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February 10, 2008
Baggage for the Journey
Matthew 4:1-11
Years ago Flip Wilson had a skit in which his Geraldine went out and bought herself an expensive dress. When later, she modeled the garment for a friend, she was told that when tempted to buy it she should have resisted the temptation by saying, Get thee behind me, Satan! To which Geraldine replied, That is what I did say and the Devil told me it looked very nice from the back. 1
If you don't remember who the character of Geraldine was, she was a very upright Christian woman who carried herself with a great deal of self-assurance in many ways a church lady quite proper. The comic relief was that like us all, she had her secret side her fun side, some might say. The humor in her character was that constant battle between her two natures.
This is the stuff of comics from Shakespeare through the ages to the writers of Saturday Night Live on any given weekend we find humor in the idea that the voices of temptation are always lurking to lure proper, self-respecting people off course. Obviously, it is also the stuff of tragedy, when having succumbed in some way a character begins spiraling down into a cycle of self-destruction, often taking others along for an awful ride.
From the beginning, literally, in the Garden of Eden, temptation has been part of the story of the people of God our story. Strict Calvinism would tell us that the central fact of existence is that we are fallen people that the original sin of Adam and Eve has forever put us so thoroughly under the thumb of evil that it is only by the grace of God we are able to accomplish anything of merit or value. That assumption contrasts with the kind of Victorian pietism which is also a part of our story with its preoccupation with appearances good people don't know about such things!
C.S. Lewis, the great apologist for Christianity once wrote:
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. 2
Isn't it true that the stories that mean the most to us are not the stories of the purity of the saints, but are rather the stories which deal with life in a Homeric kind of narrative where the principals of the story are facing the whole spectrum of what life has to offer. Real life is not lived in black and white, is it? Although we try to impart values to our children through the terrible two's and the ongoing struggle between yes and no right and wrong, true life is nuanced and getting more so as generations have to deal with more and more complex values questions.
One early Christian writer who, authored the Epistle to the Hebrews, tells us that Jesus was tempted like other humans in every possible way (Heb 4:15). We shouldn't be surprised, then, that after his great moment of vision, when his sense of God's calling and love was so dramatically confirmed at his baptism, he had to face the whole panoply of opportunities and suggestions about how he should undertake his ministry.
It is all made much more interesting because the tempter's voice is not coming from way off in left field. No, each of the suggestions is one based solidly in scripture and in the people's story our story. We know about the manna in the wilderness stones from bread. We know about the greatness of leaders who use their power for good and for the good of their people. We know of those whose charisma has marshaled new followers for God new converts to the faith.
Jesus could have found precedence for any of these supposed temptations in the scripture, in the story of Israel, and in a thoughtful analysis of the situation his people were facing under the lordship of Rome. That's what makes them so powerful. The tempter was merely reciting from the history of Israel.
In the wilderness he is sorting out the baggage the various assumptions and presuppositions which people have always have about any good teacher or leader. He had to lay aside the option for the easy, quick fix. It worked in the Sinai with Moses and the Hebrews but manna would not fix the heart of the people who were starving for something more authentic than free bread.
He could have claimed the crown of David it certainly was the primary vision attached to the recurring hope of a Messiah problem solver. Power was something that Rome understood, so did Herod. Yet, to play that game would only keep the cycle of conquer or be conquered going for more generations. Certainly we know how tempting it is to pick up a big stick instead of taking the time truly to reconcile differences with those with whom we have disputes. It is the most pernicious of temptations go to war and you'll be greeted with flowers.
As one commentator has pointed out, these suggestions are all ways of distorting the true vocation: the vocation to be a truly human being, to be God's person, to be a servant to the world and to other people. Jesus must face these temptations now, in the wilderness and win at least an initial victory over them. If he doesn't they will meet him suddenly, in the middle of his work, and they may overwhelm him. 3
What is that true vocation, then? The temptation story tells us what it is not over the next several weeks, we will be looking at what it is. Where are you going? That's what the disciples kept asking Jesus as they joined their own life's journey to his.
Where are you going? Right to Life Freedom of Choice Genetic Engineering Carbon Foot Prints Victory at any Cost Peace at any Cost Reconciliation Being a Winner Being a Loser what's strong what's weak There are strident voices which will tell us what's right and wrong to this day it is the harder choice to make decisions for ourselves.
Perhaps as we look again at the story of his journey toward the cross during this Lenten season, we can shed some of our own baggage. Jesus brought his front and center. He acknowledged their power and their potential to help or distract him from his purpose of truly being a child of God.
We face our journey knowing that he has been the pioneer and made a way for us. Now in this season, we each make a choice. Where are you going? Shall we follow?
1Flip Wilson's skit sited in R. Maurice Boyd, Why Doesn't God Do Things Perfectly?, Abingdon Press, 1999, pp. 114-115.Go Back
2 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity , Macmillan Publishing Company, NY, NY, pages 109-110 Go Back
3 Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone - Part One, Chapters 1-15, WestminsterJohnKnox Press, 2004, pp. 23-25. Go Back
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Church of Cedar Rapids
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Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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