Christ’s tests face us every day, and with the Spirit’s help, we will pass through and bring life and hope to this world.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The First Sunday in Lent, year C
Texts: Luke 13:31-35 (adding Isaiah 58:1-12 from Ash Wednesday’s lectionary)
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
It’s more accurate to call what Jesus experienced in the desert “testing,” not “temptation.”
During and after the forty days he spent in the wilderness following his baptism, Jesus was challenged to decide what the way of Messiah would be. And the way of a true human being in this world.
But this wasn’t a once-off situation. These tests came back to Jesus repeatedly, including during his anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before his torture and death. What he chooses here at the start of his ministry he faces again and again.
There’s something else, too. All who wish to follow Christ face these same tests. And they’re also not a once-off deal. Individually, collectively, followers of Christ repeatedly face these tests.
The smart play, then, is to cheat off of Jesus’ answer sheet. Learn from his testing how you’ll face yours. How we’ll face ours. And what’s at stake is literally the life of the world.
Here are the three tests.
First, how will you help a world struggling with hunger, poverty, want? It’s not just Jesus considering making a sandwich out of rocks. The question is will the inequality, waste of abundant resources, the split between the few who hoard and the many who suffer, be miraculously fixed? Jesus, with divine power, could instantly make it possible for everyone to have enough food, shelter, clothing, health care. He chooses not to. There’s another way.
Second, how can you get people to obey God and do God’s will? Will you bow to the demonic powers that control and dominate to get what they want? Jesus could use his power to control the whole world, force people into whatever he felt needed to be done. He chooses not to. There’s another way.
And third, do you need God to prove you’ll be safe and protected before you act? Will you sit still and do nothing until you know you can’t be harmed, until you’re assured you’ll have to sacrifice nothing? This is particularly critical for Jesus in Gethsemane, where he could have resisted the cross, but chooses not to. There’s another way.
We face the same question of turning stones into bread, every day.
As we see catastrophic escalation of serious societal problems we’ve already been working on for years, what do we do? Sit back and pray that God take care of all this, miraculously rescue immigrants from deportation, create job opportunities, directly provide food and housing to those who lack? Change stones to bread?
We began this Lenten journey Wednesday with words from Isaiah 58, words worth pondering every day of this season and our lives. And for this test, the prophet is clear. God’s not interested in our prayer and fasting that puts it all on God to do. Isaiah says God needs us to act ourselves to heal what needs healing.
“This is the fast that I want from you,” God says in Isaiah, “that you loose the bonds of injustice, break every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house.” That’s God’s answer to the need for bread: you and I are to take care of this. The way of Messiah invites all people into the abundance of God’s gifts so they’ll share that abundance until all are safe, healthy, fed, sheltered, clothed. That’s how all will be healed.
The second test is far more dangerous to fail.
How do you make this a world in harmony with God? Ever since Constantine the Church has far too often chosen the way of power and domination. And so we’ve led wars and holocausts and inquisitions and heretic burnings, all in the name of God. The Christian right these days is just another manifestation of Christians failing this second test and joining with the demonic powers in the world.
There’s a huge need for God’s way of love and justice, and peace for all, to flourish in these days. We’re seeing the beginning of what’s already a horror show that likely will be a global disaster devastating many, especially the most vulnerable.
But God says through Isaiah,“you will be the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” The answer to this test, as Jesus knew, isn’t to control, be in charge, use power to do what we want. Far too much evil and wickedness happens when Christians do that. The answer is to live as a vibrant minority, like yeast in flour Jesus says, working as hard as we can to make a difference wherever we can. Rebuilding ruins, raising up foundations, as Isaiah says. Even while others are knocking them down. To live as Christ’s love in all we do and trust that even if no one else does, we’re doing what God needs us to do.
The third test preys on our despair and fear.
Christ’s way might cost us. Stretch us in ways we’re not comfortable, ask us to give up and let go of things we’re not ready to get rid of. We’re tempted to sit tight and do nothing, hoping the worst of what’s happening won’t come to our door and haul us out.
But Christ says what happens to our neighbor happens to us. Even if we’re not fired or deported or arrested or vilified or persecuted, if any of God’s children are suffering, we’re suffering. This has been the Christian way from the beginning. Tomorrow, March 10, the church commemorates Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, both of whom stepped out into the unknown and risked their lives for the sake of God’s children. Friday was the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, where the peaceful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery was stopped with brutality on the Edmund Pettis bridge.
The answer to the fear in this test is learning to trust God is with us and will strengthen and bless us in this work, in this caring, in this restoring, in this resistance. There’s no guarantee it won’t cost, or hurt. In fact, it probably will, Jesus always says. But this is the Way. This is who we are. We step forward and act, even if we don’t know what’s going to happen.
It’s not really cheating to crib off of Jesus’ answers.
In fact, the evangelists wrote this down for that very reason. To give you and me hope that there is a way forward. The only way God wants to see, because when people are changed, the healing of the world actually can survive and spread and grow.
But keep your eyes open. Hold each other’s hands. These tests will keep coming. They’ll change their looks, appear like something else to trick you. You’ll face these constantly, with God’s healing at stake.
But be of good courage. God is with you, the Spirit is changing you and giving you strength and hope. Together, we’ll face these tests and keep seeking the life of God for all. And as Isaiah says, when we’re doing this together, our light will break forth like the dawn and healing will spring up quickly. We’ll be like a watered garden, Isaiah says, offering God’s abundant love for the life of all things, even if sometimes all we see around us is desert.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
