1 Lent C March 10, 2019
Deut.26:1-11 Ps. 91
Rom.10:5-13 Luke 4:1-13
It is interesting to note the juxtaposition of the temptation of Jesus and the baptism of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. The writer consciously connects the two. What happened at the baptismal event of Jesus? A heavenly voice was heard to declare: "You are my Son the beloved, with you I am well pleased." It is as though Jesus himself is quite startled in becoming to know his own identity. "How can I be so special? How can I live up to such a distinctive identity? And what am I supposed to do now that I know this? Am I supposed to be like John the Baptist and lead a community of people?"
In the search for the meaning of what Jesus found out at his baptism, the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness to be alone and to fast. It reads something like the Rite of Passage known in Native American tribes which is call the "Vision Quest." Under the direction of a medicine man or tribal elder a young man goes into the wilderness alone to fast and to interact with the totemic Spirit represented by the various animals. And in this vision quest the young man is looking to find his purpose for his life in serving the tribe as a leader with vision. The Vision Quest is a Rite of Passage into adulthood and public role within the tribe.
When Jesus went through his Vision Quest he embraced a rather severe fast. What happens in a severe fast? The extreme denial of the body opens up the access to a different kind of interior life than one knows on a full stomach. One becomes more attune to all of the inner voices that the constructions of language within us can produce. The constructions of language within us can bring us visionary thinking, voices, images and apparitions, in short, a different kind of seeing. We can under the stress of the severe hunger, access angels and demons. The name of the chief demon Jesus encountered was Diabolos, the Devil. It is interesting information that diabolos is the opposite of symbolos. Symbols are language events which tie things together; symbols are the angels, the messengers who bring peaceful integration of our lives. The diabolic is what rends or tear things apart to create explosive chaos and the sense of being out of control. Symbols and the diabolic are opposing ways to understand how angels and demons attain even visionary personifications within the realm of inner seeing, dreamlike seeing. The other name for the Devil is Satan, which means the accuser. Everyone at some point has to face an interior event when one's identity and purpose in life is challenged in such a negative ways as to question one's worth, even to the point of "giving" up.
In the letter of the Hebrews, it is written that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are and yet he did not sin. Jesus faced the inward diabolical. It is important to know that God took on identity with human experience in the life of the Son of God and in so doing he faced some of the worst things that life can throw at us as human beings. In the creation story, the first son and daughter of God, Adam and Eve were tricked by the serpent from God's plan for their lives; they were evicted from the Garden of Eden. Jesus, the second Adam, faced the tempter, not in the perfect Garden but in the place of human eviction. He succeeded in the temptation where first man and woman failed.
What was the essence of the temptations of Jesus by Satan? Satan tried to get Jesus to act not as the Son of God in loyal relationship to God his Father. He tried to get Jesus to act in disobedience to God his Father.
This is the essence of temptation for us too. Acting out of self interest instead of acting from obedience to God as our heavenly parents who has asks us to love God and our neighbor as our self.
It would be just fine for the hungry Jesus to eat some bread, but not in the way and in the time that God would want him too. Timing is everything in life. Impulse control is about doing everything at the right time. Temptation is about being tricked to do things at the wrong time. We ask that God's will be done on earth as in heaven and in our lives because we want to obey God's timing as God's sons and daughters.
Self esteem and recognition are important ingredients about health self image. The devil offered Jesus a kind of fame that all of the cruel tyrants of the world have attained. The devil indicated that Jesus could be like the Caesar. "You take your talent Jesus, but if you turn your talent over to me, then I will help you ruthlessly gain control of the world." It is ironic that the devil was actually trying to tempt the Christ to be the anti-Christ, a lying ruthless ruler of the world. Again Jesus expressed his allegiance to God his Father as a Son of God. The fame and glory of Jesus would come in God's time beyond his death into his resurrected life. Such glory has lasted longer than any earthly Caesar's fame.
Next the devil tried to trick Jesus to kill himself and he used a verse from the Psalms to do so. He tried to get Jesus to use a verse of poetry as though it is proof that the laws of gravity could be defied. "Jesus, throw yourself from a high place; you're so important, the angels will catch you, just as the Psalmist wrote." Jesus believed that his time was in God's his Father's hand; he would not die before his time. The angels did not come and fight to prevent his death on the cross. Jesus said, "Be gone Satan, I will not disobey God my Father. I will remain in God's timing for my life, my death and for the glory and fame of the afterlife of my resurrection."
What do we learn from the temptations of Jesus for ourselves today? First, remember our baptisms. We belong to Christ. God has told us that we are beloved sons and daughters of God. As children of God, we obey God and we accept God's timing for our lives. Our lives are all about learning what to do in the right time. Temptation is about being tricked to doing things at the wrong time. Secondly, if we forget that we are God's children, we will want the false fame and vainglory in narcissistic ways. People who need constant fame can never be satisfied. Lastly, let us know how to be poets and scientists at the same time. Most of the Bible is poetic, metaphorical imagery to inspire, faith, hope, love and justice and if we use the Bible correctly, we can accept the metaphors of poetry even while being down to earth scientists.
