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 "GIVING IT UP FOR LENT" Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Romans 5:1-11; Matthew 4:1-11
It wasn't too many years ago that I finally figured out why there was a Mardi Gras! Living one state west of I just figured they were looking for an excuse to throw a party! You know But I think it was only when I was in seminary that I realized that the purpose of Mardi Gras, or at least the original purpose of it, is to get all the partying out of your system before Lent so that you can make it to Easter without drinking, or dancing, or celebrating.
There are a lot of people who give up something for Lent. Maybe you're one of them. Just the other day, I heard someone talk about giving up coffee for Lent! Because I love you and care about you, I will not do that! I know one little girl who gave up sucking her thumb for Lent one year, and she never did it again. My best friend decided last year that she would give up some of her time for Lent. Instead of curling up by herself with a good book or watching a DVD on her own, she decided to spend that time with people that she cared about.
You know, all of those are good things. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a good cup of coffee or giving up bad habits or spending more time with loved ones. But the season of the church year that we call Lent is more than any of that.
But Lent is not a totally negative time, either. As much as we enjoyed our pancakes last week, we really don't have to throw a big party on Fat Tuesday because we won't get to have any more fun for six weeks. Far more than being a time of "bad news" which comes before the "good news" of Easter, the season of Lent is a time of grace. Yes, it's a time to reflect upon the sacrifice of Jesus. And perhaps in that spirit, we may choose to make some sacrifices ourselves. Lent is a time to get in touch with our mortality and our sin, our "creatureliness." But we creatures are also called during Lent to get in touch with our Creator, and the creative power of God which saves us from our mortality and sin. --------------------------------------- You know, though, now that you mention it, maybe there are some things we can give up for Lent.
Perhaps the first thing we need to give up is the notion that we are perfect, that we are in control of everything. You and I need to give up the notion that we are immortal.
This is a tempting notion! In fact, it's been tempting ever since Eve met up with the snake. God didn't threaten Eve with death when God told her not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God merely explained what would happen to her if she did. God tells Eve, and Adam, and all of us that there are certain limits that come with being a human creature. We cannot have it all - no matter how hard we try, and no matter what any other creature might try to tell us.
Living the fully human life that God intends for us means recognizing and honoring the limitations of being human. Where we get into trouble // is when we try to ignore those limits, or to defy them. There are just some things that humans aren't meant to do. And when we decide to eat forbidden fruit, or to throw ourselves from the highest point in town, or to act as though somehow we are the font of all wisdom and knowledge, we are playing like we're immortal. And really, we of all people who know ourselves so well should know better.
This story of our ancestors Adam and Eve teaches us that we are nothing less than human. And, we are nothing more than human. We are creatures, not creators. A refrigerator is designed to keep things cold, but it can't cut down trees. A saw is designed to cut wood, but it can't keep food cold. In the same way, there are certain things that we as human beings are created to do, and others that are beyond our capacity. And that's okay. Because being limited, realizing those limits, and acting within those limits is part of what it means to be fully human, and to be a part of God's good and loving plan. It also takes a lot of pressure off of us! We don't have to be all things to all people. We already have a God, and God's doing a very good job of being just that! Give up the idea that we are anything more, or anything less, than human creatures. ----------------------------------- Which brings us to the next thing that we should give up for Lent. We should give up dependence upon anything or anyone else but God.
Far more than just being a story of how Jesus learned to "just say no," the story that we read today from Matthew is a story of what it means to be a true, fully human, disciple of God.
Jesus understood who he was in terms of God's grace, not in terms of any strength or resources of his own. When he was tempted by Satan, he knew who he was and whose he was. He didn't have to ask for any exemption or special treatment. Look at how he responded to those enticing offers from Satan! He didn't perform any miracles beyond being able to quote scripture. By relying upon the grace of God, Jesus could respond to temptation in a fully human way.
Jesus also displayed a good sense of patience and trust when he refused to force God's hand. He didn't feel the need to "push the envelope" with God and see just how far things might go. Instead, he waited on God's pleasure and trusted that when it was necessary, God would indeed come through for him.
Jesus also showed an undivided commitment to God. That undivided commitment was what enabled him to say "no thank you" to temptation. Because Jesus knew who he believed in, he knew a great deal about himself as well. He knew better than to depend on his own resources when dealing with someone as subtle and crafty as Satan. Would that Adam and Eve had known the same! Would that we knew the same!
Friends, we've talked about this before, and we'll probably talk about it again. We don't know the Bible nearly as well as we should. If we meet up with Satan after church today, I wonder whether any of us would be able to call up the verses that keep us grounded in God, no matter what they are. Our knowledge of scripture needs improvement, big time. But even more than our lack of knowledge, the thing which keeps us most alienated from scripture is the radical individualism that is promoted in every corner of our society. You and I are taught to believe only in ourselves, to fend for ourselves, to do what's good for me, especially if it feels good! And because this is the air that we breathe as a society, we think that anyone who is dependent upon something or someone else is wimpy or weak. But scripture teaches us otherwise. The paradox of our having this kind of dependence upon God is that this very dependence // is what gives us our strength. When we depend upon other people, or other gods, or even ourselves, we are bound to be let down - because all of those things have their limits. Remember, a refrigerator cannot be a saw, even if we depend on it to be. The only sure thing we have to depend on in life and in death is the love of God that is shown to us in the life of Jesus Christ. -------------------------------------------- We may be human creatures. We may indeed be dependent upon God for our every breath. But there's one more thing we need to give up for Lent. We need to give up the idea that our situation is hopeless. There is hope! Paul tells us today in his letter to the Romans that in one very human man we gained our introduction to sin. But through another very human man, the man that Shirley Guthrie tells us was the most human human that ever lived, we find salvation. The limitations that we encounter in our humanness and the frustration we encounter in our dependence are condemned forever in the love and power of Jesus Christ.
The season of the church year that we call Lent is indeed a time of introspection, and reflection, and confession. But this forty-day season which we endure is based on the fact that we know how the story ends! The things about ourselves which cause us to grieve, our shortcomings, our limits, our failures, we can know for a fact that those very things will shrivel and fade in the bright light of Easter. Yes, our lives are colored by sin, thanks to the common humanity we share with our parents Adam and Eve. But remember, the good news of the season of Lent is that this is a time of grace: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us - for all of us. Even though sin and grace are equals in that they were both ushered in by human beings, grace has got sin beat by a mile. The power of grace is immeasurably greater than any lasting power sin could have. This gives us reason to hope! The distance between where we find ourselves today and where we anticipate finding ourselves in the life to come isn't so long that it can't be bridged by hope. ---------------------------------------------- Now you have a few things that you can give up for Lent. They may not seem as significant as chocolate, or they may not be as showy as Mardi Gras. But I promise you that these will get you further. The more that we can give up our notion that we are immortal, the more that we can give up our sense that we are independent, and the more that we can give up our feeling of hopelessness, the closer we will find ourselves to becoming the truly human and fulfilled creatures that God created us to be. With God's help, we can re-write the story of Adam and Eve. With God's help, we can respond to temptation in the very same way Jesus did. During these next forty days, perhaps that's the best way that we can keep the tempter at bay: to be faithful to our calling to be a child of God - not to ask for or to expect miraculous exemptions from our humanness, and to cling tenaciously to that very call. That's one thing we ought never to give up - for Lent, or anytime.
Amen. |
