Rector's Sermon - Sunday, February 17, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7	32:1-12	Romans 5:12-19	Matthew 4:1-11

     Jesus' 40 days and nights in the desert parallels Moses' 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai before he received the ten commandments. Both Moses and Jesus had been identified and chosen for an important ministry that lay in the future. On Ash Wednesday, we entered into the season of Lent, a time of preparation and a period of 40 days that culminates in the final week in Jerusalem.

     This morning we read an ancient creation story in Genesis, a story that has many levels of meaning. One of the reasons it is tied to Jesus' temptations is to show us how temptation works. The man and woman in the garden of Eden had all their needs taken care of. Yet temptation does not focus on the many gifts that they have been given, but on the one thing they have not been given. God said you may eat the fruit from every tree of the garden, from apricots to zucchini. (Parenthetically I don't know of any good reason why one would choose to eat zucchini and that's why I suspect it was created at the end of the alphabet, but God gave his blessing even on zucchini and everything in between.) There was just one exception, one fruit from which God asked them to refrain. Yet the temptation comes couched as "Didn't God tell you not to eat any of the fruits in the garden?" The temptation makes God a miser, and diverts humanity's perspective on all that God has given. Temptation corrupts gratitude for the generosity of God's blessings, and lets doubt and distrust gnaw at what we don't have. Of course, there is always something we don't have.

     Jesus was led into the desert right after his baptism, right after his ministry was validated. He had been told he was God's son, he knew the Holy Spirit had come upon him. Yet temptation seeks to get Jesus to doubt who he is, and to forget that he has been anointed and recognized by God. All the temptations begin with if: If you are the son of God, why don't you prove it by this. Yet it is never a question of if. Jesus doesn't have to prove or try to make God prove something. The strongest demons that contended with Jesus, like the demons that we contend with, are mostly internal, always attempting to get us to question who we are and trying to get us confused and to pretend that we need to become someone else.

     The temptations for Jesus to give people bread like God gave manna to Israel in the wilderness; to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple in a dramatic sign of divine approval; to possess all the kingdoms of the world as proof of God's favor, are really temptations of image. We can be easily deceived into thinking that if we are not sure who we think we are, then we can remove all doubt by adapting, gaining, or projecting a certain image. In effect Jesus was being told, Wow, think how you would impress people and how their adulation would build up your confidence if you could jump from the highest and holiest structure in Jerusalem and walk away unharmed. No, said Jesus, I don't need to incorporate someone else's' image to counter any doubt of who I am.

     One of the telling images of the Olympics are the uniforms of the athletes. Many are very eye-catching designs. When the medal winners mount the podium, the crowd cheers, and their national anthem plays, they are obviously aware that their accomplishments are recognized and broadcast throughout the world. Yet on most their uniforms, are not their own names or the names of their countries, but the trademarks, logos, of uniform makers and designers. Their clothing projects an image as to if to say if you were an Olympic medalist, this is what you would wear. It is all kind of silly when you think about it, until we realize how forceful the image temptation is. There is no if about it, they are Olympic champions, but the world still exerts a pressure that they also wear an image that is not their own.

     We will undoubtedly continue to struggle with our own demons of temptation, but there is good news in Lent. Jesus gives us an example of both struggle and resistance. Lent reminds us there is one God and it is not you or me. Let God be God is the lesson from these ancient stories. We fight off our demons of despair as we recognize all that God has given us, not what we lack. We resist becoming lost in the forest of false images when we understand that we are children of God, loved by God and there are no ifs or buts about it. We don't need images foisted upon us to validate or prove God's love for us. We don't have to prove it to one another. That is why, I suspect, Jesus would have refused to wear a Nike hat.

      And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen