Miracles in the Wilderness

“Miracles in the Wilderness”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

February 17^th 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

         I know many of you know the Jesus Prayer (known as the Lord’s Prayer, the Model Prayer, or the Our Father) by heart. So for the sake of today’s message, I am going to first read to you a translation from the original Aramaic that you will not recognize. This way, your mind will not just replay from rote memory.

Translation by Neil Douglas-Klotz in Prayers of the Cosmos

O Birther! Father- Mother of the Cosmos

Focus your light within us - make it useful.

Create your reign of unity now-

through our fiery hearts and willing hands

Help us love beyond our ideals

and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.

Animate the earth within us: we then

feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.

Untangle the knots within

so that we can mend our hearts' simple ties to each other.

Don't let surface things delude us,

But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.

Out of you, the astonishing fire,

Returning light and sound to the cosmos.

      Amen.

This version is just as true as the one that many of us know by heart and if you want to experience the Jesus Prayer in a new way, I would suggest trying this one. But for the purpose of you being able to recall parts of the prayer, I will refer today to the traditional phrasing.

         I begin today with this prayer because just like Jesus’ forty days in the desert, this prayer reflects Jesus’ spiritual ideals. Essentially, Jesus’ temptation in the desert was to do the opposite of this prayer. Let’s start with the first temptation given in the Gospel of Luke: bread. The temptation was to turn a stone into a loaf of bread. The scripture tells us that Jesus was very hungry because he did not eat at all during his time in the desert. Remember that the Jesus Prayer asks of God, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is usually a phrase that we see framed above dinner tables or even woven on banners in churches to refer to Holy Communion. While it is right and good to give thanks for what we have, the Aramaic actually uses bread as an analogy for wisdom. So while Jesus was tempted in the desert to embrace what the powerful considered wisdom, Jesus knew true wisdom, the Word that comes from God. And as Paul reminds us in the scripture we heard today in his letter to the Romans, “The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” We need not look any further for the truth we seek than our own being, our own body, mind, and spirit.

         The second temptation Jesus faces is to take power and glory all for himself if he worships the Tempter. We know in reading all of the Gospels in our Bible that Jesus never asked to be glorified. He never asked for political or worldly power. He always pointed to God as the source of all he said and did. Jesus knew he was very gifted. He knew what great power he held and what he could do with it for himself. But the mission God had given him to subvert human understandings of power and glory kept Jesus from giving in to Ego. What is called “the devil” in this text is essentially what the Greeks called the Ego, the small selfish self that manipulates in order to get its own way.

         In the book The Hidden Teachings of Jesus: The Political Meaning of the Kingdom of God, Lance deHaven-Smith writes that “The Hebrew word Satan comes from the same root as seteh, which means, “to turn away.” … When Jesus spoke of Satan, he was not talking about some malicious ghost; he was pointing out to us that people are faced with a spirit that tempts them away from their humanity, away from their soul-given connection with God and with one another” (87).  When we look at today’s Gospel passage, we can see from Smith’s explanation that Jesus was being tempted to turn away from God and God’s mission for his life.

         This second temptation also has a reflection in the Jesus Prayer. We say, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kin-dom, and the power, and the glory forever.” Jesus was tempted to live up to people’s expectations of him. Many wanted him to lead a violent revolt against the Romans and become their literal king. They wanted a warrior, but God gave them a Hippie :) Jesus’ mission was not violence, it was non-violent resistance to power that oppressed people and caused mass suffering. The Kin-dom of God he spoke of was not a new rule, but rather the counter-kingdom where the Love of God reigns. A bumper sticker I saw recently said, “Do you really think Jesus would be a member of the NRA?” I know my answer is “absolutely not.” Jesus would put a flower in the butt of a rifle, not carry one himself.

         Smith teaches us today something about the root of the words power and glory. He writes, “…the word “power” in Greek is dunamis, which means “force.” … In Greek, the word glory is doxa, which means “opinion.” Jesus had to decide within his time of struggle before starting his formal ministry to hand over all power and glory, all force and opinion to God. He was vowing to not attempt to take down the Roman Empire by force and he would not let people’s opinion of “certain kinds of people” stop him from associating with, reaching out to, ministering with, and even making chosen family with the so-called “least of these” on the margins of society. Remember, people look at the outside of a person, but God is concerned with the heart.

         The third and final temptation that Luke lists in his Gospel is for Jesus to jump off the highest point of the temple because angels would save him anyway. There are two points I want to make about this temptation. The first is that we should note the location of this temptation: the temple. The temple was the center of religious and political life for the Jewish people at the time. Doing a magic trick for the crowds of Jewish people at the temple would certainly wow them, but that is not the purpose of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus’ ministry was centered on miracles, but as A Course in Miracles states, “The use of miracles as spectacles to induce belief is wrong, or better, is a misunderstanding of their purpose. They are really used for and by believers” (1:10). The Course also says, “Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe” (1:42). If a miracle is a turn from fear to love, then Jesus’ time in the desert was really a time of miracles. He was choosing to embrace the God who is Divine Love instead of the Ego, which is fear.

         The second point I want to make about this temptation is that the Tempter quotes scripture. In fact, the Tempter proof-texts by taking a Bible verse out of context, using it against Jesus. Does this sound familiar to anyone?? Fundamentalists today take Bible verses out of context all the time just to prove their own point. They know the text from rote memory, but often forgo the context and deeper meaning behind the text. Jesus saw straight through this proof-texting and quoted scripture in return, “Do not put the Lord God to the test.”

         So here comes the practical stuff, the life-application. Smith proposes a very challenging question: “What if we began from the premise not that we want to maintain a social formation based on industrialism and competition, but that our aim is a society of humility and love?” (84). Some of us were taught that resisting temptation had to do with resisting pleasurable things. That’s why the stereotype of Lent is giving up chocolate for a few weeks. No, the power of Lent is rather in realizing our ability to let go of the things that tempt us to be less loving. In traditional terms, the purpose of Lent is to turn away from sin because after all the definition of sin is “lack of love.”

         I have heard some Christians say that observing Lent is wrong because it is not mentioned in the Bible. Well I hate to tell you, but a lot of our traditions are not in the Bible. The Gospel of Mark doesn’t mention the Resurrection, so no Easter for Mark! The Gospels of Mark and John do not mention Jesus’ birth, so no Christmas for them! My point is: we practice our spirituality here in MCC in ways that help us to grow closer to God and to one another. Lent is not just for Catholics or other so-called “high church” folks. We can see the good in deepening our prayer practice, meditating more often, taking on new spiritual practices, highlighting spiritual practices we already do, and questioning our faith. Lent is a time to “go deeper” into the Mystery of God.

         Lent is 40 days (actually 46 including Sundays), which reflects Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. During this time, don’t deprive yourself of joy. In the footsteps of Jesus, instead deprive yourself of life’s idols and instead embrace authenticity. During these forty days, intentionally try to resist force and opinion, as Jesus did. In other words, ask yourself, “In what ways do I embrace violence in my life and toward whom am I judgmental?” On this spiritual journey, what wisdom could you gain? Jesus chose the wisdom of God over the values of those in power. Could you perhaps pick up a Positive Thinking book or read Spirit & Truth devotional over these weeks?

         There is plenty to give up that doesn’t do us any good and there is also plenty to take on that enriches our lives. Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” Friends, choose abundant life this Lent. I’m on the journey with you. Amen.