and harm us, but not so much that we give him attention we’re better off directing to God. As with a poisonous spider, you want to avoid its bite, but also know how to deal with its venom. And we have been given the antidote – the love and forgiveness of the Father; the comfort and advocacy of the Holy Spirit; the power of Christ in us.
In prayer today, we might simply thank God for providing us protection from this ancient enemy. If you ever feel threatened, you can pray your way through Ephesians 6, putting on the full armor of God. It was always God’s fight, not ours, and Jesus has won it. As Luther also wrote, in the great hymn A Mighty Fortress:
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear for God has willed his his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; One little Word shall fell him.
That Word is Jesus, the name that frightened demons back to hell. It is the only defense we need, whenever we feel ourselves under spiritual attack. The name of Jesus, who lives in us. He's still winning.
There’s nothing like getting to the finish line, is there? Whether we’re running a race or finishing chemo or turning in a final paper – to suddenly have the pressure lifted, know we’ve survived, be able to let down our guard, rest, recharge – it’s a wonderful feeling. So Jesus comes to the end of his trial period, knowing he’s prevailed. Matthew says angels came and waited upon him.
The reference to angels reminds us what level of cosmic entity we’re dealing with when we talk about the devil. The New Testament is unequivocal about the existence of the devil, as was the early church, as are our Episcopal baptismal rites. But the Christian tradition never considered the devil is God’s equal – he is among a sub-order of angelic beings. The devil is talked about in the Bible as a fallen angel, who turned against God in pride and rebellion. He is described as a tempter who is always seeking to draw humans away from God, as the Accuser and the Father of Lies.
Early Christian thinkers held that evil is the absence of good – evil is what you get where God is not. And the source of evil, in the Christian worldview, is the devil, or Satan. C.S. Lewis once said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” Martin Luther likewise had a strategy, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.” (He also said, “The best thing you can do is rap the Devil on the nose at the very start. Act like that man who, whenever his wife began to nag and snap at him, drew out his flute from under his belt and played merrily until she was exhausted and let him alone.”)
Because our story tells us that Christ has overcome the devil, we don’t have to be afraid. We want to be alert and wary about one who seeks to corrupt and harm us, but not so much that we give him attention we’re better off directing to God. As with a poisonous spider, you want to avoid its bite, but also know how to deal with its venom. And we have been given the antidote – the love and forgiveness of the Father; the comfort and advocacy of the Holy Spirit; the power of Christ in us.
In prayer today, we might simply thank God for providing us protection from this ancient enemy. If you ever feel threatened, you can pray your way through Ephesians 6, putting on the full armor of God. It was always God’s fight, not ours, and Jesus has won it. As Luther also wrote, in the great hymn A Mighty Fortress:
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear for God has willed his his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; One little Word shall fell him.
That Word is Jesus, the name that frightened demons back to hell. It is the only defense we need, whenever we feel ourselves under spiritual attack. The name of Jesus, who lives in us. He's still winning.
3-6-14 - Power
Who has more real power – the emperor or the counselor? The president or the chief of staff? The CEO or the COO? In the third temptation, the devil is willing to put Jesus in charge of all the kingdoms of the world – as long as he acknowledges him as the real power behind the scenes: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
This always struck me as a really dumb temptation – didn’t the devil know that Jesus had no interest in temporal power? Of course, this Jesus, in whom more divine power resided than the world had ever seen in a human being, was even less interested than most in world domination. He cared more about demonstrating the power to be gained in giving away your prerogatives and your life.
There are at least three ways to wield power – there’s “power over,” when we have dominion over others, and we use it to control them. There’s “power under,” the indirect form of power taken by those who use their sacrifices and victimhood to try to control others. And then there’s the kind of power Jesus wielded, what I would call “power with.” This comes from a true sense of who we are joined with an awareness of the power of God alive in us, so that we can use power in a way that empowers others to do the same.
As we read the Gospels, we see Jesus constantly empowering people who had been robbed of power, whether by the Romans, by the religious authorities, by illness or prejudice or poverty. This was ultimately what made him such a threat to those who thought they had power over him. It’s what made him such a threat to the Evil One – because Jesus is still alive, still in the business of empowering us. And empowered, we can resist evil.
When you look at your life, what kind of power is most often at play in your relationships, in your work, in your health? Are there things and people you’d like to dominate?
Are there things and people whose thumb you feel you are under? Neither is a good position to be in.
Are there ways you employ “power with” in a way that allows you to be true to yourself, true to God, and empowers others to be the same?
