The First Sunday in Lent, 9 March 2014
Genesis
2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm
32
Romans
5:12-19
St.
Matthew 4:1-11
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| Arnold Böcklin, Self Portrait |
Background: Temptation
The First Sunday in Lent is replete with examples of temptation, from
both Adam and Eve to our Lord. So
what is temptation? In the world
religions it is only the People of the Book (Jews, Christians, and Muslims)
that entertain the notion of temptation.
That is not to say that the ideas that surround temptation are absent
from world culture, they are not.
The Roman Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca wrestles with the
idea:
“We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity
have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What
virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every
day to the shrift.”
Here, however, the notion has more to do
with civic virtue and mores than with religious behavior. For Seneca, the resistance to
temptation was the responsibility of the good citizen. For the People of the Book, there is a
deep religious sense that accompanies the idea.
We live in a society that perhaps even
values the notion of temptation.
Almost any advertisement that you see in the media can be seen as a
temptation of some sort.
Temptation has a value in our society – it creates jobs and product, and
it undermines our values as a people.
In this sense, we ought to heed Seneca’s warning.
The Seventh Petition of the Our Father
gives us a different perspective if we wish to approach temptation from a
theological or religious point of view.
In the old version of the prayer, we pray, “lead us not into temptation,” and in the newer version that phrase
is translated as “save us from the time
of trial.” What is the
difference? It might be best to
look at the story of Adam and Eve to gain a clue as to the difference. The temptation to eat from the tree
came outside of their relationship with God, or from Satan, as the story
describes the action. What results
is a rift in their relationship with God.
The old phraseology tempts us to think that God is the actor in
temptation. Luther corrects that
assumption in his explanation to the Seventh Petition:
“God tempts no one to sin, but we pray in this petition that God may
so guard and preserve us that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not
deceive us or mislead us into unbelief, despair, and other great and shameful
sins, but that, although we may be so tempted, we may finally prevail and gain
the victory.”
The Greek word that is
used in the prayer is peirasmos, or
“being put to a test.” It gives us
a perspective of the world that is a bit more honest about its effect on
us. The reading from the Gospel
attempts to give us this interior dialogue between the self and the world (here
seen as Satan).
“We usually know what we can do, but
temptation shows us who we are.”
Thomas a Kempis
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it
and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of
every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD
God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from
any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat
of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of
the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch
it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will
not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the
tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she
also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made loincloths for themselves.
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| Ferdinand Leger - Adam and Eve (1939) |
There is an over-arching theme to this story that
is introduced in the fifteenth, or first verse of this pericope. Our translation reads, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall
die.” There is an emphasis in
the Hebrew that is blunted in our translation. Robert Alter translates this phrase as, “for on the day that you eat from it you are doomed to die.”[1]
The effect of the verb to die is doubled.
It forms the effect that will result from the actions that will be
described in the story.
The key to the concluding pericope of the reading,
the bulk of the story, is not the eating, nor the fruit. Rather, it is the notion of the eye, of
seeing and perceiving. It (vision)
is a route to wisdom, and it is wisdom that is the real temptation that the
Serpent offers here. Also
interesting is that the prohibition that God announces in the first pericope, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat,” is actually expanded in its scope by Eve. She acknowledges to the Serpent when
she quotes God’s prohibition, “You shall
not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden,” and
then adds, “nor shall you touch it.” The promise that the Serpent makes,
as it speaks against Eve’s understanding of what God has said, is that these
first people will have the ability to see, “your
eyes shall be opened…knowing good and evil.” Vision and wisdom, the perspective, if you will of the
gods, is what is being offered here.
The story goes on to note how their sight betrays them: “saw that the tree was good for food,” and “it was a delight (or “lust” as Alter
translates it) for the eyes”. The gift is immediately given, “their eyes were opened, and they knew that
they were naked.” It is an
interesting revelation and expansion on the notion of the eye and lust. Even more than that, they are absent
not only the protection of clothing, but soon of God’s protection as well.
Breaking
open Joel:
1.
How are
you tempted by this world?
2.
What do
you know about good and evil?
3.
Who is
responsible for the evil in your life?
Psalm 32 Beati quorum
Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, *
and whose sin is put away!
Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, *
and in whose spirit there is no guile!
While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, *
because of my groaning all day long.
For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; *
my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, *
and did not conceal my guilt.
I said," I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." *
Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.
Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of
trouble; *
when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
You are my hiding-place;
you preserve me from trouble; *
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; *
I will guide you with my eye.
Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding; *
who must be fitted with bit and bridle,
or else they will not stay near you."
Great are the tribulations of the wicked; *
but mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD.
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD; *
shout for joy, all who are true of heart.
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| Arthur Frank Matthews - Youth |
This psalm describes the complexity of human life
in this world. It has aspects of
joy and of wisdom, but also of confession and thanksgiving. Indeed, the initial phrase clues us
into two of the themes: “Happy are they
whose transgressions are forgiven.”
