Sermon for
February 29, 2004
First Sunday in Lent
The Reverend
Cheryl Harrison-Davidson
“The Way of Blessing is Through the Desert”
Luke 4:1-13
Have you ever wondered what it is like in the desert? What must it feel
like to be in sweltering heat in the daytime? … in cold at night? What
is it to look around and as far as you can see, see nothing but sand? Have
you imagined the picture of the desert floor and desert sky divided by
only the flat line of the horizon? Can you picture the vastness? The
barrenness?
The desert is both a place and an experience. It is a geographical
location as well as a spiritual condition. When someone tells you they are
in a desert place, your first inclination may be to think that they are
feeling dried up and even dead. But when we look to the Scriptures for our
picture of the desert, we learn that it is not always such a terrible
place to be.
One writer has said:
The desert is the place where God does [the holy] thing, prepares
us to receive [divine] grace, opens within us a passage. In the desert
the crooked paths are made straight, the high places brought low and the
rough, uneven spots made smooth. The desert is our mentor or guru.
There, God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. Deserts are places of
isolation and fasting, places of solitude and quiet where we can gather
and collect ourselves, free from the powers that dismember us. Our
deserts are places where we can be alone – but not completely. There,
only God meets us, claims us, and sets us on the road by propelling us
back into community.
(Ray Council, alive now!, jan/feb 1978)
We began the season of Lent this past week, on Ash Wednesday. Lent is
the period of forty days, minus the Sundays, that precede Easter. Lent is
a time for looking inward, for taking stock. Lent is desert time.
Perhaps we can get a better sense of the desert if we look to Biblical
stories where the desert or wilderness played a primary role. Let’s take
a few moments to look at some Old Testament stories.
It is in the wilderness of Horeb where MOSES encounters God. A
burning bush catches his attention. And we remember that Moses is a little
reluctant. But in the wilderness there is no room for compromise. The
desert offers no “maybes”. You decide “yes” or “no”. You
decide to live or die – that is the decision of the desert.
In the EXODUS, God’s chosen people are on the run and
encounter the desert. Back in Egypt, while they were in slavery, they may
have been able to hide from God … to hide in their bondage. But now that
God has set them free … now that they are in the barren atmosphere of
the desert, that raw and harsh setting, there was no place to hide. In the
desert you cannot hide from God … and ultimately, as they soon
discovered, you can only be sustained by God’s gracious blessings.
In the New Testament, JOHN THE BAPTIST, dressed in camel skin,
eating locust and honey, announces Jesus’ coming in the desert. He
preaches repentance, announcing the most important revelation of God in
history. And where does he preach? … in the desert. The people could
hear the announcement only … if they left their homes and businesses,
broke their daily routines, and went into the desert where he was
preaching. Even today there are times when we must leave our routines, our
ordinary ways, what is usually expected of us, and make our way into the
desert where we can listen for and hear Christ coming.
And what of JESUS? After he was baptized he went into the desert
… to the place called Desolation. He went alone to face the stark, harsh
realities of the desert … and, as the Scriptures tell us, to be tempted
Today we throw around the word “tempted” rather loosely. Isn’t it
the word we use when looking over the dessert menu at our favorite
restaurant? When the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted, it means a lot
more was at stake than whether or not to have chocolate raspberry
cheesecake. We are not talking about a fork in the road, or a place where
a flip of a coin could make the decision for us. More is involved,
brothers and sisters … much, much more.
I can almost imagine Jesus telling the story to his disciples of the
time he was led into the desert and tempted. There is no other way they
could have learned of it and later shared it with us. It is a most
courageous confession: The disciples were looking to Jesus as leader and
teacher… perhaps more. For his part, Jesus wanted and needed their
loyalty. And yet he shared with them the anxieties and tensions of his
sense of vocation.
And so the same Spirit that spoke to Jesus at his baptism now leads him
into the desert. This morning, I do not want to get hung up on the
question of the literal reality of the devil. It is enough to know that
Jesus is tormented by questions of his identity and mission, just as we
are. Like others who sense themselves called by God, he had to get away by
himself to discover just what that might calling might mean.
Alone in the desert, and after fasting for forty days and nights, the
scripture tells us that “He was hungry” … with a hunger that we can
hardly imagine! Jesus is confronted by the Tempter … in a conversation
clearly designed to raise questions within Jesus, to attempt to steer him
in a false direction … and away from his chosen path.
The first question was one that related to Jesus’ identity. It
touched at the heart of who Jesus was coming to understand himself to be.
“If you are the Son of God …” Jesus’ baptism must have been an
ecstatic moment for him. At his baptism he is proclaimed “the Beloved
Son.” Now he is mocked “ If you are ….” The validity of Who Jesus
is … is brought into question.
The next confrontation in the conversation with the evil one questions
Jesus’ mission
“If you are called by God, how will you fulfill your mission?” “If
you sense these strange powers within you, how will you use them?”
Cunning questions put to Jesus who is struggling with what it means to be
the Son of God.
Can you not imagine how this conversation went? Jesus is tempted
through his very real concern for humanity. The Tempter says “There are
serious physical concerns among the people. You could feed them and heal
them. Such are your powers if you are the Son of God.” And of course,
the Scriptures tell us that Jesus did exactly that. But Jesus concludes
that this is not his primary ministry. He knows that he is to give them
“the living word.”
And so the Tempter says, “Then why not use your powers to perform
spectacular, even magical acts? There is a lot of this going around, and
it creates such a sensation. Why not throw yourself off the pinnacle of
the temple so that the angels will swoop down and save you. You would
really get their attention then!”
