3/6
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| Time for peace |
On the first Sunday of Lent, I am with friends from Beverley Church. One member has just returned on one of the last flights out of Russia to the US. Another has a spouse, inlaws and other family in the besieged town of Maniupol. She has not been able to sleep or work all week.. Here is what I had to say...
Good morning. The world has changed since last we were together. The war we worried about last month has become real as Russia has invaded Ukraine and continues to brutally assault its cities. The circumstances touched directly at least two members of our community, One of my close friends in Pittsburgh grew up in the Ukrainian Church, just across the street from the Russian church. A million people have left the country in the largest out migration of people since World War II. People across the world are showing their concern, We are moved by images of Ukrainians with a captured Russia soldier bringing him hot tea and food and helping him to face time his mother back home. Zelensky, the former actor and now President, has won us over with his “ I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition” quote.
As they always do, wars reveal all kinds of realities. Our sympathies are with Ukraine but black and brown students hav been kept off the evacuation buses. Countries like Poland welcome the refugees because they are a different kind of refugee, like us…in other words white…we put Ukrainian flag filters on our Facebook profiles and identify ourselves with them], like we did win France, remember? But not Syria. How many Americans can name three African countries or even know about the brutal civil war in Nigeria, bombing Somalia or the plight of refugees from the Western Sahara? The ongoing torment of Yemen. Our compassion is very selective ….and Eurocentric.
Nevertheless, I tell my boys there are three truths about this war:
First, in history, things are always more complicated than we would like them to be.
Second, there are no clean hands here, especially our own.
Third but in the end, WRONG is WRONG and we need the courage to say it.
And here we are, on the First Sunday of Lent, entering into the wilderness with Jesus for a 40 day stay in the desert. So what’s going on there?
There’s a number of things I’d like to point out to you about in this story. It happens to Jesus right after his baptism. The same spirt that hovered over him like a dove drives him into the wilderness. For forty days…
Forty…..like the days of rain for Noah’s flood. Like the years the Hebrew children wandered in the desert. Like the days Moses spent on the mountain. Or Elijah.
It’s something Jesus must do before beginning of his ministry. He starts with a fast. And when he’s really hungry, that’s when the devil comes. But read closely..it’s almost like the Devil is working with God to get Jesus ready. He is called diabolos in Greek. It really means accuser, like the prosecuting attorney. Remember God and Satan in the story of Job?
Look very carefully at the temptations…they are sex, drugs and rick n roll or even wine, women and song. All the temptations are good things…
First, turning stones to bread..he’s hungry. There are a lot of hungry people. According to Hunger Action there are over 1.5 million of our neighbor New Yorkers who are food insecure. Why not turn stones into bread? By the way, it has always annoyed me in that wonderful We are the World song, how wrong they got it in the verse that says :
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread. And so we all must lend a helping hand
No no no..that’s what the devil offered not what God did..
Then the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Notice that no one argues that they are not his to give. I mean wouldn’t that be great if Jesus were in charge of all the governments? Isn’t that what Christian nationalists are trying to achieve? This temptation and Jesus’ reaction to it is about as total a rejection of Christian nationalism as you can get.
Finally, the devil tells Jesus he should jump off the tower of the temple and let the angels save him. Surely then everyone would believe in him..isn’t that what Jesus wants? Isn’t that good?
Jesu knows that he is not supposed to be a magic man. He’s not supposed to be David Blaine and do tricks. That’s why Jesus’ miracles are not done to prove he is the messiah…his healings, exorcisms, are for reasons of compassion, responding to human need not to lead people to follow him. That's why so often they are done in private or why he says tell no one. Jesus is asking people to follow him in a ministry of compassion, reconciliation and new community, not magic.
Note this as well..the devil quotes scripture in his conversation with Jesus, Remember this when people go throwing Bible versus at you….even the devil quotes scripture.
So when he has resisted the temptations, when he has passed the test, when he is good to go.. the devil departs from Jesus to wait for an opportune time…notice throughout the Bible whenever Jesus says get behind me Satan…there is something good in the temptation, usually from a friend like Peter.
What are we to take from this? If there’s any common theme in these temptations and rejections, it is you can’t take the easy way out. You have to work your way through,.You can’t get to the resurrection joy of Easter without the tragic journey of Holy Week. And the purpose of this is to get us ready for that.
It’s kind of like our spiritual spring training….now there’s another sore subject…I should be in Florida right now..with everything else gong on…no baseball!…
So what do we do? Because Jesus fasted, we have the traditions of giving up something for Lent. When I was growing up and all my friends were doing that, my folks were like we don’t do that, we’re Presbyterians…..Back home in Pittsburgh, this is the season of fish fries, every Friday...night the Catholic churches have fish fries to raise money…
First, I like to think not of giving something up but taking something on, a spiritual discipline…what might you take on?
Second, practice resisting the devil. At one level, that means Don’t take the easy way out….you have to walk through all the way with Jesus.
But there’s a deeper meaning,,,the Devil is the accuser…that voice that keeps you from believing in yourself, from forgiving yourself, that voice that says you will never succeed, you are not good enough…we have to learn to hear Jesus’ word of forgiveness, acceptance, we have to remind each other, help each other experience that…
And to that end, try this as a spiritual practice…seek to heal one broken relationship during this season…that would truly be resurrection…
I know it can continue to feel like a wilderness as we continue to worship virtually…outside our church home…in the lingering world of covid…i a time of war..but there’s still a journey to take …with Jesus …and each other…Easter awaits at the end…let those with ears to hear, hear…
Amen
Gospel Luke 4:1-13
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." 4Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 8Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
9Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' 11and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" 12Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
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