Sermon
February 25, 2007
The Reverend Pamela Snare
“After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by
the devil.” (Luke 4:1)
The root of the word, “temptation,” in Hebrew and Greek, means “to test” or “to
try.” Personally, I have never been fond of tests. They are given in order to
show or prove something. Like how much we know or don’t know. Or how strong we
are or how weak. Or how skilled we are or unskilled. Tests show something about
who we are or what we are able or not able to do.
Tests are unavoidable in life. Indeed, they are a part of life. Not just
academic tests or athletic tests, but tests which show what is in our hearts,
what we are made of inside. Katrina was an experience that tested us. It showed
us what was in our hearts when we were stripped not only of conveniences, but of
the basic necessities of human life.
In the Old Testament we find the idea that God tests his people. Looking back on
the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, after liberation from slavery in
Egypt, the author of Deuteronomy has Moses address the people in these words:
“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in
the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your
heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.” (Deuteronomy 8:2)
What has always interested me about this passage is that the scriptures are
equally clear that God knows what is in our hearts. He alone sees through
appearances, facades to what resides in our depths. The Collect for Purity which
we pray every Sunday sums it up: “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all
desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.” Why would God need to test us,
since he already knows the depths of our hearts?
I think, in reality, tests show God nothing that he does not already know about
us. But tests show us something about ourselves. They reveal to us what is in
our hearts. They are a means of self-knowledge, self-revelation.
Tests are an opportunity for us to choose for good or for evil. To draw closer
to God or to distance ourselves from him. Tests show us which way our hearts are
inclined-whether toward God and the ways of God, or toward evil. Without tests,
we do not know what is in our hearts; without tests we do not grow in virtue-in
faith, or hope or love, in patience or endurance, or in dependence on God. Tests
exercise our muscles of devotion to God and adherence to his ways. If we choose
for God and his ways, we are strengthened; if not, we are weakened. Indeed the
word “virtue” comes from the Latin word for “strength.”
Tests do not necessarily involve suffering, but suffering is always a test for
us. It can bring us closer to God by moving us to call upon him and his help, as
Christ did on the cross, or it can drive us away from God, like the thief who
mocked Christ on the cross. It can strengthen our patience and endurance and
dependence on God, or it can make us cynical, bitter, hardhearted, distrustful
of God’s goodness. The word “patience” and the word “passion”, as in the passion
or suffering of Christ on the cross, come from the same Greek root.
It has taken years, but verse 71 of Psalm 119 has become very dear to me, not
only dear, but true for me: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn your ways.” Notice that the psalmist does not say that affliction
is good, but that affliction has benefited him, taught him valuable things – the
ways of God.
I still am not fond of tests because inevitably they show me my weaknesses and
the deficiency of my faith. But I now know, when I am in the middle of tests
whether they involve suffering and affliction or not, that if I will bear with
them in patience and call upon God’s help, he will use that experience to purify
me, to burn away my dross, to help me to live in greater dependence on him and
closer fidelity to his ways.
Our gospel for this first Sunday in Lent is the story of Jesus’ own testing. It
is called “temptation” because “to tempt” is to entice to sin. God never entices
us to sin; only the devil entices us to sin. “Temptation” puts a sharper edge to
the story. It means that more than being tested, Jesus confronted the power and
the pull of evil in every form: lust, greed, ambition, self-acclaim, domination
of others. He confronted them and resisted them because that is not the way God
works. He confronted them and resisted them, not just for himself, but for you
and for me. He said no to evil in all its forms, so that we might find an ally
in him when, not if, but when, we are so tempted.
But today’s temptations were only a prelude, a preparation for his greatest one
which was yet to come. And that last temptation was the greatest affliction the
world has ever known. If you do not believe that his affliction was the
greatest, read the gospel accounts of his passion and put yourself in his skin.
If we do that, opening our heart fully to his heart, we will find in him an
ally, a stronghold in all times of our affliction and suffering.
The testing of the Son of God in the wilderness and on the cross is for us. For
us to call upon him in the time of our need; for us to recognize him as our
friend; for us to know that he can bring us safely through our tests and
temptations to the bosom of God. Because he has overcome the power and pull of
evil, we are able in him to overcome. Because he has been tested, he is able to
help us who are being tested. His place in the bosom of the Father is our place,
too.
I want to leave you with an image. There is in the Loire valley in France a 12th
or 13th century church with large carved capitals in a huge outdoor porch at the
entrance. On one of these capitals is carved a small man. One of his arms is
being pulled by a demon toward hell. The other of his arms is in the hand of
Christ. The capital is oriented on an angle so that whenever the sun shines upon
it, the demon is always in the shadow, and the light always falls on Christ. The
small man is looking toward Christ, toward the light. The outcome of the
struggle, however difficult, is assured. Because the little man has his eyes
fastened on Christ and his face turned toward the light.
The Reverend Pamela P. Snare
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