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First
Reading
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Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
Numbers 21:4–9 |
Psalm 107:1–3,17–22 |
Ephesians 2:1–10 |
John 3:14–21
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In the first lesson it is obvious that things were not going well for Moses and the tribes of Israel. They had been wandering in the desert far too long. Foreign peoples had denied Israel a peaceful passage through their lands. There were perennial shortages of water and fresh pasture as the tribes sought a permanent homeland. Aaron had just died, leaving Moses shorthanded. After several decades, the people began losing hope. Small grumblings and annoyances became bitter outrage and festering resentment. Tired, angry, and snapping at each other, the tribes very likely camped near a rocky outcrop that offered protection from the sandstorms and heat. As so often when we are worn out or distracted, the Israelites let down their guard. Especially in hostile and strange territory, one of the first rules of camping is to check out the area first before pitching one’s tent. Israel forgot that rocky outcrops in the middle of the desert might also harbor large colonies of snakes.
The tribes of Israel were honest enough to accept responsibility and recognize that there were consequences to their actions. They had let down their guard, and now were in deep trouble and they knew it. They knew that their past behavior had played a part in their getting into those dire straights.
They had ceased to trust the goodwill of God. Everyone had become infected with suspicion and resentment. It had affected their judgment of a campsite, and all sorts of other daily decisions and performance of life's tasks. The Biblical writers seemed to know that there wasn't necessarily always a direct link between affliction and sin, but from their own experience they knew that the derivatives of sin invited misfortune and tragedy, even on the innocent.
To their credit, the tribes of Israel admitted that they had been careless and could not survive all on their own. They needed God; they needed each other. When they had confessed their need, and began to trust God, Moses, and each other a little more, signs of healing began to appear and the tribes were able to recover and move on.
Lent began with Ash Wednesday with an emphasis on self-examination and repentance. The lessons on the following Sunday framed the season with the account of Jesus being driven into the wilderness right after the exhilaration of his baptism, and having to contend with hidden agendas and threatened with unseen dangers. Just as it was for ancient Israel, for Jesus and the early disciples the wilderness was still the place where chaos and powers hostile to God, lurked. Lent is a reality check, serving notice that people of God are not going to be immune to adversity. Neither Baptism nor life in any genuine Christian community insulates one from danger or from the hard decisions posed by the world. Actually, people who take the Gospel seriously, may find decisions considerably more perplexing and harder to make. Jesus faced the forces of demonic temptation precisely because he had a close relationship with God, not because he didn’t. There is always going to be struggle in our hearts and minds about what it means for us to be witnesses of the Gospel. To be moral means to recognize that the terrain out there in the world is more like the harsh wilderness than the bucolic Garden of Eden.
Moreover, while threats commonly may be personified as wild beasts, in outward appearance they often appear quite benign at first. The most pernicious distractions are not, on the surface at least, urging us to do the work of the devil. The very first tempter, the snake in the garden of Eden, didn’t tempt Eve to be bad, but to be like God. “Eat the apple, and you will have the totality of knowledge in all subjects, just like God.” It is the smooth, coaxing, seemingly reasonable and persuasive voices for us to be the best friend, the top student, or the most popular leader— that often turn out to be the hissing of snakes and howls of beasts. Evil loves to use the good things of life as a disguise. Do most of us desire happiness and satisfaction? Of course, but people who buy into a movement that promises continual bliss have not read the devil’s small print at the bottom of the agreement. The church as an institution is hardly exempt from such temptation. Many times in its history it has eagerly taken the bait of sweet and easy success clothed with popular rhetoric and ended up caught in a trap. When Jesus was tempted to opt out of the road of suffering right before he set out for Jerusalem, it was not a malicious opponent, but Peter, the closest of disciples, who did the tempting and encouraged Jesus to abandon his mission.
Yes, we will be distracted; we will struggle and have our moments of perplexity. There is no way we can be completely protected or isolated. Yet the story of Lent is also one framed by hope. In the wilderness are there not only beasts, but also angels? Signs of God’s deliverance, openings and pathways out of the desert are present and there for us, too. God is present even in the land where chaos lurks and forces hostile to God, roam. Any wilderness experience can be a very frightening one, but people of faith learn God’s grace doesn’t fade away in difficult places. The Holy Spirit does not depend on the world’s cell towers. Part of our Lenten journey together is learning how to listen, perceive, and distinguish the true guidance of an angel from a beast in disguise. It goes hand in hand with always being on our guard. As the tribes of Israel learned in one of their early camping experiences, check out the territory carefully before you settle down and pitch your tent.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