Sounds suspiciously like 21st Century thinking, doesn’t it? Have
there been times when you were so tempted to do what you felt like doing
because … well after all, God will make it right, and even if it is
wrong, God will forgive me”? It is as if we expect angels to swoop down
and save us from any responsibility for our actions. How often we have
failed to take responsibility for the hurtful things we say, or the
harmful things we do … even to ourselves? Jesus concludes that this is a
misuse of the powers that God has entrusted to him … and to us.
In Lent … in the desert …We are forced to look at our actions and
their consequences. Alone in the wilderness with God there is no
scapegoat. There is no one else to blame. There is just you and God. There
is just God and me.
Finally, Jesus is confronted with that final temptation: “Hey, Jesus!
Politics is where the action is. That’s the way to get things done. Why
not form an alliance with the established leaders or with the radicals who
are looking for the opportunity for revolution?” “Better still,”
says the Tempter, “Form an alliance with me!”
Very simply, it is the temptation to choose power over love. So too, we
are tempted to put personal strength and power … being the winner …
being on top…over lovingly putting God first. We too, are tempted to
sell out. It is said that each one of us has own price … do you know
yours? Is yours wealth, or popularity? Is it glory? Recognition? When we
go into the desert, we are forced to look at when we have failed to put
God first.
I am convinced that in all his tempting, The evil one did nothing else
for Jesus than help him clarify Who he was, and Whose he was, what he was
called to be, what he was called to do. Does the evil one know that he
really did Jesus a favor?
So the testing was over. Scripture tells us that the “devil” left
him. Now, Luke adds an important phrase in his account that Matthew leaves
out: “The devil departed from him until an opportune time …” [Luke
4:13]. So it wasn’t really over. Jesus’ faithfulness will be tested at
other times, in other ways.
Well, perhaps I have painted a less than pleasing picture of the desert
for you. In fact, I may have painted it so honestly that you may say, “Well
sister, you can forget this Lent business. I am no going anywhere near the
desert.”
But remember, according to the gospel of Matthew [4:11], when the
Tempter left, the angels came and ministered to Jesus. Sisters and
brothers, you can never leave the desert without a blessing …Once,
through God’s grace, we have made our way through the desert, God
blesses us with greater clarity, conviction, and purpose.
Henri Nouwen put it this way:
“Here I have the chance to look at my emerging feelings of
bitterness and hostility and unmask them as signs of spiritual
immaturity. Here I have the chance both to be left alone and slowly to
see this as an occasion to meet God, who will be faithful even when no
one cares any longer. Here I have the chance to convert my feelings of
loneliness into solitude and allow God to enter in the emptiness of my
heart. Here I can experience a little bit of the desert and realize that
it is not only a dry place where people die from thirst, but also the
vast empty space where the God of love reveals [the divine] and offers
[holy] promise[s] to those who are waiting with faithfulness.”
Recovering from this knee injury has been like a journey through the
desert … And to be honest, I have not been real happy with this desert.
I would rather not go through all the aggravation of crutches and braces,
and physical therapy and home exercises. I really would rather that God
would just fix it so that I can continue with my plans, my agenda. Sisters
and brothers, the reality is that there is nothing I can do to heal this
knee. Without this “desert experience” of braces and therapy, my knee
will not heal …or will not heal properly.
I am discovering that there is an order to this healing business … a
discipline if you will. And so I wait … even though I would prefer to
get on with my life. But I want those ligaments to heal … I want to be
off this cane … And, yes, I do want to ski again! The only way to
receive these blessings is to go through the desert of all this stuff.”
Now I will tell you that there are more blessings in this desert
experience than just physical healing … I alluded to it just a moment
ago when I said that I just wanted God to fix it so that I can continue
with my own plans. This desert time for me is more than just a physical
challenge … God always has a way of using our brokenness to deepen our
spiritual walks if we are but open to holy promptings, to Divine leading.
This desert journey has slapped at my independence, self-reliance, and
stubbornness about asking for help. And so, I have had to learn to rely on
others, to ask for help, and, at times, to wait for help … There are
days when I have done well, and others … well … Bill has been most
gracious … I suspect this knee injury has tested both of our spirits
mightily!
In this healing time, I have had to slow down. I have had time to do
some reading, to do some reflecting on vocation and calling. I have even
been given an opportunity to get to know you better – and you thought
you were just bringing food! All this is God’s gracious blessing that
has come through this desert time.
Unlike those who continue to serve in Afghanistan or parts of Africa
Saudi Arabia, you and I do not have to live in the desert. But our Lenten
journey does lead us into the desert -- Leads us to the path of prayer, of
discernment, of guidance. And God blesses us with new awareness,
direction, and strength to continue.
On Wednesday night, you received the sign of the cross in ashes on your
forehead. That sign reminds us we are all marked by sin, and that without
Christ, we are but ashes. During Lent you are called to go into the desert
and spend these forty days looking at yourself honestly before God. Do any
of us really want to go to the desert? No! But will you dare the journey?
If the answer is “Yes!”, I can promise you a blessing … a blessing
from God.
Lent is the time: of leaving the routines, the ordinary ways of our
lives, of putting aside what is usually expected of ourselves. It is a
time of making our way to the desert where we can listen, where we can
hear Christ coming. And when our journey is at end, even the angels will
come and minister to us.
Yes, sisters and brothers, The Way of Blessings in through the Desert.
Let God bring forth springs of water from your desert during this Lent.
Amen.
