First Sunday of Lent - Sermon
The sermon for the Holy Communion service on the first Sunday of Lent on the 26th February 2023. Michelle Barnett was invited to preach for the first time at All Saints, and was exploring the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and what that might mean for us this Lent.
The readings she is reflecting on are:
Play Listen to the sermon:
Words of the Sermon:
Introduction
As we begin the season of Lent, there will be lots of different practices happening across this church. Some of you will be looking forward to a time of reflection, and putting time aside to nurture your relationship with God. Others may be bracing themselves for forty days without a favourite treat, or hoping Lent will springboard them into adopting a new habit they’ve been meaning to take up all year - but without the commitment to keep it going once the forty days are over, of course!
Your Lent practice might be a public thing, shared with friends, maybe even a sponsored challenge, or you might be like me last year, who deliberately told absolutely no one about what I was doing for Lent to avoid the potential of embarrassment if I didn’t make it to the end.
Or you may have just gotten overwhelmed by one more thing to think about, and decided that for Lent this year, the thing you’re giving up... is giving things up for Lent.
Whichever it is, forty days is a long time. So what’s going to keep you going during the weeks ahead?
In our gospel reading today, we meet Jesus almost at the end of his 40 days of prayer and fasting. This is a traditional observance from Biblical times, often used to dedicate a new enterprise to God, or when consulting God about a future path. It can remind the person of their need for God, and that we are never fully independent beings.
The number 40 is significant in the Bible too - When something is 40 units of time in length, you know that it will last just long enough to start getting really tiresome, but that the end result will be enlightening. Moses and Elijah both performed fasts of 40 days. Noah and his family are in the Ark for 40 days and nights, the Israelites circle a desert for 40 years after being freed from slavery, but before entering the land they will one day call home. It’s symbolic of promises soon to be fulfilled, and the patience and challenge that will be involved in reaching that fulfilment.
We are only at the start of our time of dedication, but it’s as Jesus approaches the end of his -and maybe it’s getting a bit tiresome - that he begins to really feel tempted to do things that would disrupt or change the nature of the ministry he’s about to embark on. And it’s easy to look at this story and see his resistance to those temptations as a message on the importance of saying no to things.
It’s certainly a message I’ve heard about Lent in the past; that it is a time for working on individual self discipline, on restraining and restricting ourselves and our personal behaviour. Taken to an extreme, you might even get the idea that it’s somehow holy to make yourself miserable.
But reading this passage again, to me, that isn’t what seems to be driving Jesus’ decision to resist the things that tempt him. Yes self-discipline is an important life skill, and some level of sacrifice is often involved in achieving anything worthwhile, but I don’t think Jesus is just arbitrarily giving things up, or saying no just as practice at saying no.
Temptation 1
First Jesus is offered the chance to perform a miracle to make himself some bread. On the surface it looks like a simple test of willpower in resisting hunger. Others might read deeper and see it as Jesus’ trust in his Father’s ability to provide for him in good time, a trust we should emulate. But there’s something else about his response.
He is about to start his time of ministry; demonstrating the kingdom of God to people, caring for them, teaching them, ultimately dying for them. There can be no more important task, and his temptation, while he’s alone and no one can see him, is to end his dedication time with God, and his focus on the ministry ahead, too early. And to use his power for something that has no benefit for anyone other than himself.
This temptation is probably where we get the idea of giving up snacks during Lent, but it isn’t really about turning down food. He doesn’t say ‘man shall not live by bread AT ALL - later on we’ll see him miraculously create bread for over 5,000 people.
Jesus says, man shall not live by JUST bread. We also need a living connection to God and others, and Jesus doesn’t want to cut his off short.
He’s not saying No, he’s saying Yes. Yes to having time with God and letting that be important too. Yes to giving focus and attention to something that will impact other people; the communities he will soon be part of, the work he will do there, the life he will live.
We might ask ourselves, both within and beyond the walls of this church, which communities we consider ourselves a part of?
Temptation 2
Secondly, Jesus is tempted to perform a kind of divine stunt; leaping from a high part of the Temple in Jerusalem, creating a marvellous spectacle as angels rush to catch him, drawing hundreds of amazed followers, or maybe fans? His Accuser even uses a verse of Scripture to persuade him - a quote from Psalm 91 - which just goes to show that not everyone who offers you “easy and helpful” Bible verses has a good grasp of the purposes of God.
