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The First Sunday In Lent
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan; Make speed to help thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and, as thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one find thee mighty to save; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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The First Sunday In Lent
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Scripture citation(s): Matthew 4:1-11; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Matthew 4:1-11; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19
✛
Shaping the Choices We Make
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My youngest daughter is getting married in May. My wife recently went to support her; there is a lot to do and seemingly endless choices. However, nothing had prepared me how best to deal with the numerous emails, texts, and face time sessions about the Mother of the Bride outfit! “What about this color? Do you think this is too expensive? Does this look too cheap? Does this make me look fat?” And the worst question of all, “Do you like me in this?” Which could, of course, be interpreted in a number of ways. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong answer!
We often think that our moral choices are a bit like choosing a brand in a supermarket; that we simply need to weigh up a number of factors, such as value for money, or personal taste, or what everyone else is buying. But moral choices are not made like that and life is not played out in a shopping mall. Talking to the Lambeth Conference nearly 20 years ago on this very subject, Rowan Williams said, “Ethics is a difficult discovering of something about yourself, a discovering of what has already shaped the person you are and is molding you in this or that direction.” [1]
When Adam and Eve made choices in the garden they did so in relationship with each other, with the serpent that was tricking them, but also in the light of the relationship they had with God, their maker. Significantly, the second story of creation in Genesis portrays God making Adam out of the dust of the earth – literarily shaping him.[2] The temptation posed by the serpent cuts to the heart of the relationship that Adam and Eve had with their creator; as Williams said, “discovering what has already shaped the person you are.”
The choice of whether Adam and Eve should eat or not eat the forbidden fruit seems simple, but it had huge consequences – consequences that affected the very relationship that gave them choice in the first place.
How significant that, once they had made their choice, they had to hide from God. We are told that it was because they were naked and therefore, somehow, embarrassed but we forget the words of Adam when God was looking for them; “I was afraid”.[3] The consequence of the fall was the impairing of the beautiful relationship that God had with humankind, made in his image. Fear replaced love; death replaced trust.
The story goes on to tell us that Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden and thus began a wilderness experience.
It is easy to think that wilderness or desert experiences are moments that we might want to forget; moments of testing or dry areas of our lives that we could do without. But such experiences are part of what it is to be human and through such testing can come growth. In the Old Testament, after the Exodus narrative, the Hebrew Tribes wandered in the desert for 40 years. They had a relationship with the God of Israel – they were his chosen people; they were being shaped by him – and because of that relationship, and the relationship that they had with one another, the choices they made had consequences that were sometimes unexpected or changed their future history.
Jesus experienced this same kind of testing or trial in the desert for 40 days. He who had the perfect relationship with his Father also had choices to make and they were also not as simple as one might think. The temptations left Jesus exhausted – his choices had consequences, and we are told that angels came to minister to him. Later, in his ministry, Jesus was to be faced yet again with choices but his wilderness experience had prepared him for them because, in his temptations in the wilderness, he had discovered something about himself, his relationship with God, with others, and where that would lead him.
Turn these stones into bread…Jesus taught his disciples how to pray and how to pray for daily bread that was sufficient for their needs; he gave an example when he fed the 5000, but in the upper room, after teaching his disciples to love one another, he showed them how to turn bread into Body so that the world could be nourished with his presence.
If you are the Son of God…By not choosing to be a celebrity, by emptying himself and assuming the form of a slave, Jesus set an example. In that same upper room, he washed his disciples’ feet and called them friends.
All these kingdoms I will give you…The incarnate Son of God, who was the creative Word, made himself powerless; standing before the High Priest, Herod, and Pilate he ushered in the Kingdom, but a kingdom that was not of this world.
Writing to the Romans, Paul contrasts the choices made by Adam through whom came death and separation from God and Jesus, the second Adam, whose perfect relationship with the Father brought life and reconciliation. The fall impaired relationships – a consequence of poor choices, of selfishness, of the supermarket approach to ethical responsibility; Jesus repaired relationships – by setting before us the example of perfect harmony with God and his creation. What we celebrate in Lent and Holy Week is the realignment of our lives and the choices that we make to God; celebrating the relationship that we have with God in Jesus Christ. His death reaches back in time, affects the present and affords hope for the future. He continues to shape us, if only we would let him.
Michael Ramsey once said, “Jesus is divine: his death is thus a symbol of universal significance. It is a symbol of the clash between the perfect love of God and the sinfulness of the whole human race – Peter, John and Paul as well as Caiaphas, Judas and Pilate.” [4]
Peter, John and Paul allowed God to shape their lives; Caiaphas, Judas and Pilate tried to shape their own.
_______________
[1] Paper presented at a plenary session of the Lambeth Conference on July 22, 1998 by Rowan Williams when he was Bishop of Monmouth in the Church of Wales.
[2] Genesis 2:7
[3] Genesis 3:9-10
[4] From his book, “Introducing the Christian Faith”
