A Sermon preached in
Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, MichiganThe Rev. Vicki K. Hesse, Associate
The First Sunday of Lent, Year C
14 February 2016
Listen to this sermon here.
May the words of
my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts
be always acceptable to you O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen
be always acceptable to you O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen
When I was beginning middle school,
my teachers used to ask me,
“are you going to be
like your oldest sister Karen, or
your next older sister Lauren?”
As you can imagine,
this was a loaded question –
having something to do with their trust in me –
What kind of child will I be?
A gifted, artistic and rebel child, like Karen?
Or an all-A’s, girl scout, obedient child,
like Lauren?
Who are you, they meant, and
can I trust you - the bigger question.
Oh, we sisters have shared the stories!
This passage from the gospel reading today
is about Jesus’ identity –
his identity as fully divine, and fully human.
The scripture just prior to this text
outlines Jesus’ genealogy
from when he was about thirty years old
and he began his work.
Jesus was known as
the son (as was thought) of Joseph
son of Heli,
son of Matthat,
who was son of …
all they way back to Adam, son of God.
The sacred story connects Adam
to Jesus, who, so unlike Adam,
was baptized with a voice from heaven,
“You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus’ baptism affirms that
he is the son of God.
The pursuant temptations ask,
what kind of child will you be?
Will you be like Adam or like God?
Let’s find out, the devil pursued,
with temptations of bread, power and safety.
With each temptation,
The devil tried to undermine
Jesus’
trust and confidence in God,
pulling him away from his
identity
as God’s son.
Each temptation offered
relief from his mission as a
human.
Each temptation tried to erode and undercut
Jesus’ trust and confidence in
God.
When the devil first tempted Jesus with bread,
Jesus picked up on the real test:
a detraction from confidence in God.
Jesus responded by affirming his trust.
When the devil next tempted Jesus
with world power
(in return for allegiance to
and worship of the devil)
the game was pretty clear –
Jesus knew his allegiance
could only be given to the one
from whom Jesus had received his identity.
When the devil finally bullied Jesus, suggesting
that God was not trustworthy,
and so Jesus better test that relationship,
Jesus refused to do so.
What is the deal with temptations?
Pastor David Lose offers insight here
about the nature of temptations.
He says, “…temptation is not so often
temptation toward
something –
usually portrayed as doing
something
you shouldn’t –
but rather is usually
the
temptation away from something –
namely,
our
relationship with God
and
the identity we receive
in
and through that relationship.”[1]
In each case, these temptations attempted
to tear away
at Jesus’ confidence
in God and in himself.
In each case, the devil tried
to erode Jesus’ self-understanding
that he is enough,
that he is secure,
that he is worthy of God’s love.
In each case, temptations attempt
to tear away at our
confidence
in God and in ourselves as God’s children.
In each case, temptations try
to erode our self-understanding
that we are enough,
that we are secure,
that we are worthy of God’s love.
We, too, are tempted to be pulled away.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be
bread, power and safety.
For us, it might be youth, beauty and wealth.
Or self-reliance, fame and security.
We are surrounded with media messages
from advertising whose goal is to create in us
a sense of lack and inadequacy,
with the implied promise that
consuming the product
will relieve our insecurity.
Political messages often tell of
insecurity and fear:
can we trust this politician to make us safe?
These tempting messages
try to lure us away
from allegiance to the God
who created us and redeemed us.
We wonder, who are we? Are we enough?
Is God really
sufficient to meet our needs?
In the face of the temptations,
Jesus returned to the sacred story of Israel.
He asserted to the devil
his part in that story
and therefore he reaffirmed,
each time,
his identity as a child of God.
Jesus remembered his story – our story -
from the scriptures –
and was reminded
not only that he has enough
and is enough
but that he is of infinite worth in God’s eyes.
And through this testing,
Jesus was prepared for his mission.
He was ready for ministry.
In the face of temptations,
we are tempted to pull away from
God’s gaze.
We are tempted to forget
our relationship with God
and the identity we receive in and through
that relationship.
We are tempted to forget our sacred story:
that God loves us more than anything.
We are tempted to pull away from the fact that
God loves all of us, enough
to send God’s only Son into the world,
to take on our human nature and
to suffer the same temptations and wants,
to be rejected as often as we feel rejected and
to die as we will die,
so that we may know God
is with us
and for us forever.
When we are tempted,
we can connect to our sacred story,
affirming that through Jesus’ resurrection
God’s love is found more powerful than
all the mistrust and hate in the world.
The life that God offers
is more powerful than death.
See, we receive this sacred story
into our whole being at our baptism
but we are tempted to forget.
This Lent, I invite you to take on
a simple practice of remembering.
Remember your baptism, by simply
tracing the cross on your forehead
and say to yourself as you do so,
“I am God’s beloved child.”
Silently or aloud, would you try this?
(do this now).
When you are tempted to be pulled away
from your allegiance to God, try this
and remember “I am God’s beloved child.”
In this way, you can affirm your relationship and
remember that God draws near to you.
In every moment, God crosses your forehead and says,
“you are my beloved child.”
Lent is often full of
self-denial, sacrifice and resisting
temptations.
Perhaps this is an ideal season
to remind each other of the love and grace
encouraged by this Lenten Prayer[2]:
Fast from fear;
Feast on Faith
Fast from despair; Feed on hope.
Fast from depressing news; Feed on prayer.
Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger and worry; Feed on patience.
Fast from negative thinking;
Fast from despair; Feed on hope.
Fast from depressing news; Feed on prayer.
Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger and worry; Feed on patience.
Fast from negative thinking;
Feast
on positive thinking.
Fast from bitterness;
Fast from bitterness;
Feed
on love and forgiveness.
Fast from words
that wound;
Feast
on words that heal.
Fast from gravity; Feast on joy and humor.
Fast from gravity; Feast on joy and humor.
This Lent, we are invited
to remember our sacred story
in that difficult image of the cross,
where we can trust God’s empowering love
for us and all the world.
Jesus was faithful to God
and so God is faithful to us.
When we are tested and led
to places of hunger and despair,
we learn dependence on God,
who defines who we really are.
God loves us and will keep loving us
no matter what.
For this reason we are enough.
I know that I need to hear this declared
again and again,
in the face of messages to the contrary.
Who are you?
What kind of child are you?
God’s beloved child, that’s who.
Amen
[1] Cited at http://www.davidlose.net/2016/02/lent-1-c-identity-theft/ on February 13, 2016
[2] adapted from A Lenten Prayer
by William Arthur Ward as quoted at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/father-alberto-cutie/lenten-journey_b_1339020.html on February 13, 2016
