The Journey Begins

Scripture. Matthew 4:1-11.  CEB. 

1 Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. 2 After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”

5 After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, 6 “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.” 

7 Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”

8 Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”  11 The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.

********************************************************

Lent began on Ash Wednesday.  Like other Christians all over the globe, people gathered here to mark the beginning of the Lenten journey, accepting the mark of repentance - a cross made of ashes on their foreheads.  Lent is a journey toward God, a road home.  Beginning with today’s worship, we are lighting a candle every Sunday during Lent to light the way.  

Fasting for forty days and forty nights.  Wow.  Mohandas Ghandi fasted for 21 days in his longest non-violent protest against British colonialism.   Muslims fast during daylight hours for the entire month of Ramadan.  Some friends of mine make fasting a regular part of their spiritual practices.  Pastor Josue is one.   Me, I think it’s a big deal to fast before a 9 am blood test. 

There are typically three reasons for a fast: as penance for a sin, as an act of submission or devotion to God, or as preparation for something to come.  Fasting in Lent is kind of all three.

 Many Christians engage in some kind of fast during Lent to mirror Jesus’s 40 day fast in the wilderness, as a sign of devotion to God.  For Catholics that means not eating meat or anything with meat in it, although fish is permitted. People often give up some luxury or other during these 40 days, (like Facebook) and in recent years there has been a concerted effort among my colleagues to encourage folks to add a spiritual practice of some sort. (And yes, going to the gym, recycling more intentionally, and so on can be spiritual practices.)   

Jesus’s baptism is the event that marks the start of his new journey.  Up to that day at the river with his cousin John, he was just Jesus, son of the carpenter in Nazareth.   Then he was baptized with the water of repentance, leaving his old life behind. And the Spirit led him into the wilderness, so he could prepare for everything that was to come. His mission and ministry will begin when he walks out of the wilderness.  The temptation he faced was part of that preparation.  For although the Spirit led Jesus there so that he could be tempted, you may have noticed that Satan, the Tempter, came to him at the very end of this wilderness period, when he was physically weakest.  It had been, after all, 40 days with the barest minimum to sustain life.   And there’s Satan, offering Jesus an easier, softer way, the world on a platter.

Have you noticed that this is the way it is when beginning a journey in your life? Students preparing for college or graduate school struggling with admissions paperwork and forms and financial aid stuff might hear the Tempter whispering. . . Why are you doing all this? Wouldn’t it be easier to just go get a job?  You don’t really need that degree, do you?  Do you know how many unemployed college grads there are?  And all those Student Loans?  

Or having made the decision in your later years to change careers, struggling with making all the changes that have to be made, there is the Tempter again, whispering . . . Why are you doing this?  You could stay where you are, just keep doing what you know how to do.  It’s comfortable. It’s easier.  Why work so hard?”  Starting a family . . . Moving to take a new job . . . any new thing will bring those whispers “Are you sure you are doing the right thing?”  If we have included God in our decision, we can resist those whispers, just as Jesus resisted Satan.

As with Jesus, the baptism of repentance was also a new beginning for us.  As we entered the baptismal waters we vowed to give up our sins, to avoid temptation, to become new people in Christ.  Baptism itself does not change us - baptism is our promise to God and to ourselves that we will change.  I remind you of this because of yesterday I happened to remember a young woman I baptized years ago.  Although I kept telling her that baptism would not miraculously change her, that she would have to do the work of change herself, she was so disappointed that being baptized did not immediately remove her desire to drink.  Temptation is part of life. It’s a constant - even after we are baptized - as we can see from Jesus’ experience.  How well we resist depends almost entirely on how our relationship with God is right that minute.  Jesus had just spent 40 days of of constant prayer and conversation with God.  Confirming through prayer and meditation that he was, indeed, on the right path.  Strengthening his faith, not just in God, but also in himself.  Thus he could face Satan at his very weakest moment and resist - because his real strength came, not from food but from God.   For many of us, the greatest temptation we face is to believe the lie that we are not good enough, not strong enough, not smart enough, that we are doomed to fail.  We may hear it from other people - when I was a student at Chapman my mother-in-law kept telling me there was always a place for us in her home when I inevitably failed at college. Or we may hear it inside our own heads.  Where ever we hear it, the temptation to give in and give up can be resisted, by staying in contact with God, by understanding that God will give us the strength we need to do whatever it is we need to do. 

Lent is a time for repentance, using these 40 days in much the same way as we will be using these candles - to shine light on ourselves, on our journey, to reveal to ourselves those things we would prefer not to examine.  We look back over our lives, acknowledging where we have sinned, repenting for those sins, making amends as necessary and possible, so that the light in us shines more brightly.   As it is told in Luke 11, “Therefore, see to it that the light in you isn’t darkness. 36 If your whole body is full of light—with no part darkened—then it will be as full of light as when a lamp shines brightly on you.” (Luke 11:35-36). 

If we use Lent for self examination, for bringing light more deeply into our hearts then, as it says in John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.”   Bringing more light into ourselves through repentance chases the darkness and strengthens, prepares us to resist temptation when it comes.  The light will overcome the darkness.

This is where the journey begins. The beginning of the road home is this wilderness time, when we fast, perhaps from food or some luxury, but certainly from temptation.  It is a time of preparation for what is to come.   It is a time to spend in devotion to God, submitting ourselves to God’s will.  As we continue along the road home in the next weeks we will strive to leave behind those things that weigh us down, slow us down, keep us in the pain of the past, and prevent us from living in the faith and hope of the resurrection.  For this road is not just the road to the cross, but also the road to the empty tomb, to the risen Christ, to that day when death was defeated forever.  This road is the road to new life, and new beginnings.