| Note: No sermon is quite the same when you read it. You miss the inflections, the expression that you gain in the hearing. The words below are only a close approximation of the sermon, taken from handwritten notes. Nevertheless, the words (as best as can be deciphered!) are shared with you here. The Webmeister |
First Sunday in Lent TODAY IS THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. Our word Lent comes from an Anglo-Saxon word lencten, meaning the time of the lengthening of days—or simply, spring. The greatest of all days of celebration for Christians is Easter which falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox when the length of day and night are balanced. So Easter is always celebrated in the spring, and so this time was called Lent by the ancient Anglo-Saxon peoples. But long before that, the early Christians had recognized that they desired a time of preparation before they remembered, yearly, the death and resurrection of our Lord. They set such a season or time and they gave it a length. It was 40 days long because Jesus had been tested for 40 days in the wilderness immediately after his baptism. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and we receive the ashes —a sign of our mortality, but also a sign of God's vast love that holds this dust in life and promises that this life given by him might be eternal. This is now the first Sunday of this season of Lent in the year of our Lord 2003; and here we are together—God give us strength and hope and love today! He was in the wilderness 40 days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and angels waited on him." Jesus had come, led by the Spirit, to be baptized. When he came up out of the water, he heard the words of confirmation of who and what he was—You are my Son, my child. You are beloved, loved by me. With you I am pleased. And at that supreme moment of affirmation and confirmation that we—as frail and needy humans can imagine as like being held by your most loved friend or parent—at that moment something shocking happens. At that moment of tremendous closeness and love, the Spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness. What is the wilderness? Why must he go there? What must he discover? I always thought the word wilderness came from the word wild, meaning a place that was uncivilized or unrestrained or desolate or dangerous; but I found out that it comes from another old Anglo-Saxon word, wilder, which means to lose one's way. We see this meaning in the word bewildered. So wilderness meant the place where you lost your way; and this was in places where there were no roads or tracks to follow, no patterns to cling to. The wilderness is the place where you become bewildered. That really changed my perspective because, as a modern person, I seek out wild and lonely places to regain a sense of balance–to find a sense of solitude–to listen for that still, quiet inner voice of God. And, conversely, I most often find myself bewildered in the midst of noise and busyness and the chaos of trying to live my life daily. So the wilderness, for me, might be right in the middle of a crowded freeway rushing to a meeting for which I am late, or in all the ways I find myself trying to cram 10 pounds of flour into a 5 pound bag—and I find suddenly that I have lost my way—I am bewildered. The Italian poet, Dante, said it so succinctly when he said at the beginning of the Inferno that "Suddenly in the midst of life I found myself in a dark wood wandering." Scripture today reveals a great mystery. The Holy Spirit drove Jesus, after his baptism and confirmation, out into the place of bewilderment where he was tempted by Satan. The word that we translate as tempted is better translated, in my opinion, as tested, because it is only by having to face a moment of decision that you are defined and your character begins to form. My parents and family gave me the pattern of faith in God, but it was only by being tested by life that I had to make a decision about who God was for me. And Jesus was tested. The story is very mysterious and sacred because it can only have come from one source. Only Jesus could have told the story of his encounter with Satan, the great tester of hearts. Only Jesus could have revealed the nature of the questions that bewildered him and only he could have passed the testing by remembering who he was and who he was called to be. St. Mark does not speak, as do Matthew and Luke, of the the exact testing questions of Satan but I am always conscious that each question contained a small two letter word that summoned up the most bewildering question you and I have to face in the midst of life. that small two letter word is "if." "If" you are the Son of God? "If" "If" you are a child of God, if you are a Christian, then prove it!" Jesus heard, "If you are the Son of God, then turn these stones into bread." "If you are the Son of God, then throw yourself down from the high place." "If you will only worship me, then I will give you the world." Satan wanted Jesus, and wants us, to lose our bearing, to become lost, bewildered. Satan wants us to forget whose we are and who we are. He wanted Jesus to forget the words he heard at his baptism..."You are my child, my beloved...I am pleased with you." "Are you really?" he asks Jesus. "Are you sure?" "Why don't you prove it?" "Maybe you just imagined God's voice." And Jesus will not force God to prove anything, because to do so would be to find yourself lost in the wilderness. Jesus had nothing he needed to prove to Satan and so he passed his testing. How do we follow his example? How do we too so fully belong to God that we resist the temptation to play God or put God to the test? We live in a world and culture at this time that is obsessed by security. We move from yellow to orange to red and know nothing save that we are supposed to be afraid. We are as fearful of the power of the atom as ever we were in the midst of the Cold War. We fear economic insecurity – atomic insecurity – terrorism insecurity, but did all this insecurity suddenly appear out of nowhere? When have we ever lived under the illusion that all was secure? Not since we were very young. The journey of life is always a faith journey into the wilderness. For Noah the trackless, unbroken water on which the ark floated was as much a wilderness as the burnt, blasted Judean desert — the desolation — into which Jesus went. I have a friend who always appends a message on her email to me. Recently one from an unknown author read: Security is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God no matter what the danger. How do we believe what God promises us? My friends, it is by one power and one power alone. It is by the power of God's love. Only God's love can sustain us and support us in this life. By grace and adoption we are also His children. By the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus we have been told "You are my child. I love you. You are pleasing to me." Those promises that are so clear and transformational on the mountaintop become so vague and twisted in the valley of the shadow of death—the valley of wilderness and bewilderment. And we hear that insidious whisper of the tempter always in our ear, "If you are the child of God, prove it. Maybe you are just fooling yourself—prove it." Only the love of God in Christ Jesus can sustain in a dark wood wandering; and Thanks be to God if we find our way lost and ourselves bewildered, that love is there to find and guide us. This is the season of Lent. Frederic Buechner points out that many ancient societies gave a tithe—a tenth of each year's income—to some holy use. For we Christians to keep the 40 days of Lent is to give roughly a tenth of each year's days. May you spend this season of Lent facing yourself in the wilderness of life and finding that you do not have to listen to the one who bewilders you and leads you to where you are lost. Instead, may you find yourself. May you remember by whom you were created, by whom you are loved, and by whom you are sent out into life. In the days of all your testing and temptation, never forget His love. You will always find that in the wilderness—Among the demons dwell also his angels and they will minister to you. Amen The Reverend James T. Tucker, Rector March 9, 2003 *Past sermons may be found here. |
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