Testing

2008 Proclamation of the Word

Firstly a word about the devil or Satan. In Hebrew the word is Ha-satan, and in Greek it is Diabolos. We translate these words as Satan and the Devil, which is commonly used to denote the personification of evil, but in the way these words were used in the time the Bible was written, these beings were adversaries. We meet the Ha-satan in Job, an adversary who came to test Job and his faithfulness. Here Jesus is in the wilderness, and diabolos comes to test him – which is precisely the role of an adversary.

At the end of Chapter 3 in Matthew’s gospel Jesus is baptised, the spirit descended as a dove and a voice from heaven says: This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Then the very next verse Jesus is being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted.

So the first thing that becomes clear is that being in God’s favour does not make life any easier for us. I know some people think that being faithful to God means that everything in their life will go smoothly, and they will continually be blessed by good health, obedient children and favourable finances. Life isn’t like that.  When Dolly Parton sang, I didn’t promise you a rose garden, it could be the song that goes with this reading. Life with God is many things, but it is no guarantee of a smooth, pain free existence.

One writer suggests in Matthew’s gospel the focus of the temptations is clearly vocational rather than a lesson about private morality. It is about who Jesus is, what Jesus relies on, and what his agenda is. So when we talk about temptation in terms of personal immorality, that isn’t what this gospel is about. There are plenty of places to read about how to live, try the beatitudes in Matthew, or Paul’s fruit of the spirit.

Here the temptation is for Jesus to use the power he has, to short circuit God’s plans, to take his future into his own hands, rather then trusting God.

And I think that is one of the greatest temptations we face today. We are told in the media that we can have it all. One of the catch phrases of the women’s liberation movement was that women could have it all. But now many people, both men and women are realising that work and family and sport and hobbies and relationships add up to more than the number of hours in a day; and more energy than most people can muster. But we are sold the lie. The lie that we are in control. The lie that we can choose our future. The lie that we can be successful because we want to be. The lie that we can pack more and more into each day and week.

Now I strongly believe in personal responsibility, there is no point lazing your way through school, sleeping through the day, then wondering why you haven’t made CEO of Telstra. But on the other hand, the idea that we are in control of our future is a con.

And that is the con diabolos is trying on with Jesus.

In the Genesis reading we heard about Adam and Eve and the temptation to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. The food looked good, tasted good and would give them wisdom. Now if we knew about such a super food, I can imagine it would be on the menu in most households. But here God is saying that just because something looks good and is healthy, and you want it for good reasons, the getting of wisdom, doesn’t mean you can just reach out and grab it. God gives us much, but that is the point; God offers, gifts, reaches out to us, and in response, we rebel hands grasp and take what is not offered. We are to receive God’s gifts, not reach out and grab them for ourselves.

Jesus had been in the wilderness for forty days when the adversary appeared. Now I’m not much good if I haven’t eaten for a few hours, let alone a month or so, and I like my creature comforts. I can well imagine that after forty days in the wilderness I wouldn’t have much hesitation in conjuring up food and anything else I could get, just to get me out of there. Sure Jesus could have jumped from the temple and seen if the voice at the Baptism was true, if he really was the beloved, if God would really send angels to catch him. But Jesus knows his mission is more complex than food and politics, power and prestige. Jesus knows the importance of waiting for God.

Jesus does use the power he has at times, at times when it brings food and healing to others. Jesus shows who he is, and brings glory to God in the process.  If Jesus had tried showing of like a circus magician, who gets the glory.

Maybe that is why we are tempted to prove our worth, to show what great jobs, what brilliant children and grandchildren, what grand homes and expensive holidays we have. Because they show how well we do, they show what clever, successful people we are.

Lent is a time for us to stop, to reflect, to listen to what God is saying to us, about our lives, and our hearts.  Lent is time for us to be vulnerable, to spend time in the wilderness, to lose some of the comforts we place around ourselves, things that help us to ignore God. TV, books, chatter, work,…. a whole lot of activity that pervades our modern lives.

Sometimes I wonder if we have as people become like a large shallow body of water, trying to cover as much ground as possible, getting spread so thin, that we risk disappearing altogether. Lent is a time to reconsider our priorities, a time to live deep, rather than expansive lives.  A time to take stock, to journey with Jesus in the wilderness. And this can be scary. Letting go of some of the comforts of life, time to look at what is essential for us.

Time to face the reality of who we are, to see ourselves as the broken, sinful, people that we are. Time to acknowledge the shame and guilt we carry with us. Time to recognise the emptiness in our lives. The emptiness we try and fill with activity, with possessions, with relationships.

Time to see that we need God. Not as another box to tick off for the week. We need God because only God can fill that hole within us, only God can heal the wounds of our hearts, only God can put back together our fragile lives. Only God can offer us forgiveness, grace, belonging, love, that frees and enables us to truly live. Only God. Because we can keep building stronger defences, we can keep working harder, we can have bigger houses, we can fill our days with busyness.

But we know, when we finally stop the activity, when we finally sit and be still and quiet, when we can’t sleep at night, when we are in hospital facing surgery, when our lives are in a mess, then we know that houses and money and busyness are not what makes our lives. What makes our lives is being the people of God.

This lent, join Jesus in the wilderness, be vulnerable with God, open up your life and let God make you whole. This Lent, choose God.