Saturday, March 12, 2011

Okay, Beloved, Now What? Matt. 4:1-11

As the gospel writers tell it, immediately after Jesus is baptized and the voice from heaven proclaims, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased," God's Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where he suffers deprivation and is confronted by his own human need. The tempter comes along and begins his offers with, "If you are the son of God..."

The close proximity of these two scenes suggest to me that the gospel writers are trying to show us that the temptation story is about Jesus' identity, and it should lead us to wonder what Jesus will do with his knowledge that he is God's messiah. Will he use his status to alleviate his own human suffering and thus render him invulnerable to the basic human needs that all humans share or will he fully enter into the human condition? Buddha said that life is suffering. Would the son of God willingly enter into this life or use his powers to rise above it?

You know the answers because you know the temptation story. Jesus refused to turn stones into bread, throw himself down from the temple tower hoping for the deliverance of angels or seek earthly rule. Rather, he walks this lonesome valley like the rest of us and uses his power to alleviate the suffering of others.

The seeds of Jesus' resurrection are found in these decisions he makes in the wilderness because when he chooses to live a fully human life, he, of course, is choosing to die a human death. So even in the first Sunday of Lent, we can see a foreshadowing of Easter.

Given that in your baptism God has claimed you as his/her beloved, what are you doing with your considerable powers? And if you are presently in the wilderness, what kind of choices are you making?

2 comments:

  1. If we consider Luke 4:13 version of the Temptation of Jesus, “...Satan...departed...until an opportune time,” we can extend Wes' sermon idea of our compulsions or “God size hole.” I see the community's role in helping us name, claim, tame, and aim those compulsions. Some need a circle of friends to help them name their compulsion. Some people need the assurance that the community won't shame them as they claim their compulsion. The community can help give options for taming a compulsion. Aiming a compulsion might be teaching others what the compulsion experience was like.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This Jesus parable tells about how he is tempted to embrace the common compulsions of most humans when he has no community to support him with only the knowledge that he is God's beloved. Is that what the parable is telling me? Would I succumb to such compulsions without a community even when I know that God loves me? If I have faith I can 'tame' my compulsions just like Jesus in the wilderness? I am not even close to being Jesus-like. I know that I can't do it on my own even when I know that God loves me. Maybe I have very little faith. Maybe I am giving my compulsions more power than I should. That is the puzzle of my life. I don't know.

    ReplyDelete