Homily, Lent 1, Year C

Loving God, as we enter this holy season of Lent, may we see the next six weeks as a gift of learning and growth, discipline and grace.  Help us to make space for your Spirit to direct our lives in new ways, to move us in new directions, so that we may live with hope and joy, following the example of Jesus.  Amen.

Have you ever noticed?  On the first Sunday in Lent – every year – we read the story of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by power and self-centredness and self-preservation.  I suspect the compilers of the lectionary – our list of scripture readings for Sundays – know that decision-making and temptation are things that all of us struggle with – all through our lives – in whatever situations we find ourselves.  So - we need to hear this story again and again.

Every Sunday we pray in our eucharist that God will forgive our sins, followed by a prayer of absolution.  Remember: sin is any barrier between us and God – or between us and other people – or between us and our inmost selves.  Lucia reminded us on Ash Wednesday that there are a lot of sins we humans simply are not capable of giving up – it’s part of being human - even when we wish we could – so we need to keep trying without shame or guilt, because God is eager to be merciful and God loves you and me – with no exceptions!

There’s a story of a small boy named Bobby who really wanted a new bicycle – so he decided to save his pocket money.  Each night he asked God to help him.  Kneeling beside his bed, he prayed – “Dear God, please help me save my money for a new bike – and please, God, don’t let the ice cream man come down the street again tomorrow”.

And there’s another story of an overweight businessman who decided it was time to shed a few pounds.  He took his new diet seriously – he even changed his driving route to avoid his favourite bakery.  But one morning he showed up at work with a large coffee cake.  Everyone in the office scolded him – but he continued to smile.  “This is a special coffee cake,” he explained.  “I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window were a whole lot of goodies.  I felt that it was no accident – so I prayed: “God, if you want me to have one of those delicious cakes, let there be a parking spot open – right in front of the bakery.  And sure enough – the eighth time round the block – there it was!”

All of us know what it’s like to enter the wilderness of temptation, because temptation is part of our human condition – a serious part that we shouldn’t neglect.  But the good news for us this morning is that we don’t have to give in to temptation. Jesus has given us an example.  Jesus has faced the tempter and defeated him and stands ready to help us.  Jesus promises us to strengthen us in our times of temptation and decision.

There’s a lot of stress and anxiety in any time of decision – we know that from our experience – and it’s not any different for Jesus.  Jesus is 30 years old – he’s been living a quiet life in Nazareth, working and worshipping in the local synagogue – but he feels called to do something new.  We can assume that growing in his mind is the vision that he would later call “the kingdom of God”.

He's heard that his cousin John is preaching about a vision of a transformed society where people would commit themselves to lives of integrity and self-discipline – to re-connect with things that really matter.  The message makes sense to Jesus – so he comes down from Nazareth to the Jordan river to listen to John. And it’s when John baptizes him that Jesus feels a deep sense of knowing what he is to do next. He knows now that he’s the beloved child of God – that’s his identity.  And he knows what he has to do.

Then we’re told: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”.  God’s Spirit – the Spirit that has confirmed his identity – actually leads Jesus into a time and place of testing.  For us too, it’s in the wilderness times – those times of transition – that God’s Spirit is with us to guide and direct our choices and decisions.

Life is full of choices – sometimes small everyday choices – sometimes choices that will drastically change the direction of our lives.  We ask: Is my choice a wise one? Will I regret it? What does God want me to do?  How will it all work out?  And always in times of transition we’ll meet demons.  We call them stress – anxiety – fear – self-doubt.  Jesus meets those demons too.  And it isn’t the only time Jesus will face temptation – that will continue to happen all through his life and ministry.

We’re told Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days and during that time he has a vision in which he is tempted by the devil.  The biblical “40 days” just means a long time.  Not every problem in our lives can be solved quickly and easily.   The three temptations that Jesus faces are universal temptations that all of us humans experience before we take on any power – any kind of public ministry – as Jesus is about to do.  They’re all temptations to misuse power for purposes that are not God’s purpose.  They’re the misuse of practical everyday power – the misuse of religious power – and the misuse of political power.

Each time, the devil is tempting Jesus to forget about his relationship with God – forget about his identity as a beloved child of God – and to use his power for his own benefit. The devil wants to undermine Jesus’ confidence in both God and in himself: show your strengths – use power to carry out your plans – develop an image of power even if it isn’t real – bribe people – impress people – dominate people – but Jesus refuses to be used for anything but God’s purpose – God’s purpose of love.

And that’s why the church season of Lent is so important.  It’s a time for us to strip away at least some of the many distractions that tempt us away from our baptismal identity and our baptismal ministry as beloved children of God and as followers of Jesus.  I suggest that each Sunday during Lent – while you’re waiting for the service to begin – that you read over again the promises that each of us made at our baptism.  They’re on p. 159 of the Book of Alternative Services.

We’re told Jesus returns from the wilderness and goes to his home country of Galilee and to all that’s familiar and intimate and vulnerable – and he finds some fisherman and says simply: “Follow me”.  He rejects the way of self-centered power and chooses instead the way of relationship and that reminds us that whoever God wants us to become, we can achieve best with others rather than over them – with love rather than with power – in community rather than alone.

The author Portia Nelson has written this – titled: “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters”.  It reads:

Chapter 1 – I walk down the street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I fall in.  I am lost – I am helpless. It isn’t my fault.  It takes me forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2 – I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I pretend I don’t see it.  I fall in again.  I can’t believe I’m in the same place, but it isn’t my fault.  It still takes me a long time to get out.

Chapter 3 – I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I see it’s there.  I still fall in…..  it’s a habit.  My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault.  I get out immediately.

Chapter 4 – I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I walk around it.

Chapter 5 – I walk down another street.

We have 6 weeks of Lent ahead of us – 6 weeks to say to the tempter:  “ I’m putting away the distractions in my life and walking down another street – I’m following the way of Jesus – his way of love and compassion for others – striving always for justice and peace – living generously, humbly and selflessly - with God and the Christian community holding my hand”.  There’s a world out there that needs desperately our love, our compassion, our purpose in life.  And there’s a God out there who needs to be discovered – who will guide us and support us in all things.  Amen.