This is part of what it means to participate in God’s mission to bring wholeness to the world – when everyone exercises “power with,” the power of Good overwhelms the power of evil. Poor devil really never had a chance.
This always struck me as a really dumb temptation – didn’t the devil know that Jesus had no interest in temporal power? Of course, this Jesus, in whom more divine power resided than the world had ever seen in a human being, was even less interested than most in world domination. He cared more about demonstrating the power to be gained in giving away your prerogatives and your life.
There are at least three ways to wield power – there’s “power over,” when we have dominion over others, and we use it to control them. There’s “power under,” the indirect form of power taken by those who use their sacrifices and victimhood to try to control others. And then there’s the kind of power Jesus wielded, what I would call “power with.” This comes from a true sense of who we are joined with an awareness of the power of God alive in us, so that we can use power in a way that empowers others to do the same.
As we read the Gospels, we see Jesus constantly empowering people who had been robbed of power, whether by the Romans, by the religious authorities, by illness or prejudice or poverty. This was ultimately what made him such a threat to those who thought they had power over him. It’s what made him such a threat to the Evil One – because Jesus is still alive, still in the business of empowering us. And empowered, we can resist evil.
When you look at your life, what kind of power is most often at play in your relationships, in your work, in your health? Are there things and people you’d like to dominate?
Are there things and people whose thumb you feel you are under? Neither is a good position to be in.
Are there ways you employ “power with” in a way that allows you to be true to yourself, true to God, and empowers others to be the same?
This is part of what it means to participate in God’s mission to bring wholeness to the world – when everyone exercises “power with,” the power of Good overwhelms the power of evil. Poor devil really never had a chance.
3-5-14 - Security
On the face of it, this devil’s bargain is for the birds:
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Who on earth would toss himself off a high tower and see if God will protect him? Nobody sane...
And yet… don’t we often take lesser risks with big consequences? “Sure, cancer and smoking are highly related, but it won’t get me…” “Sure, the doctor said if I keep on getting fries with everything I’m headed for quadruple bypass, but what I eat today is okay…” Or how about this one: “Sure, the ozone layer’s thinner and I’m supposed to wear sunscreen now, but it’ll be alright this once…”
Feeling safe and protected is important to most of us. Yet the further away dangerous consequences are, the more risks we seem to take. Is this one of the ways we fall prey to the temptations of the Enemy? Maybe… after all, Christians claim that the devil desires to draw us away from the love of God. Often God is the first one we blame when bad things happen, because we forget human complicity, and because often we believe we have an unspoken contract with God guaranteeing our protection. Dig yours out of the file and check it – God never signed it. God promises us presence and power and peace in all circumstances, not protection.
I understand how facile this might sound if we think of people in Syria or South Sudan at the moment, and I don’t wish to under-value the very real desire for life and safety. I share it. I’m just trying to remember there’s a bigger story. When security becomes our objective, we often try to get it for ourselves, turning away from God’s provision. And why not, if God hasn’t promised to protect us!
Well, because there’s a deeper gift in the relationship we gain when we decide we’re going to trust God with all that we cannot control. This temptation is really about trying to control our circumstances. What’s high on that list for you? Can you in prayer today entrust – to the extent you’re able – the people and things you value most to God’s care? Because we can’t keep them safe from everything, and because we trust in God’s love? See how far you can extend your trust today, and then come back another day and see if you can stretch a little further in yielding control.
As we live into the fullness of our identities as beloved of God and chosen in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, we can move past a focus on security and live from an eternal perspective. From that vantage point, though what happens in this life matters a great deal, and when others are hurt, we hurt, we also see that this life is not the end of all things. Rather, for Christ followers, it is the beginning, the training zone, the love lesson.
That perspective doesn’t change our circumstances; it transforms the way we live them. Not a bad reminder on a day when many of us will hear the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Who on earth would toss himself off a high tower and see if God will protect him? Nobody sane...
And yet… don’t we often take lesser risks with big consequences? “Sure, cancer and smoking are highly related, but it won’t get me…” “Sure, the doctor said if I keep on getting fries with everything I’m headed for quadruple bypass, but what I eat today is okay…” Or how about this one: “Sure, the ozone layer’s thinner and I’m supposed to wear sunscreen now, but it’ll be alright this once…”
Feeling safe and protected is important to most of us. Yet the further away dangerous consequences are, the more risks we seem to take. Is this one of the ways we fall prey to the temptations of the Enemy? Maybe… after all, Christians claim that the devil desires to draw us away from the love of God. Often God is the first one we blame when bad things happen, because we forget human complicity, and because often we believe we have an unspoken contract with God guaranteeing our protection. Dig yours out of the file and check it – God never signed it. God promises us presence and power and peace in all circumstances, not protection.