The desire here is to seem significant, impressive to those around him. In a nutshell Jesus is tempted to gain respect by showing off. But again this begs the question; what use would that actually be for other people? They’d have a hero to worship, but would it accomplish anything in their lives on a deeper level?
When Jesus turns this down, he’s not saying no to things like promotions at work or a lack of health and safety around tall structures. He’s saying yes to achieving his mission through the slow, practical, personal work of compassion and healing instead. Less flashy, but far more meaningful. We are all, in our own ways and spheres, significant. But for Jesus, the shape of our significance matters.
Temptation 3
The third thing that tempts Jesus is very grandiose. Rulership over the whole world. Power and influence greater than that of Caesar himself.
If he will compromise on his principles, he will be placed on top of a very tall pedestal, and need not ever come down.
This one may feel a little distant to us. Not many of us are likely to ever be offered the job of World Leader. But we do live in a world of hierarchical systems, within institutions, workplaces and families, where people are placed above others. While leadership is often necessary - someone has to do the rota - it comes with a risk of losing touch with those further down the ladder. Of forgetting the contributions they can bring, and thinking they need to be ordered about rather than listened to and taken seriously.
Again, Jesus rebukes that way of approaching people. He not only gives his final rebuttal via a third verse of scripture, but ends by telling his Accuser to shove off!
(I would love that for all of us. To feel our worst impulses rearing their heads, and be able to tell them to shove off.)
During your week, you might subtly look around the room you happen to be in. Whose voice have you not heard recently, or ever at all? Who might have inadvertently slipped down our ladder of attention?
Conclusion
This is what Adam and Eve missed, I think, when they felt tempted. I don’t have time to go into why (you can ask me afterwards), but in today’s first reading, in the Hebrew beneath the English in our Bible, is the suggestion that what tempts Adam and Eve to break God’s trust is that they want the authority and ability to shape their world that a Creator has, but without the corresponding responsibility for how that will affect others. Part of God’s character involves concern for people and treating them justly. The Bible’s word for this is righteousness - just and fair relationships between God and people, and between people and other people. When it came to considering those relationships, Adam and Eve didn’t say yes.
It shows in how they fail to stand up for each other leading up to eating the fruit, and how they respond afterwards, with hiding, denial and blame rather than openness, grace and apology. There could be a whole other sermon on this. But it’s a perceptive illustration of how easily we can fail or forget to advocate for others when our own interests are at stake.
Jesus’ temptations echo that event three times over, and each time he refuses to exercise power where there is no care or just treatment towards the people - us - that he has come to be with. To him, as with his Father, influence and authority are a matched pair with justice and loving-kindness. There is never one without the other.
I don’t want to pretend this will be easy to do in our own lives. Or that I’ve mastered this and can advise you. Or that we can somehow ‘hard-work’ our way to a perfect existence. We will experience all the usual learning curves, back-slides and set-backs that everybody experiences. We will still fail, and repent of our failings.
But still, there’s something exciting here about the possibilities of Lent. When Jesus resists the things that tempt him, he isn’t just saying No to things he wants. He’s saying Yes to something he wants more. Jesus is able to be resilient because he can see a bigger picture. Deferring the short term gratification for the possibility of a greater, cosmos-encompassing joy.
He could have cut his focus on his ministry short, but he wants to be committed to God’s mission of restoration amongst us.
He could have become a religious celebrity in a single leap, but he wants a kingdom - that is, a society - based on meaningful connections between people, and between people and God, rather than on shallow admiration and spectacle.
He could sit above the world, remote from everyday life, but he wants to be part of it. To make a place where social position doesn’t define whether or not people are considered to be worthwhile. To walk alongside others, rather than look down on us. He says yes to all of that.
So this Lent, as we travel further into our forty days- When it gets tiring, and annoying, or we’ve messed it up and are struggling to remember why we’re doing this, that big picture is something we can hold onto.
What is it that we want for those around us? What would we like to bring more of to our households, streets and communities through our Lent practice? What is the bigger picture we hope for, that keeps us on course when progress feels difficult and slow?
To what would we love to say yes?