Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Saint Anthony of Egypt, the first well known dessert monk, said: “Whoever has not experienced temptation cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Without temptations no-one can be saved.”
Our Gospel reading this morning begins with “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” I’ll read it again. “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” This happens right after Jesus’ baptism. Let’s remember what took place then. I’ll read it: “And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’” And, so, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Why, thank you so much Spirit, for this lovely Baptism present! I think I will have a great time!
The role of the Holy Spirit in this Gospel story can be quite perplexing. But I think the point is that we are beloved children of God and, with us God is well pleased. But watch out with all that “belovedness”! It is the same Spirit of God who loves us that will take us to the wilderness to face our own demons. And why? Well, because if you are anything like me, you don’t choose to enter the wilderness on your own.
That is what the Desert Monastics (the Desert Fathers and Mothers in Egypt, Syria and Palestine of the 3rd to 5th centuries) did, following the example of Jesus. They literally went to the wilderness to live in caves and deal with pain, loss and danger, and face temptation head on. They viewed temptation not as a sign of failure, but as an essential, inescapable part of the spiritual journey necessary for ongoing conversion, development of humility, strengthening of one's reliance on God. They believed that to live a life for God was to face temptations until one's last breath.
Most of us don’t normally volunteer for pain, loss, or danger. But the wilderness is still there for us, in the form of addictions, toxic relationships, corrupt governments or faulty leadership, anxious and reactive systems, debilitating illnesses, or sudden inexplicable deaths. You name it! The wilderness will always appear for all of us uninvited and unwelcomed. And it is filled with the temptations to become our own gods, and to want to control things and people to be exactly how we want them. In doing so we distance ourselves from God, and risk our relationships with creation, with each other, and with ourselves.
Jesus has come to the full realization of the mission he is to fulfill- to embody a new way of being in the world, to be a living demonstration of the power of love in action. To prepare for this mission, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness to encounter his own demons. He is "famished" after forty days of fasting. He is at the end of his physical strength, and he is alone. Spiritually, he must have been struggling to hang on to his identity as the glow of his baptism event recedes into the past. And it’s in this state of vulnerability (isn’t that always the case?) that the tempter comes ready to pull Jesus away from his vocation.
He is tempted in the same ways we are tempted- to misuse his power to satisfy his hunger and not trust the true power that comes by being in relationship with the one he calls Abba; to test God's love for him; to become his own god, like Adam and Eve had done. And temptations didn’t end for Jesus after those forty days in the wilderness. They continued throughout his ministry: the temptation not to take the Jerusalem Road, the temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane to not have to face the Cross, the temptation to come down from the cross. By refusing to succumb to the temptation to bypass the human experience, Jesus the Christ showed us that wholeness happens through the integration of the "God-image" within our humanity.
Temptations seem to all boil down to some basic categories. None of us has the power to make bread from stones, but we all share the temptation to expect and demand that the rest of the world answer to our immediate needs and wants. This temptation has to do with the illusion that we should never ever be uncomfortable and if we are, it is someone or something else's fault. In the devil’s economy, unmet desire is an aberration, not an integral part of what it means to be human. So, Jesus refused to turn stones into bread, but he will feed the hungry.
Most of us will not find ourselves at the pinnacle of the temple tempted to test God’s love by jumping and having the angels play catch. But we may be tempted to test the love of those around us by thinking that our superiority and specialness exempt us from rules and regulations and procedures. Or perhaps we think that if we are good enough, God will keep us protected from all harm. It’s a temptation that triggers our deepest fears about what it means to be human in a broken and dangerous world. But if the cross teaches us anything, it is that God’s beloved children bleed, ache, and die. We are loved in our humanity, not out of it. So, Jesus refused to jump off the pinnacle of the temple to test God’s protection, but he will, from the pinnacle of the cross, take the leap, surrendering himself completely to God’s embrace, and in so doing transforms death into eternal life.
And finally, most of us
won’t be offered “all the kingdoms of the world” if we worship the
devil. But if social media and the celebrity phenomena is any indication,
we might just be worshiping what ought not be worshiped. It is a temptation
that targets our egos. It has to do with compromising our spiritual life for
power, visibility, recognition of our specialness and a moment in the spotlight and doing so by creating new deities and unfortunate sets of
priorities. But Jesus’ version of significance requires humility and
surrender. So, he refused political power, but he will proclaim God’s
Reign of justice and peace.
Many of us have given up something for Lent: chocolate, alcohol, coffee, meat, social media, selfies! The goal is to sit with our hungers, our wants, our dependencies, and learn what they have to teach us. Can I not get what I want and still live? Can I lack and still live generously without abusing my privilege or exploiting resources all around me? Who is God when I am hungry for meaning, or intimacy, or purpose? As we follow Jesus into the wilderness, we can hear the voice of evil and recognize that we find it alluring. Temptation is part of the human condition, and Lent is not a time to do penance for being human.
Perhaps the invitation for this season of Lent can be to lay low where we can discover that we can be human, loved and hungry at the same time. To lay low where we can discover that we can be human and hope and hurt at the same time. To lay low where we can discover that we can be human and vulnerable and beloved at the same time. I want to share with you a new melody by Daniel Schwandt of a Shaker text.
Lay me low, where the
Lord can find me
Lay me low, where the
Lord can hold me
Lay me low, where the
Lord can bless me
Lay me low, oh, lay me low.
And we can trust that when God finds us, holds us, and blesses us, it won’t be manipulative. When God nourishes us, it may not necessarily be the food we’d choose for ourselves, but it will feed us. And through us, if we will learn to share, it will feed the world. ¡Que así sea en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen
