February 13, 2005

Heading into the Wilderness

By Julianne Stokstad

This Sunday begins the church's spiritual journey as we head off into the wilderness with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem and Easter. Lent calls us to self-reflection and commitment to God. Our scriptures today give us lots to consider about temptation and evil in our own lives and in our world today. There is so much un-intentional harm done by good people causing so much anguish and suffering I wonder how that can be and my part in it..

From the book of Genesis we heard the parable of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were like innocent children in this original garden. Their worship of God and obedience to God were central and the source of all truth and beauty and goodness. But God created them with free will. Thus they were free to choose to love God or not, to obey God or not. Adam and Eve did what they wanted, like curious children, and were thrown out of the Garden for it. Through this disobedience called sin, they came to know shame and became conscious humans aware of good and evil. So it has been for humans ever since. In contrast, Jesus went directly to the wilderness after his baptism when he was so greatly blessed by God. After 40 days and 40 nights of fasting in the desert, he faced temptations but did not give in to them, giving us a model of spiritual maturity.

As we remember this time of temptations for Jesus, it is also a time of testing of our willingness to follow him. Now is a time to be aware of the temptations in our own wilderness. As Oscar Wilde wrote so glibly "I can resist everything in life but temptation." I think of our beagle, Bogey, who knows he is not allowed to howl but simply cannot help from doing it whenever someone walks by our garden. Each time I go outside, looking stern, he hangs his head guiltily and creeps inside. Like Bogey, resisting what feels good and what seems to be in our very nature is very difficult.

There is an Armenian proverb that says: "Temptations arrive unannounced." How do we know what is a temptation? Is it something we've been told we shouldn't do? Who defines for us what is right and wrong: our selves, our parents, our peer group, our society, our church, the Bible, God? It's not simple.

I call a temptation something we want or want to do that we know is wrong. Sin is when we do it. Temptations come in lots of ways and need to be looked at from a number of different levels. For some suffering addictions: tobacco, alcohol, drugs even food can be temptations. For others, fidelity in relationships, stealing, cheating are temptations. For some, an overdeveloped sense of responsibility can be a temptation leading to control others. Jesus calls us to look at the spiritual dimension of the temptations we face. We might not be aware there is that dimension to the temptations we face. We might only have a dim sense that something is not right, a quiet nagging in the stillness of the night. Lent calls us to our own time to consider what it means to live our life as the beloved of God.

The three temptations Jesus faced determined how he was going to live out his call as the Son of God, as God's beloved that came to him at his baptism . At first glance, these temptations deal with everything my mother told me NOT to talk about--physical appetites, religion and power politics.

The first temptation to turn the stones into bread on the purely physical level deals with his hunger. Jesus must have been famished from forty days of fasting when the devil tempted him to use the spectacular power God gave him to satisfy his own needs. But of course Jesus could also use this power to feed the world's hungry, a very good thing. If this power is used in service of his ego, then it is a temptation to spiritual pride. On spiritual level it is about his trust in God. Jesus doesn't go for the temptation, instead he quotes the Jewish Scriptures--"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

A Hassidic rabbi once said: "How easy it is for a poor man to trust in God. In what else is he to trust? And how difficult it is for a rich man to trust in God! All his possessions are crying out to him--Trust in me!"

This first temptation is a hard one for us to resist because we have so much. It is all too easy to trust that the things we have will satisfy us. We are spoiled and soft with a sense of entitlement, and there is great harm is being done in our world in order for us to have so much stuff. This also can lead us to trust what we can do and get for ourselves and not to rely on God and God's grace.

The second temptation happens on the temple pinnacle, where religious authority lies. The clever devil now uses Jesus' own defense, the scriptures, to tempt Jesus to test God's providence. Jump, prove you are the Son of God, if you are so holy and the angels will catch you. I remember shaking my head sadly hearing about some folks in Africa who got out of their boat and tried to walk on water, putting their faith and God to the test. Not knowing how to swim, they sank and drowned. We post-modern pragmatic utilitarian Americans wouldn't try to walk on water, unless it was frozen, but how many people do you know who want proof. Have you heard words like these? "If I want it, and I prayed for it, and I got it, then it works!" and if I don't get it, then what?" Jesus answered: "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

For the final temptation Satan drops all pretenses and just promises Jesus all the power in the entire world if he will just worship him. It is a great temptation to turn away from God and put our faith in power gathered in this world. Peter Gomes, chaplain at Harvard, writes about this temptation saying "the power to do good and compel a more just and moral society is the kind of theocratic illusion that has always proved such a tempting ambition to religious fundamentalists who, in the name of God, would seize power to compel others to righteousness." (The Good Book p. 278)

Temptations often lurk in the guise of doing good, albeit our good in God's name. In the Bible temptations are closely connected to evil, doing wrong and harming someone. Each week we say in Lord's prayer, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Jesus was tempted by the devil and Adam and Eve the serpent. Where does evil come from? Augustine in the 4th century C.E. argued that evil arose from the original sin committed by Adam and Eve and humans have lived with the guilt and burden of their original sinfulness ever since. I have trouble with this because if we say evil comes from the devil, who is a supernatural power that can overcome us and manipulate us, then we are reduced to puppets responding to forces beyond our control. Our own responsibility for evil deeds and our freedom are severely compromised.

Gandhi said, "the only devils in the world are those running around in our hearts." We must look into ourselves. Most often we can't see and we don't want to look at our own dark side. Within each human lies the potential to for the greatest good and also the potential to do greatest evil. We don't talk much about evil these days, but there is evil in our world, all around us. It is evil to destroy wantonly God's beautiful creation. It is evil to oppress people and to use them for our own benefit. We are all unintentionally implicated in the unintended consequences of our way of life. It is all too easy to go along and pay no attention to this. What can I do, you ask?

Lent is a time for us to face temptations in the wilderness parts of our own lives.

What are we to do? The first step is awareness. It takes great courage to face and name our own temptations and to take the first step to change.

Jesus gives us a powerful model. In his own inner struggle, he was tempted to rely on himself and serve his own needs, but he trusted God. He was tempted to prove God's love for him, but he resisted, knowing God's love for him. He was tempted to gain all power and influence and resisted again, knowing all power and glory lie with God.

As we look into ourselves, may we have patience as we learn to wait and listen. May we know that God is in charge. May we love God, as God is, not for what God does for us. Amen.