I understand how facile this might sound if we think of people in Syria or South Sudan at the moment, and I don’t wish to under-value the very real desire for life and safety. I share it. I’m just trying to remember there’s a bigger story. When security becomes our objective, we often try to get it for ourselves, turning away from God’s provision. And why not, if God hasn’t promised to protect us!
Well, because there’s a deeper gift in the relationship we gain when we decide we’re going to trust God with all that we cannot control. This temptation is really about trying to control our circumstances. What’s high on that list for you? Can you in prayer today entrust – to the extent you’re able – the people and things you value most to God’s care? Because we can’t keep them safe from everything, and because we trust in God’s love? See how far you can extend your trust today, and then come back another day and see if you can stretch a little further in yielding control.
As we live into the fullness of our identities as beloved of God and chosen in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, we can move past a focus on security and live from an eternal perspective. From that vantage point, though what happens in this life matters a great deal, and when others are hurt, we hurt, we also see that this life is not the end of all things. Rather, for Christ followers, it is the beginning, the training zone, the love lesson.
That perspective doesn’t change our circumstances; it transforms the way we live them. Not a bad reminder on a day when many of us will hear the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
3-4-14 - Hunger
Here’s the understatement of the New Testament:
“He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.”
After Jesus’ forty days and nights of fasting and praying, and perhaps fending off temptations we don’t know about, the devil brings on the big guns. Logically, he begins with the most obvious area of need – physical hunger: “The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered, 'It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
I don’t think Jesus refused because he wasn’t hungry, nor because his power didn’t extend to the physical world – at other times, he easily wields power over molecules, plants and animals. I think he was unwilling to employ the power he possessed on a party trick, or to prove his identity. That power in him – which, by faith, is also in us, when we but trust it – is connected to the will of the Father. Maybe Jesus was unwilling to try to bend the will of God to this end for an audience and a purpose so unworthy of it.
Once again, the temptation begins with an attempt to undermine the target’s sense of self: “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus is too smart to fall for it. We aren’t always so confident. If we remembered who we are, and whose we are as beloved sons and daughters of the Living God, we might not be so prone to taking matters into our own hands or falling into patterns destructive to ourselves and others.
Our appetites are an area in which we are most vulnerable to making choices that are not life-giving. Today let’s take stock of how our perceived need for some things can become distorted and cause us to turn away from the Life of God and toward things we think will fill us. In "some things” I include food, alcohol, sex, work, screen time, relationships, affirmation, importance, power, accomplishment – even exercise can become excessive if our motives are unhealthy.
It’s not the “what,” or even the “how much,” so much as it is “why do I need this,” and “how much of my energy goes to craving this, securing it, consuming it.” And we'll tend to feel somewhat empty as soon as we've finished that cycle if this is an area of distorted need in our lives.
How do we interrupt the cycle when it hits us? We might use Jesus’ words – “One does not live by alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We might ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with God’s presence so we don’t hunger for things that can’t fill us. We might ask Jesus to sit with us and give us his peace.
We might even dare to sit with our hunger or desire or need and not rush to fill that empty place. Sometimes we need to feel the feelings that come from that emptiness. Certainly our Good News tells us that God shows up in pretty amazing ways in empty spaces.
“He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.”
After Jesus’ forty days and nights of fasting and praying, and perhaps fending off temptations we don’t know about, the devil brings on the big guns. Logically, he begins with the most obvious area of need – physical hunger: “The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered, 'It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
I don’t think Jesus refused because he wasn’t hungry, nor because his power didn’t extend to the physical world – at other times, he easily wields power over molecules, plants and animals. I think he was unwilling to employ the power he possessed on a party trick, or to prove his identity. That power in him – which, by faith, is also in us, when we but trust it – is connected to the will of the Father. Maybe Jesus was unwilling to try to bend the will of God to this end for an audience and a purpose so unworthy of it.
Once again, the temptation begins with an attempt to undermine the target’s sense of self: “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus is too smart to fall for it. We aren’t always so confident. If we remembered who we are, and whose we are as beloved sons and daughters of the Living God, we might not be so prone to taking matters into our own hands or falling into patterns destructive to ourselves and others.
