This first Sunday of Lent invites us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be led by the Spirit.
More on that later.
“Nurturing grievances” is on my mind for the past several weeks. It is an expression usually reserved for interpersonal relationships.
But when I read or heard “nurturing grievances” as a description of Vladimir Putin in his escalation of troops at the border with Ukraine, I realized that much of the distress in human history can be reduced to that term.
Consider for a moment the Genesis story of Cain and Abel.
That relationship we can see writ large in most of the bloody and heart-wrenching conflicts in memory.
If that appears to be just part of the human condition, then what hope is there for the future of our species, and by extension, the future of creation as we know it on our planet.
As Christians, we have a view of the human condition as saved or redeemed by the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
We hear that said so often that it becomes a “pat” answer to all sorts of knotty and complicated issues confronting persons and nations.
What frequently lies behind that pat answer is that the divinity of Christ Jesus has somehow elevated us above the fray so that we need not concern ourselves with war and rumor of wars, with famine, with strife, and oppression of all sorts.
All will be well ‘cause the kingdom of god will turn it all around in the sweet bye and bye.
From the earliest proclamation of Christ Jesus’ message by us followers, there has been a tension stemming from the tug of war between those who emphasized Jesus’ humanity and those who emphasized his divinity.
The tension plays out in how we conduct ourselves as witnesses in the world.
Today’s passage in Luke strongly emphasizes Jesus’ humanity in the midst of all too familiar temptations encountered by our species since the tower of Babel.
Jesus’ responses shine a bright light on our human condition.
Jesus’ responses to the temptations help him to clarify his mission and what he will “let go” of to accomplish it.
These are the very things each of us finite, mortal humans have to let go of each day if we are to fulfill our mission as followers and as creatures trying to find our place in creation.
The first temptation can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but for my purposes today, I’ll call it, “The Miraculous Shortcut” to the work before us.
While I take all manner of shortcuts in the kitchen while preparing a meal, there are no shortcuts to forming a Eucharistic Community.
The work requires many, many humble gestures that allows each member to find her and his and their place in the Assembly, and to move about into new roles when the Holy Spirit taps that one on the shoulder and says, “take on this role, this service on behalf of others”.
The second temptation I will interpret today as, “A Christian Culture is to be Preferred Above All Others.”
As the Roman Empire went to ruin, Christian rulers recognized the advantages to baptizing everyone, even at the point of a sword.
European history, or “Christendom” benefitted many, but it also created a fallacy with which we all live today.
Many Christians look back fondly on a time when a homogenous culture put its stamp of approval on all manner of laws and governance that oppressed anyone who disagreed or lived at the margins.
Following Christ and forming faith community cannot be equated with creating the perfect institution in my town or in nation-building.
The temptation the completely human Jesus faced was just that.
Worldly realms and the exercise of authority and power sneak into our thoughts and language and ultimately our behavior in ways that mimic the power of water as it erodes a stream bed.
Slowly, slowly, and then suddenly we have something deeper and wider, full of the silt of behavior that would have been better left on the banks of the stream.
The final temptation put to Jesus can be summed up as “Presuming that God is on My Side” in the ups and downs of each day.
Of all temptations, this one, I think, requires the most humility.
The passage begins saying that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit and is led by the Spirit.
Jesus, however, does not deem equality with God something to be grasped after, to borrow a quote from St. Paul.
Jesus intuitively knows that he has to watch where he is going if he doesn’t want dash his foot against a stone.
The Holy Spirit filled Jesus and fills us with enough wisdom each day to recognize stumbling blocks that might thwart our forward progress.
Jesus meets each and every test or temptation with the internal fortitude of one who does not nurture grievances, but rather nurtures gratitude.
Each of our scripture passages today zero in on what is central to faith, to trust in God, and they each anticipate what we will commemorate and celebrate at the end of Lent during the Holy Week days we call the Sacred Triduum, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.
Deuteronomy 26 contains one of the most oft quoted verses of the Torah.
It is usually read in the context of the Seder meal and places the Exodus event at the center of Jewish life.
It concludes, “Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that God has given to you and to your house.”
Paul today in his letter to the Romans echoes the “bounty” that God has for us in the Torah passage.
Paul writes, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on that Lord.”
Paul is referring to the complete trust Jesus exemplifies in his own dying, such that God raises him up to show us the path to true freedom.
Our account of the Good News according to Luke has Jesus in the desert after his baptism in the Jordan where the Spirit descended on him.
In this desert sojourn the Spirit fills him and leads him.
Jesus’ “quiet” time is punctuated by disturbances he does not seek, but that he cannot ignore.
He must respond with greater dependence on God.
In the next verse after this testing, Jesus returns to Galilee in the power the Spirit as he begins his public ministry of healing and preaching.
In the next four Sundays of Lent Jesus will engage the world with his words and actions.
This is the paradigm for our lives as followers.
The Spirit fills us, leads us into and through prayer and meditation and then leads us into engagement with the world.
In the public arena there are ways to act out our faith as one voice among many that will leave us with fewer regrets at the end of the day.
1, Assist refugees, not only from other countries, but also refugees within our country fleeing danger and oppression and seeking a better life.
2, Work in “restorative justice” arenas in our local area.
3, Help the poorest in our community who bear the cost of war the most when prices rise.
4, One that comes to mind this moment is the Wisconsin Conservation Congress hearings, an annual event hosted by the Department of Natural Resources that gives citizens the opportunity to vote on recommendations that impact wildlife and human life in our state.
Each year the WCC accepts ideas for possible changes to natural resource policy and regulations through citizen resolutions. The resolutions must be submitted through the online submittal tool and must be received by midnight on March 11, 2022. If you have an idea for change, please follow the directions on the WCC website to submit your resolution.
The fully human Jesus speaks to us fully human followers with the message that the Holy Spirit that filled him and led him and gave him power also fills us and leads us and empowers us.
We entrust ourselves to that Holy Spirit in prayer and then we entrust ourselves to that same Spirit as we go out to engage the creation that God loves so much.
Holy One who blesses us abundantly, help us to abstain from what we do not really need so that we are better able to help our sisters and brothers in distress, we pray …
Lord God,
No one is a stranger to you
And no one is ever far from your loving care.
In your kindness, watch over refugees and victims of war,
Those separated from their loved ones,
Young people who are lost,
And those who have left home or who have run away from home.
Bring them back safely to the place where they long to be,
And help us always to show your kindness
to strangers and to all in need, we pray …