Sunday 5th March
Genesis 2: 15-17, 3: 1-7
Matthew 4: 1-11
Have you trials and temptations?
There is a very unfashionable word with a deep impact in history.
It diagnoses the primal problem of humanity. It’s often found in the Bible. It has a host of negative associations.
What is that word?
On Ash Wednesday the 40 days of Lent began. A number of us gathered and shared in a simple service where we were reminded of sin and death. It concluded with everyone being marked with ashes – remember that you were from dust, and to dust you shall return.
That’s the universal reality, and during this season of Lent we shall reflect upon how the Bible, in particular the gospel of Jesus, calls us to live as we follow his Way towards the cross.
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This morning we remembered two famous Bible stories.
Genesis 2 & 3 tells the second story of creation. It is not history, but myth – that is a way of telling a deep truth. You probably recall that the garden of Eden represents an earthly paradise with many fruit trees. Right in the centre were two trees which didn’t produce pears or plums, nectarines or apricots. One gave the knowledge of good and evil.
What was the fruit?
The text tells of the forming of adam from the earth and the search for a companion. They live in the Garden and then, one day ( remember this is mythic time) a conversation began between two of the earth creatures. The snake asked the woman: did God say…?
Of course, we know she picks a piece of fruit and shared it with her partner and the text says “ the eyes of both were opened.” It was a new beginning ( or ending) in the history of humanity.
According to traditional Christian teaching this story coined the doctrine of original sin. The belief that grasping to be like God was a slippery slope which has infected the human race. Jews interpret this story quite differently – as a fall upwards into the responsibilities of being human, the ambiguities of good and evil. The tensions of good and evil are summed up in that little, powerful word – sin.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe that humans are dirty, rotten scoundrels from birth. However I do think that there is a crack in humanity – no matter how good individuals are.
The late poet, Leonard Cohen, sings the evocative line “Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything. That’s how the Light gets in”
The problem of sin is connected to the nature vs. nurture argument – are we born with a fixed destiny, or do we become who we are through our experiences? I think the answer is both – we are formed through nature and nurture. Life is full of moral choices, and a host of decisions and experiences shape us as human beings.
Sin is the universal, human experience of being curved in on ourselves. It’s a radical self-centredness which can be very destructive of humanity.
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The second story we heard was the three temptations of Jesus. He’s portrayed in a desert, not a garden. There’s not a tree to be seen, and food is in short supply. He has been fasting and praying for forty days – and is at the limits of human strength.
In the silence the Devil – no mention of what it looks like – shows up. Once again, a similar question to that asked of Eve. Back in the Garden the question was Did God say?
Now it’s “If you are God’s Son , prove it …”
Here’s another question for you.
If Jesus was truly human, and also God’s Son was he a sinner? Was he born as one of us, or did his spirit-conception bypass original sin?
I think an answer is found in the way he chose to say Yes to God faced with great temptations. He said no when invited to satisfy gnawing hunger. He said no when asked to proved God. He said no when offered the power and kingdoms of the world.
Jesus makes his choices based on a deep commitment to love and serve God with all his mind, soul and strength – and his neighbour as himself.
I believe Jesus was truly human. He struggled with trials and temptations, and so do we. It’s part-and-parcel of life – not as original sinners, but human beings born into messiness, the joys and tragedies which is life.
The Bible tells us that sin and evil are real. The stories of the Devil – and there are very few of them – are personifications of these experiences we call sin, that is we are often out of sync with God’s original blessing and choose that our own will be done.
By now you will have noticed that both texts are temptation stories. Eve and Adam say ‘yes’ to their desire to be as god. Jesus says ‘yes’ to worshipping God.
Sin is a potent, powerful word which announces that every human being struggles with trials and temptations. However, sin is not the last word.
Wrestling with ourselves – our weakness, our desires, our propensity to be our own god – is a deep experience in our spiritual journey.
As Christians we are called into the vocation of becoming who we were called to be from our birth and baptism – children of God – a community feeding upon God through word, water, bread and wine.
These two stories tell us that we are always in the process of becoming through our trials and temptations – but they are not the last word. Have we trails and temptations? Yes.
But the last word belongs to God made flesh in Jesus who offers grace and peace – we are forgiven, and calls us into the freedom of God’s children for the common good.
Amen. Let it be so.