First Sunday of Lent, Year A, 2002 Sheldon Hutchison--All Saints', Palo Alto, CA

It seems incredible, doesn't it? 2 weeks ago we put away the crèche here at All Saints', and now we enter the season of Lent. We have all quickly moved from a season of celebration to a season of introspection. A shift like that can seem almost painful at times.

And part of the pain of transition comes from the move we make from the celebration and hopefulness we experience in Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, coming to the readings we have for today. At first glance, today's readings seem aimed only at reminding us of our own inherent sinfulness, and how we need to reflect upon how humankind has handled temptation, especially as we compare ourselves to Jesus.

But is that the only message? Is today's gospel story of Jesus' temptation told merely to remind us of how different and inadequate we are--that we, like Adam and Eve, can never measure up? To be sure, there are enough theologians--even today--who've used these readings to say just that: when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden we were all banished with them, all of us possessing that Original Sin (that's Sin with a capital "S") that only Jesus could overcome. Not a hopeful message. Not really a message that draws us closer to God or Christ. And I think it's not even the message we were meant to hear. Lent is a time to acknowledge our need for penitence and forgiveness, but in even this God, I think, affirms hope over inadequacy. The Great Litany we all said at the start of this service is a Litany of both penitence and hope.

Let us examine these stories again together, and let us look at them in a way that I think they might be meant for us to encounter them today. But as we begin this, I'd like for you all to think about temptation for a moment. Specifically, where does temptation enter our lives? It's obvious enough to say that it seems to be all around us, but in order to hear these stories today I think we have to also pay attention to the role that temptation plays in each of our lives...The role that it plays.

Temptation in the Garden of Eden. What did Adam and Eve do that was so wrong? Was it merely disobedience to God, doing something they were told explicitly not to? Was it really done because forbidden fruit is always the sweetest? Or was it the temptation of the power that the fruit might give them, the power to change their relationship with God and become like God, knowing both good...and evil? The sin, I think, was one of destroying a relationship--their relationship with God, seeking some kind of equality with God. Temptation gave them an opportunity--a choice--in their lives, and they made their decision...and acted accordingly.

Now, the same sort of thing could be said for Jesus, actually. His own temptation story comes immediately after his baptism in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. At his baptism, Jesus is named by God, called by God, and like us in our own baptisms, brought into a new relationship with God. God has offered this relationship to Jesus, so to speak, and Jesus needs time in the wilderness to come to grips with it. When he ends his time in the wilderness he is confronted and tempted by the devil himself, who tempts Jesus to use divine power, to make himself somehow equal with God, to perform miracles that would feed him, protect him, give him worldly power. This temptation gives Jesus the opportunity--the choice--to act in response to this new relationship. He makes his decision...and acts accordingly.

Temptation, then, is in a real sense, the bringer of opportunities into our lives and more specifically into our relationships. Certainly, we get to decide every day much of what we will do: what to wear, what to eat, and so on, but the presence of temptation in among our choices often also reflects the possibility that our decisions might also affect our relationships with others. As a commuter--going up to Berkeley way too often--the temptation to use the commuter lane comes to mind. Now, it might not really "hurt" anybody if I were to use it once in a while, but it would change my own sense of how I treat the other drivers, how we all need to be fair to one another. Each time I am tempted in such ways I have to make decisions that affect my relationships. And put that way they don't seem any easier, either.
Returning to the Garden of Eden and to Adam and Eve, they made their decision and acted accordingly. God, however, might also have been tempted just to make dust out of them again, but instead does the surprising thing; God says, in a sense, "Okay, so now you know evil as well as good. You desire some kind of equal participation with me in creation. Okay, you've got it. Eden is a place of only good; you will leave this place and now have equal responsibility with me in overcoming the evil, the pain, the injustice that are in the rest of creation. Together we are responsible for bringing righteousness back into all of creation."

Take a moment and imagine their shock at hearing this. They sought knowledge; they got a lifelong calling to ministry with God...and so do we.

Jesus' story is not the antithesis of the Garden of Eden story, but it is its echo in the New Testament. The temptations that Jesus faces are the ones to make his own life pleasurable, make the desert wilderness--where he is--a kind of "Eden," with food, water, angels to help him, and the world at his feet. The calling of his baptism, however, is for him the same calling God gave Adam and Eve. In calling Jesus as his own son, his Beloved, God has also called him as a human to share in the calling and ministry of bringing creation itself back into righteousness, not calling him to use divine power for personal comfort. In rejecting the temptations of the devil Jesus accepts the relationship he has with his father and the calling to ministry that it represents...even today.

Lent, indeed, is a time for reflection and introspection. But we are challenged today, as we gather on this first Sunday of Lent, with the same challenge that God has given to all creation--from Adam and Eve, through Jesus, the disciples at Pentecost, to Paul on the road to Damascus, and to all the world. It is the calling to accept a lifelong ministry, with God, to seek to bring God's righteousness to all creation, making everything we do an answer to this challenge. There is a temptation to seek less, naturally. But the truly good news of today's gospel is that being called to God's ministry in the world we also called to never be alone in these endeavors; we are placed in this world in community with others, to turn mere buildings into places of worship by our worship, and to turn all of creation into the kingdom of God through our callings to represent God's ministry in our lives together.

Every mile driven, every meal cooked, every email sent, every bed made, every meeting attended, every class taught, every life encountered, every act of kindness, every day we live, every breath we take, everything we do, whenever and wherever we do it, all offer us the chance to fulfill our callings to ministry, with God. We are called to look upon our opportunities and to make our decisions...and then always to act accordingly. Amen.

copyright 2002 by Sheldon Hutchison. All rights reserved.

reprinted by permission

Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSV)

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.' 4But he answered, 'It is written, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."' 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you," and "On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone."' 7Jesus said to him, 'Again it is written, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."' 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' 10Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan! for it is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."' 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.