Lent 1 / Year A
Matthew 4:1-11
Each of the Gospels tells us immediately after Jesus
is baptized in the Jordan River he goes out into the wilderness alone to pray and
to fast. And throughout this forty-day
period he experiences temptation.
There is a strong connection between baptism and
temptation. Think about the questions we
are asked at baptism:
· Do you
renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against
God?
· Do you
renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures
of God?
· Do you
renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?
Each question is met with the candidate’s response, “I renounce them.” The word renounce,
based on its Latin roots, literally means ‘to
report what you are against.’ So the
Christian life begins with a report of what we are against. We are against the corrupting influences of
Satan, the world, and the self.
We follow up this report with announcements when we
say “I do” to each of these three questions:
· Do you turn
to Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Savior?
· Do you put
your whole trust in His grace and love?
· Do you
promise to follow and obey Him as your Lord?
Through these proclamations we tell the world, “This is what I am all about.”
Finally, we are asked five questions, which begin to
give shape to how we will live a Christ-like life:
· Will you
continue in the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the
bread, and in the prayers?
· Will you
persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return
to the Lord?
· Will you
proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
· Will you seek
and serve God in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
· Will you
strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every
human being?
The answer we give to each of these questions is “I
will…” and because they are so challenging to live out we add “with God’s
help.”
Once you declare publicly what you will do and what
you will not do, you invite the prospect of temptation… the powerful urge to do
what you say you do not want to do, and the subtle lure not to follow through
on what you say you do want to do.
The temptations Jesus faces, like the temptations we
experience, reveal the mysterious nature of evil and good. Very few of us intentionally set out to do
evil, and yet at times we are its agents.
Most of us don’t knowingly chart a course to avoid doing good, and yet
how often does the moment pass us by?
There are times when evil disguises itself. We don’t know quite how we entered into it,
but one day we realize just how tightly we are caught in its grips. Eventually we come to our senses, usually when
we are made accountable for our actions, and we wonder how in the world we got
in so deep. Good, too, often disguises
itself. Think about those servants in
Jesus’ parable who are praised for giving him food and drink. “When
did we do this good thing,” they ask?
The response, “whenever you did it
for a person in need,” demonstrates how it is possible to enter into the
mystery of good without being fully aware of the good you are doing.
There are times when what is evil is attractive to
us. The very name Lucifer comes from a Latin word meaning light. Many of the world’s
mythologies about the evil one portray this figure as shiny, bright, and
appealing. It is only later, after you
take hold of what shines, you see it for the destructive evil it truly is. Paradoxically, what is good may at first
appear as something repulsive. Do you remember
how the priest and the Levite pass by the Good Samaritan because his wounds
sicken them? Think about how Jesus does
good by touching a leper whose skin is infected and diseased. Sometimes what is right and good is anything
but shiny.
To be a follower of Christ is make a report of what
you are against, to announce what you are for, and to commit yourself to a way
of life mirroring his. In so doing you
invite temptation and you encounter the mystery of good and evil. As with most mysteries, we want to solve the
puzzle. We want to find an intellectual
answer to make sense of the mystery.
Today’s first reading gives narrative form to our
search for answers. Why did God put the
tree in the garden? Why did God forbid
the eating of the fruit? Why was the
tempting serpent allowed to exist near the man and the woman? You could fill this sanctuary with all the
books and articles written about these questions. Each offers insight. Each suggests answers. And yet, in spite of all this work, good and
evil are still a mystery.
Mystery is best approached, not with an eye toward
solving it, but rather as something to be engaged and explored. Lenten disciplines afford us such an
opportunity. Give up something you
really love or is an ingrained habit and you will find out just how much your
body or your spirit demands it. Take on
something of value, perhaps giving yourself in prayer on a daily basis, and you
will discover just how much your mind and schedule resists it.
God gives strength and grace to those who seek
it. Stay at your disciplines long enough
and you will discover how what was shiny no longer attracts you and how what
seemed difficult now draws you into it.
And though these endeavors may be trivial, the very exercise trains us
for the bigger challenges we face in life.
It strengths our ability to say no to what initially attracts, but
eventually destroys. It develops our
capacity to do what is beneficial, but difficult.
When we report to the world what we are against and
announce what we are for, we begin a pilgrimage in life. It takes us from the moment of baptism and sets
us on the path of life God has prepared for us to travel. We will be tempted to stray from this path
and we will be tempted to slow our pace forward to a crawl. In Lent we remember what we reported and what
we announced as we first came to the Christian life and we set ourselves to it
anew. It is not a path we take because
it is easy or popular or initially attractive.
We take it because Jesus himself has pioneered the way and promised us
it is the way of life and the way to eternal life.
