Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Andrew Colquhoun, OHC
Lent 1A - March 13, 2011
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
We used to tell a story in Scotland of the minister who was preaching to his flock… “There you are, you miserable sinners. The day will come when you sinners are roasting in the terrible flames of hell and you will look up to God and say, ‘O Lord, we didna know; we didna ken.’ And the Lord in his infinite love and mercy will look down upon you and will say, “Aye, well ye know now!”
I must own to a feeling that so often this is the message we present in Lent- even unconsciously - Of a need to placate a God whose judgment is harsh and demanding. If I meditate on my evil ways and wretchedness with enough fervor and self-denial, I can be ready for redemption – my readiness depends on me and my efforts.
We latch on to this from our first reading today – it seems to set the stage. Adam, Eve and the subtle, evil serpent… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – and the apple. Because of the sin we’re all neck deep in trouble.
But the creation story in Genesis doesn’t talk about evil in Hebrew – that’s English. What the story talks about is the choice between Tov and Ra. And that’s quite different.
Tov is good as in “pleasant” – Mazel Tov/Good luck – not really morally good. It’s the also the inner voice that calls us always into community with God – into right relationship with the Creator and one another.
Ra is more difficult to define, because there are many different ideas about it. It is not a desire to do evil in the way we normally think of it in Western society: a desire to cause senseless harm. It’s more the desire to satisfy personal needs (food, shelter, sex, etc.) without regard for the moral consequences of fulfilling those desires.
Ra is not a bad thing. It was created by God, and all things created by God are good. The Talmud says that without the ra (the desire to satisfy personal needs), “man would not build a house, marry a wife, beget children or conduct business affairs.” But the choice of ra can lead to wrongdoing when it is not controlled by tov. A bit confusing? But in a nutshell it would say that while there is nothing inherently wrong with hunger, it can lead you to steal food or into greed.
People have the ability to choose which impulse to follow: the tov or the ra.”
So choosing the ra means that I come first – my needs, even if they are absolutely fair needs, can make me choose away from God. The choice doesn’t necessarily imply that I will do evil things; the choice means that I forget who I am. The crafty serpent says, “You will be like Gods”, and that’s too much to resist. It was too much for the new humans who in the story didn’t even know what it was to be human; it’s too much for me. And so the story goes on – humanity, made in God’s image, choosing something less; choosing to be small Gods; moving from the Center to emptiness and shame. Denying their humanity, they look at one another and see only shame. And there follows the story of our struggle and wanderings in the wilderness of choosing to be less that God created us to be. Through exile and God’s longing; through the prophets and the wisdom words, God calls and calls us back.
And Paul points us to the fact that we are in a pickle not because God put us there but because we continually choose distance and separation. By one person the separation was chosen… we choose it.
So we come back to the infinite love and mercy our Scottish preacher fumbled so badly…God acts and Jesus, the God/Man calls us another way. Jesus brings us by love into a new life. And by his faithful obedience and choosing he opens the way for me to choose again – to live in Tov.
In the Gospel, the tempter, the tantalizer, offers the same thing the serpent offered the first human… “Come on, be like God… change these stones; take charge of the world; use some flash, some glamour. Choose!” And Jesus says “No” – he chooses – as he will all the way – he chooses to be true to who he is. The True Man… the true image of the Father. The one who listens and says, “Yes!” And he calls us – his ragtag army right away from selfish self-protection into the dangerous ground of Love. Right to the needs of the hungry, the least of these. Right into the wideness of God’s mercy and love.
Perhaps this Lent we can choose aright. Perhaps this Lent we can give up our self-absorption and offer the fast that God has pleaded for. Perhaps, as true humanity we can touch the untouchables; feed the ones who are starving because of our carelessness; give up some of our amplitude to the ones we have diminished by our choosing ourselves over God’s aching, loving heart. Perhaps when the sun rises on Easter, we can embrace the light and stand naked and pure and not ashamed any more.And God in infinite love and tenderness can look at us and say - Ah, well you know now!
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