Our appetites are an area in which we are most vulnerable to making choices that are not life-giving. Today let’s take stock of how our perceived need for some things can become distorted and cause us to turn away from the Life of God and toward things we think will fill us. In "some things” I include food, alcohol, sex, work, screen time, relationships, affirmation, importance, power, accomplishment – even exercise can become excessive if our motives are unhealthy.
It’s not the “what,” or even the “how much,” so much as it is “why do I need this,” and “how much of my energy goes to craving this, securing it, consuming it.” And we'll tend to feel somewhat empty as soon as we've finished that cycle if this is an area of distorted need in our lives.
How do we interrupt the cycle when it hits us? We might use Jesus’ words – “One does not live by alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We might ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with God’s presence so we don’t hunger for things that can’t fill us. We might ask Jesus to sit with us and give us his peace.
We might even dare to sit with our hunger or desire or need and not rush to fill that empty place. Sometimes we need to feel the feelings that come from that emptiness. Certainly our Good News tells us that God shows up in pretty amazing ways in empty spaces.
3-3-14 - Temptation
Every first Sunday in Lent our Gospel reading is the account of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. This year it’s Matthew’s version, which begins simply: “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.”
This story follows right on the heels of Jesus’ baptism, and seems to have been a necessary step as he prepared for his mission to make known to the world the power and love of God, and to reconcile humanity to the God from whom we had become estranged. Was it because he needed to know his adversary? Did he need toughening up? Did the Son of God have to prove his sinlessness?
We’ll get into Jesus’ forays with the tempter as the week progresses. Today, let’s talk about temptation. How does it work, and why are we vulnerable? Our tradition has a “root story” to explain it, the story of First Man and First Woman in the Garden of Eden (the reading printed today). In this ancient mythic story woven to explain the disconnect between creator and creation, we see some classic temptation tricks wielded to great effect:
Today, how about we think through the last time we submitted to temptation, to do or say something that was not in our best interest or harmful to another, whether it was eating more than we needed or passing along a tidbit of gossip, or indulging in some judgment about someone (remember how broadly Jesus defined sin!). Break down the process if you can, and see where you might tighten your defenses. And think of a time when you resisted and stayed true to yourself and your hopes.
The point of this exercise is not to feel bad about ourselves – we are vulnerable because we are alive and have been given the gift of free will, to choose, and choose, and choose again. As we become more aware of how temptation works on us, we are able to develop strategies for resisting it.
The most important strategy of all, I believe, is to remember that we are beloved of God, and that God doesn’t turn away from us no matter how often we stumble. God’s forgiveness and mercy abound. That’s the best defense of all.
This story follows right on the heels of Jesus’ baptism, and seems to have been a necessary step as he prepared for his mission to make known to the world the power and love of God, and to reconcile humanity to the God from whom we had become estranged. Was it because he needed to know his adversary? Did he need toughening up? Did the Son of God have to prove his sinlessness?
We’ll get into Jesus’ forays with the tempter as the week progresses. Today, let’s talk about temptation. How does it work, and why are we vulnerable? Our tradition has a “root story” to explain it, the story of First Man and First Woman in the Garden of Eden (the reading printed today). In this ancient mythic story woven to explain the disconnect between creator and creation, we see some classic temptation tricks wielded to great effect:
- Divide and conquer. The tempter doesn’t approach both humans – he starts with the woman.
- Distort reality. The serpent asks the woman, “Did God say not to eat of any tree?,” when God had said they could eat of every tree, except one.
- Undermine your target’s sense of identity. When the serpent contradicts God’s instructions, he causes the woman to question God’s goodness and authority, and her place in that relationship.
- Make disobedience appealing – chances are, they wouldn’t have flouted God’s instructions for a wormy, overripe piece of fruit.
- Get an accomplice. The woman is quick to invite the man to join her transgression, and he puts up no fight at all.
Today, how about we think through the last time we submitted to temptation, to do or say something that was not in our best interest or harmful to another, whether it was eating more than we needed or passing along a tidbit of gossip, or indulging in some judgment about someone (remember how broadly Jesus defined sin!). Break down the process if you can, and see where you might tighten your defenses. And think of a time when you resisted and stayed true to yourself and your hopes.
The point of this exercise is not to feel bad about ourselves – we are vulnerable because we are alive and have been given the gift of free will, to choose, and choose, and choose again. As we become more aware of how temptation works on us, we are able to develop strategies for resisting it.
The most important strategy of all, I believe, is to remember that we are beloved of God, and that God doesn’t turn away from us no matter how often we stumble. God’s forgiveness and mercy abound. That’s the best defense of all.
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