Br. Josép Martinez-Cubero, OHC
The First Sunday in Lent - March 1, 2020
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Click here for an audio version of this sermon.
But you see, 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! That promised Holy Spirit with whose seal we are marked (as Paul tells the Ephesians)- that Holy Spirit will take us to the wilderness where we will meet our own demons. And why? Well, because if you are anything like me, you don’t choose to enter the wilderness on your own.
Most of us don’t normally volunteer for pain, loss, or danger. But the wilderness is still there, in the form of addictions, or toxic relationships, or corrupt governments, or debilitating illnesses, or sudden deaths. You name it! The wilderness will always appear for all of us uninvited and unwelcomed. And it is filled with temptations to become our own gods, to seize control of our lives, to insure ourselves against failure, to go for success at all cause, to conquer the world around us. In doing so we distance ourselves from God, and risk our relationships with creation, with each other, and with ourselves.
The fully human Jesus has come to the full realization of who he is, the road he is to travel, the message he is to proclaim, 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 is struggling to hang onto his identity as the glow of his baptism recedes into the past. And it’s in this state of vulnerability that the tempter comes ready to pull Jesus away from his vocation.
He is tempted as we are tempted. In the wilderness Jesus is tempted to misuse his power to satisfy his hunger; tempted to test God's love for him; tempted to seize and wield power; tempted not to trust in the true power that comes by being in relationship with the one he calls Abba; tempted to become his own god, like Adam and Eve. And the temptations didn’t end after those forty days in the wilderness. Temptations would continue throughout his ministry: the temptation not to take the Jerusalem Road, the temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane to turn aside and not to face the Cross, the temptation to come down from the cross.
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.
Most of us will not find ourselves at the pinnacle of the temple tempted to jump and have angels play catch. But we may be tempted to think that if we just believe hard enough and are good enough, God will keep us protected from all harm. It’s a temptation that targets our deepest fears about what it means to be human in a broken and dangerous world. But, you see, God does not suspend the laws of the universe so that we do not have to live with the consequences of our choices. And if the cross teaches us anything, it is that God’s beloved children bleed, ache, and die. We are loved in our vulnerability, not out of it.
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. Many these days seek visibility, recognition and a moment in the spotlight, and seek to achieve so by creating new deities and unfortunate set of priorities.
Many of us have given up something for Lent: chocolate, alcohol, Facebook, TV, democratic debates, selfies! The goal is to sit with our hungers, our wants, our desires, 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 exploiting resources all around me? Who, and where, is God when I am hungry for meaning, or intimacy, or purpose? As we follow Jesus into the desert, we can hear the voice of evil, recognize that we find it alluring, and confess its appeal. 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.
¡Que así sea en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen+
“After Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”What?? In case you may have forgotten what happened at that baptism, let me read it for you: “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! Not! I’ll admit it, at first, I found the whole bit about the Spirit taking Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted somewhat appalling. My preparation for today’s sermon has involved huge feelings of righteous indignation in my prayer to God. I didn’t know what to do with the Spirit's role in this story.
“After Jesus baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
But you see, 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! That promised Holy Spirit with whose seal we are marked (as Paul tells the Ephesians)- that Holy Spirit will take us to the wilderness where we will meet our own demons. And why? Well, because if you are anything like me, you don’t choose to enter the wilderness on your own.
Most of us don’t normally volunteer for pain, loss, or danger. But the wilderness is still there, in the form of addictions, or toxic relationships, or corrupt governments, or debilitating illnesses, or sudden deaths. You name it! The wilderness will always appear for all of us uninvited and unwelcomed. And it is filled with temptations to become our own gods, to seize control of our lives, to insure ourselves against failure, to go for success at all cause, to conquer the world around us. In doing so we distance ourselves from God, and risk our relationships with creation, with each other, and with ourselves.
The fully human Jesus has come to the full realization of who he is, the road he is to travel, the message he is to proclaim, 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 is struggling to hang onto his identity as the glow of his baptism recedes into the past. And it’s in this state of vulnerability that the tempter comes ready to pull Jesus away from his vocation.
He is tempted as we are tempted. In the wilderness Jesus is tempted to misuse his power to satisfy his hunger; tempted to test God's love for him; tempted to seize and wield power; tempted not to trust in the true power that comes by being in relationship with the one he calls Abba; tempted to become his own god, like Adam and Eve. And the temptations didn’t end after those forty days in the wilderness. Temptations would continue throughout his ministry: the temptation not to take the Jerusalem Road, the temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane to turn aside and not to face the Cross, the temptation to come down from the cross.
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.
Most of us will not find ourselves at the pinnacle of the temple tempted to jump and have angels play catch. But we may be tempted to think that if we just believe hard enough and are good enough, God will keep us protected from all harm. It’s a temptation that targets our deepest fears about what it means to be human in a broken and dangerous world. But, you see, God does not suspend the laws of the universe so that we do not have to live with the consequences of our choices. And if the cross teaches us anything, it is that God’s beloved children bleed, ache, and die. We are loved in our vulnerability, not out of it.
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. Many these days seek visibility, recognition and a moment in the spotlight, and seek to achieve so by creating new deities and unfortunate set of priorities.
Many of us have given up something for Lent: chocolate, alcohol, Facebook, TV, democratic debates, selfies! The goal is to sit with our hungers, our wants, our desires, 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 exploiting resources all around me? Who, and where, is God when I am hungry for meaning, or intimacy, or purpose? As we follow Jesus into the desert, we can hear the voice of evil, recognize that we find it alluring, and confess its appeal. 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 God can find me;And we can trust that when God blesses us, it won’t be manipulative. And 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.
Lay me low, where God can hold me;
Lay me low, where God can bless me;
Lay me low, God lay me low.
¡Que así sea en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen+
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