We enter the season of Lent with this story of temptation that
takes place just after Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan, and just before
Jesus calls his disciples and begins teaching on the hillside. We talk about
what happens in this story as temptation. Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.
But I think this story is much more about seduction than it is temptation, and
I’ll tell you why.
I’m reminded of Edmund, in The Lion the Witch and the
Wardrobe, one of the books in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Edmund is the
third child in a family of four children. He is overshadowed by his older
brother Peter, and Edmund suffers from a lack of confidence that contributes to
a rather unfortunate series of decisions. When the children enter the land of
Narnia through the wardrobe, they encounter eternal winter, brought on by the
despicable Queen. The Queen approaches Edmund and tempts him with the sugary
concoction, Turkish delight, and some warm and wonderful hot cocoa as well.
Thus begins Edmund’s turn toward the despicable Queen, and away from the Lion
Aslan, his brother and sisters, and all that represents.
You see, just about without an exception, temptation looks
and feels delicious. It is part of our very humanity to seek out that which we
believe is positive, pleasurable, and good. We always embark on the road to
perdition with the belief that it is in fact a good. That is the nature of
seduction. It begins with a beautiful face, it begins with a ripe red apple, it
begins with mouth watering tastiness, it begins with the promise of relief,
escape, pleasure, it begins in wonder and amazement, but many times it does not
end well. And yet, often we are powerless to know it or to see it.
The great seducer in our gospel today shows Jesus three
wonderful and amazing things. First, stones that may become bread. It may be
hard to imagine yourself as Jesus, or not, but try for a moment. You are
concerned about poverty and starvation all over the known world. Your
instructions to those who follow you are to feed the hungry; over and over you
ask your friends and followers to feed the hungry. And here you are presented
with a solution to world hunger. Command these stones to become bread. That’s
it, that’s all it takes. There are enough stones in the world if they all
became bread there would be no child going to bed hungry at night. Who wouldn’t
say yes? Feeding people is good, isn’t it?
Second, ultimate safety. If you were unable to be hurt, you
would be able to continue to relieve world hunger forever and for always? If
you were unable to be hurt, you would be able to love everyone all the time? If
you are unable to be hurt, you would not have to go to the cross to die? Sounds
like a good, doesn’t it?
Third, authority. Everyone and everything answering to you.
With ultimate authority, everyone would follow your rules and your rules are
good rules. Love your neighbor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the
sick and imprisoned. The world would be perfect if you were in charge.
What’s so wrong with this scene? Nothing at all. Nothing at
all. That is the nature of seduction. It looks so good. It tastes so good. It
feels so good. It must be right. We are human after all. What makes this story
so powerful is that we have been there. Each and every one of us has been
there; we may even be there yet today. This is about Jesus, and it is about
each of us. You see, it isn’t black and white, right or wrong, it isn’t obvious
or clear, and don’t let anyone seduce you into thinking that it is. This
journey of life is full of choices, which is God’s gift to us, choice, and a
pile of love to go with it, because we know that God's love wins. Even Jesus
had the choice, the choice to follow the seducer, the choice to give in to the
pain and suffering of his journey, the choice to walk away from the
cross.
So what does this journey look like? We are on a journey
together, you and me and all the others. All the best heroes have their posse’s
with them. Edmund had his brother and sisters and all the animals of Narnia,
Luke had Han Solo, Lea, Chewbacca, and the Holy Trinity of Obi-wan, Anakin, and
Yoda, Harry has Hermione and Ron and the whole Weasly family, Woody has Buzz,
Mr. Potato Head, Rex and Hamm, you get the picture. We take this journey
together; together we share the strength, the wisdom, the courage to make
choices, good or bad, right or wrong.
Us humans live daily, maybe even moment-by-moment in the
reality of this seduction. It is being fully human after all, what is so
amazing is the love that God has for us and the forgiveness that God is willing
to heap upon us time, after time, after time. We miss the mark, and Jesus continues
to stand with us, surrounded by our company of friends, loved ones, and supporters,
and Jesus puts his arms around our shoulders, straightens us out, gives us
strength and courage, and shows us how to hit the mark dead center. And, while
the enemy arrow comes right at him, Jesus also says, let me step into your
place and take the arrow for you.
In our lifetimes, we don’t ever feel the absence of
seduction and temptation. We are however forgiven. That is where we begin this
journey of lent, in the place of examination and forgiveness. We have this
opportunity to turn to God, to examine ourselves, to ask again for forgiveness,
to look upon our mortality and fall on our knees and ask for the help we need,
because we cannot do it on our own. We cannot walk this journey without the one
who created us, the one who walks with us, the one who sustains us, and with one
another. To believe we can is to succumb to the seduction of vanity,
self-absorption, egotism, and selfishness.
And we see much of that vanity, self-absorption, egotism,
and selfishness in our culture today. There are so many temptations in this
world, so much seduction. Most of them coming not as apples hanging from a tree
but rather subtle messages that seek to undermine our identity and invite us to
forget whose we are. Remember on Ash Wednesday I told you that the ashes remind
us who we are and whose we are. So many
commercials suggest we are inadequate. So many headlines suggest that there is
not enough to go around. And so many politicians – of all parties – contend
that we have a great deal to fear. In the face of these identity-obscuring
messages, we have the opportunity to root our lives in the same baptismal
promise that safe-guarded and empowered Jesus. This is the baptismal promise
that reminds us that God says we are so totally enough, that there is plenty to
go around, and that we need not live in fear.
On Ash Wednesday I invited you to think about that which you
may set aside this lent. It is not about giving up something you love, but it
is about abstaining from that which gets in the way of your relationship with
God and with one another. What seduces you into believing that you can walk
this journey on your own? What seduces you into believing that you are right
and others are wrong? What seduces you into believing that you are immortal, what
seduces you into believing that you are not enough, or that you are not God’s
beloved? What is it that you will abstain from this lent?
I invite you, God’s beloved, to journey together; I invite
you to a holy lent.
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