Readings: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11 9 March 2014 Communion Many years ago, there was a weekly radio programme in which the comedian Kenneth Horne used to ask an elderly gentleman how long he had been doing his job. The job varied from week to week, but the elderly gentleman was always the same, and the answer was always the same. How long have you been doing that? asked Ken. THIRTY-FIVE years! was always the answer. This week on Tuesday, in fact I will be able to say THIRTY-FIVE years, because that is the 35 th anniversary of my licensing as a Reader in the Church of England. All the 35 years has been spent in this church, so thank you for putting up with me for 35 years! A Reader is a lay person, not a priest, but one who may take some Services, help with some others, and preach. What made me become one? It s a story that goes back far more than the 35 years, to the time when I was a member of a Baptist Church, not the Church of England. One of the things that particular Baptist Church did was to try to encourage young people who worked their way through the Sunday school and reached the top class to go back into the more junior classes as teachers or possibly to have some other ministry. That wasn t really my cup of tea definitely not something that was within my comfort zone. I was never one to put myself forward or seek the limelight and, in many ways, I am still like that today. But I was encouraged to give it a try so, on graduating from the top class of the Sunday school I and my contemporaries went into another group where, instead of sitting there and being taught, we did the teaching ourselves. Not immediately, of course but, as time went on, under the love and care and leadership of a remarkable man we all knew as Uncle George, we learnt to read the Bible to the others, lead the prayers, lead the meeting and give talks about our faith. And, much to my surprise, I found I could do it. I didn t go back into the Sunday School as a teacher but what I found was that there were many opportunities even a demand for people who could lead and speak about their faith. In those days, in that church, there were regular midweek Services and Bible Studies, and meetings for particular groups like men, women, and young people, all needing leadership, and certainly not all led by the minister. I wasn t the only one who could do it, of course thanks at least in part to the work of Uncle George and his successor, Bob Starke. Years later, when we came to Immanuel, I wanted to use those skills and gifts of leading and speaking gifts God had given me. Becoming a Reader seemed the best way to do that in 1
the Church of England and an opportunity to do further training to improve those skills and knowledge. So I approached our Vicar at the time, Leslie Walters, and offered to become a Reader and the rest is history! That s a little bit of my story some of you, of course, will have heard some of it before. But why tell it now? In a moment I will link it to our Gospel reading for today, but, before I do that I think some of my experience has in itself a message I want to pass on to you. I don t want to hold myself up as some sort of paragon of virtue, but reflection down the years has made me think that there were a few of times in my life that I did what you might describe as the right thing. It seems to me that I did the right thing when I thought about at the gifts and skills I had and looked for a way to use them to serve God in a new place. As I ve just explained, becoming a Reader seemed to be the way to do that for me. If you are thinking about vocation what God might be challenging you to do, and what you might do in response to God s love it s a good idea to think what you are good at or even enjoy doing and see how you can offer that back to God in thanksgiving and service. That s not the end of the matter, of course God may well have some quite new challenge lined up for you but unless he makes that fairly clear it s no bad idea to start where you are and offer what you have to him. But, of course, it is important to be prepared to step outside the comfort zone and perhaps accept a new challenge. I did that when I went along to the group that Uncle George ran and discovered a whole range of gifts I didn t realise God was waiting to give me. I don t claim to have always done that I am as averse to change and new things and difficult challenges as anyone. But on that one occasion I did what I believe was the right thing and was pleasantly surprised at what I found myself doing for God. Perhaps that might happen to you, as you respond to God and his love! Our readings today contrast the way Jesus resisted temptation with the way Adam and Eve succumbed to it. Paul, in our reading from Romans, makes a similar comparison between the sin that came through Adam and the free gift of grace and life that comes through Jesus. But what I want to do is pick up this idea of responding to God in his love, because in our Gospel reading today we actually have Jesus working out how he was going to respond to God. God his Father hadn t thrown out a challenge to Jesus so much as make an amazing statement but the effect was much the same. You might like to have the Bible open at our Gospel reading Matthew 4:1-11 on page 3 of the New Testament section. In the closing verses of the previous chapter of Matthew s Gospel we read that the Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove and God spoke from heaven This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. You can see that if you have the Bible open. What an amazing thing to be told that you are the beloved Son of God! If Jesus had been in any doubt as to who he was before this, there was no question now. We could say that Jesus was now quite clear about his vocation, what God wanted him to do to be the Messiah, that Beloved Son of God. But how? In terms of gifts and skills he had all the power of God at his disposal but how to use it? He needed to spend time with his Father to work out just what being Son of God meant in practice. 2