Jesus was tempted; we are tempted. Jesus did not forget that he was the Son of God and that God, his heavenly parent had a plan for his life. We, too, can resist temptation by remembering that we are God's children and we belong to God. From this relationship we can go forth to live the good timing that God has for our lives. Amen.
In the search for the meaning of what Jesus found out at his baptism, the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness to be alone and to fast. It reads something like the Rite of Passage known in Native American tribes which is call the "Vision Quest." Under the direction of a medicine man or tribal elder a young man goes into the wilderness alone to fast and to interact with the totemic Spirit represented by the various animals. And in this vision quest the young man is looking to find his purpose for his life in serving the tribe as a leader with vision. The Vision Quest is a Rite of Passage into adulthood and public role within the tribe.
When Jesus went through his Vision Quest he embraced a rather severe fast. What happens in a severe fast? The extreme denial of the body opens up the access to a different kind of interior life than one knows on a full stomach. One becomes more attune to all of the inner voices that the constructions of language within us can produce. The constructions of language within us can bring us visionary thinking, voices, images and apparitions, in short, a different kind of seeing. We can under the stress of the severe hunger, access angels and demons. The name of the chief demon Jesus encountered was Diabolos, the Devil. It is interesting information that diabolos is the opposite of symbolos. Symbols are language events which tie things together; symbols are the angels, the messengers who bring peaceful integration of our lives. The diabolic is what rends or tear things apart to create explosive chaos and the sense of being out of control. Symbols and the diabolic are opposing ways to understand how angels and demons attain even visionary personifications within the realm of inner seeing, dreamlike seeing. The other name for the Devil is Satan, which means the accuser. Everyone at some point has to face an interior event when one's identity and purpose in life is challenged in such a negative ways as to question one's worth, even to the point of "giving" up.
In the letter of the Hebrews, it is written that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are and yet he did not sin. Jesus faced the inward diabolical. It is important to know that God took on identity with human experience in the life of the Son of God and in so doing he faced some of the worst things that life can throw at us as human beings. In the creation story, the first son and daughter of God, Adam and Eve were tricked by the serpent from God's plan for their lives; they were evicted from the Garden of Eden. Jesus, the second Adam, faced the tempter, not in the perfect Garden but in the place of human eviction. He succeeded in the temptation where first man and woman failed.
What was the essence of the temptations of Jesus by Satan? Satan tried to get Jesus to act not as the Son of God in loyal relationship to God his Father. He tried to get Jesus to act in disobedience to God his Father.
This is the essence of temptation for us too. Acting out of self interest instead of acting from obedience to God as our heavenly parents who has asks us to love God and our neighbor as our self.
It would be just fine for the hungry Jesus to eat some bread, but not in the way and in the time that God would want him too. Timing is everything in life. Impulse control is about doing everything at the right time. Temptation is about being tricked to do things at the wrong time. We ask that God's will be done on earth as in heaven and in our lives because we want to obey God's timing as God's sons and daughters.
Self esteem and recognition are important ingredients about health self image. The devil offered Jesus a kind of fame that all of the cruel tyrants of the world have attained. The devil indicated that Jesus could be like the Caesar. "You take your talent Jesus, but if you turn your talent over to me, then I will help you ruthlessly gain control of the world." It is ironic that the devil was actually trying to tempt the Christ to be the anti-Christ, a lying ruthless ruler of the world. Again Jesus expressed his allegiance to God his Father as a Son of God. The fame and glory of Jesus would come in God's time beyond his death into his resurrected life. Such glory has lasted longer than any earthly Caesar's fame.
Next the devil tried to trick Jesus to kill himself and he used a verse from the Psalms to do so. He tried to get Jesus to use a verse of poetry as though it is proof that the laws of gravity could be defied. "Jesus, throw yourself from a high place; you're so important, the angels will catch you, just as the Psalmist wrote." Jesus believed that his time was in God's his Father's hand; he would not die before his time. The angels did not come and fight to prevent his death on the cross. Jesus said, "Be gone Satan, I will not disobey God my Father. I will remain in God's timing for my life, my death and for the glory and fame of the afterlife of my resurrection."
What do we learn from the temptations of Jesus for ourselves today? First, remember our baptisms. We belong to Christ. God has told us that we are beloved sons and daughters of God. As children of God, we obey God and we accept God's timing for our lives. Our lives are all about learning what to do in the right time. Temptation is about being tricked to doing things at the wrong time. Secondly, if we forget that we are God's children, we will want the false fame and vainglory in narcissistic ways. People who need constant fame can never be satisfied. Lastly, let us know how to be poets and scientists at the same time. Most of the Bible is poetic, metaphorical imagery to inspire, faith, hope, love and justice and if we use the Bible correctly, we can accept the metaphors of poetry even while being down to earth scientists.
Jesus was tempted; we are tempted. Jesus did not forget that he was the Son of God and that God, his heavenly parent had a plan for his life. We, too, can resist temptation by remembering that we are God's children and we belong to God. From this relationship we can go forth to live the good timing that God has for our lives. Amen.
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