What follows are expansions on the human condition of sin, and the
dialogue and relationship with God that results. The initial five verses all resound on this theme, while the
sixth verse is probably an interpolation from some other source.
At verse eight, the theme changes to Wisdom and how
we acquire wisdom. There is a new
speaker, perhaps an instructor, whose intent is to “counsel you with my own sight.”
The instruction is contained in three concise proverbs: the first
about the horse or mule, the second about the tribulations of the wicked, and
the third about God and mercy.
There is a reprise of the notion of happiness that was introduced in the
first verse. Here however, the
status has been changed from one of being “forgiven”
to one of being “righteous.” The result is a “shout for joy.”
Breaking
open Psalm 32:
- What are your emotions when you have been forgiven something by
another?
- What are your emotions when you have forgiven someone else?
- Do you have any wisdom about the act of forgiving or being
forgiven?
Romans 5:12-19
As sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin,
and so death spread to all because all have sinned-- sin was indeed in the
world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death
exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like
the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through
the one man's trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free
gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the
free gift is not like the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment
following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many
trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man's trespass, death
exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive
the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in
life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one
man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as
by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's
obedience the many will be made righteous.
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| Norman Adams - Christ's Cross and Adam's Tree |
Paul wants to teach us about “sin” and “death” and
does so by contrasting Adam and Jesus.
Adam is the source of “sin”, and Jesus, the Christ, is the source of
grace and life. Paul uses the
device of antithetical comparison in
order to show all the aspects of the righteousness that flows from Christ. But what flows from Adam? This is a matter of some
controversy. Is there a notion
here of “inherited sin” or is Paul just making a connection for us between
Adam’s deed and our deeds? What he
does do is describe a template in which Adam’s sin and our sin are aspects of
the same difficulty. Likewise,
then, Christ’s salvation and our salvation are similarly linked. There are other aspects of the human
condition of sin and death that Paul uses as well – the Law, sin as the
Accuser, and Disobedience as a reaction to God’s rule. The comparison between Adam and the
Christ is maintained throughout the pericope, even in the resolution in verse
nineteen, “For just as by the one’s
disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the One’s obedience the many
will be made righteous.”
Breaking
open Romans:
- In what way are you like Adam or Eve?
- How are you like Christ?
- What do you experience as righteousness in your life?
Matthew 4:1-11
After Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and
afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are
the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he
answered, "It is written,
'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God.'"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle
of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself
down; for it is written,
'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'on their hands they
will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'do not put the Lord your
God to the test.'"
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I
will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him,
"Away with you, Satan! For it is written,
'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
“’Someone came last night in my sleep,’ he murmured under his breath, as
though he feared the visitor were still there and might overhear him. ‘Someone came. Surely it was God, God…or was it the
devil? Who can tell them
apart? They exchange faces; God
sometimes become all darkness, the devil all light, and the mind of man is left
in a muddle.”[2]
I am always reminded, in reading this pericope, of
Nikos Kazantzakis’ The Last Temptation of
Christ, in which Jesus is pursued by a “dark angel” in the wilderness. Soon we find out that the “dark angel”
is the Spirit who leads Jesus into the wilderness in Matthew’s Gospel. What we meet in Matthew is a Jesus who
experiences a great number of things in an interior fashion. At the baptism, “the heavens were opened for him,
and he saw the Spirit of God”
(Emphasis mine). Likewise it is
Jesus alone who experiences the temptations in the wilderness, and it is his
internal conversation with the devil that enlightens Jesus about the ministry
that is rushing upon him. He is
driven by the Spirit.
In a way, Matthew is deploying a device similar to
Paul’s in the reading from Romans.
In Matthew, Jesus mirrors the life of Israel, and the temptations that
come to him in the dessert can be seen in the life of the whole people, as
well. What does Satan use to tempt
Jesus, to tempt Israel? Is it
hunger, or his relationship to God (Father), or the gift of land? In each of these Israel also participates,
in the hungers that drove them for forty years in the wilderness (see Numbers 11), or that God was their Father (see Exodus 19:5-6), or finally that God had given them the land (see Deuteronomy 6:10-15). Thus Jesus as the
continuation of Israel confronts his own lot and his unique son ship. It is not only the baptism that opens
up this new world of ministry to Jesus (as it also does to those of us who have
died with him in baptism) but also this confrontation with the past (Israel)
and the future (Calvary).
Lent is a time that should probably not be given to
a personal comparison with the temptation of Jesus, but rather a personal
identification with his confrontation with the Spirit. Yes, the devil confronts us, but it is
also the Spirit who drives us as well.
As it will be for the disciples following the resurrection, it is for us
now to follow Jesus to Galilee.
Breaking open Gospel:
1. How are you alone in life?
2. What does the world challenge you to be?
3. What does your faith challenge you to be?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son
was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are
assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us,
let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
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