So that is why we get this rather odd statement at the beginning of our reading that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness but it was not just to spend time with God but so that the devil could have a go at him! What was important was that Jesus would not make the mistake of using his power in the wrong way or be tempted to do so. There were, after all, many ways that he could use God s power as God s Son. He could solve people s day to day problems at a stroke like he could solve his own problem of hunger by turning stones into bread. He could do that for everyone solve the problem of world hunger at a stroke! While he was at it he could deal with disease and poverty and any other issues that might be around. But no that was not the way. Or he could go in for a few spectacular actions like throwing himself off the top of the Temple and getting angels to lower him gently to the ground. Then a few thunderbolts, earthquakes, winds and fires all at his beck and call would ensure he got people s attention and obedience. But no that was not the way either. Or he could collude with the powers of the world the Roman authorities, the Jewish leaders, perhaps with people like Herod adopting their methods, using them when it suited him. That is what I think lies behind the final temptation when the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. I don t think the devil was just expecting Jesus to bow down and worship him there on the mountain it would have been more a matter of adopting the devil s ways the violence, the compromise, the intrigue and all else that went on as the earthly powers went about their business. These were ways that Jesus might have adopted except, I suppose, the last. After all, it is not actually a sin to turn stones into bread or jump off a great height secure in the knowledge you had your soft landing all worked out. Jesus, we know, did similar things in the course of his ministry turning 5 loaves into enough bread for a multitude, walking on water and stilling a storm, not to mention his many healings. John, in his Gospel, describes these things as signs they were not in themselves what Jesus came to do, but they were demonstrations to show people who he was. Often he would try to soft-pedal them telling people whom he had healed not to go spreading it about. Jesus needed to sort out just how he was going to be the Son of God including how he was to use his power. That s why the Spirit led him into the wilderness so that he could face up to the issues, including the temptations to use his power in the wrong way. We could say that he faced the temptations in the wilderness so that, when faced with difficult situations in his public ministry, the battle had already been won. He needed to use his power to reveal who he was but not as the means to achieve his objective of redeeming the world. That, as we know, was going to need the cross; I suspect it may well have been during the rest of the 40 days and nights he was in the wilderness that that plan came to him as the right way. I mentioned stepping out of comfort zones earlier; Jesus was going to need to step out of any comfort zone he may have had and face suffering and death. Not for him a comfortable life as a rabbi with a cosy clique of disciples. 3
It s worth thinking how we came to have this story. There was Jesus, alone in the wilderness. If a guy with horns and a tail came up to him and whispered tempting suggestions in his ear no one would have been there to see. In fact, I very much doubt if there was any such guy temptation no doubt came to Jesus, much as it comes to us, as ideas in his mind, suggestions that may well have originated with the devil but that would have seemed like his own ideas to be thought about, prayed about and rejected. But even so, how do we know about it even if someone had seen Jesus in the wilderness, how could we know what was going through his mind? The obvious answer is that Jesus must have told the disciples about it at some stage afterwards. It would have been part of their training they needed to understand that he had rejected these approaches perhaps much as they needed to see why he wasn t the military power-wielding Messiah they were expecting though, of course, we know they were as slow as the rest of the people to understand that most of the time. And we need to understand just as the disciples did that Jesus made a conscious choice to reject the tempting paths of power and miracles and currying favour by meeting people s every need. That may help us to understand, even if only a little, when we find ourselves asking, Why doesn t God do something? when we are faced with some problem. As we know from what happened later, Jesus rejected quick-fix answers and chose the path of the cross the way of suffering and death. Whether he made that choice while in the wilderness we don t know but I have suggested it may well have been so. But there is another reason this story can be important for us. Forty days and nights is a long time to be in the wilderness on your own quite apart from getting hungry! What did Jesus do all the time and why spend so long? We are not talking about Jesus popping into the Temple for a few words of prayer as he passes the door. For Jesus this must have been a time, not just of listening to the tempting distractions of the devil, but of listening to God his Father and discovering what his life and work was to be. Jesus had an amazing fact to come to terms with that he was God s Son, beloved of God! I can imagine him just sitting there and thinking about it and enjoying it! Indeed, just enjoying the company of his Father God. And listening to him as I have suggested, there was probably more than just temptations that went through Jesus mind he was most likely working out the positive side what he would be doing. And what this can tell us is that we need to spend time listening to God and enjoying God s presence. Prayer is not just a matter of pouring out a list of wants and needs. I ve talked today about responding to God in our lives responding to his love. I ve mentioned using the gifts we have as a most obvious way of doing it, but also of being prepared to step out of our comfort zones if need be. I ve mentioned how Jesus had the more difficult question for him the much more difficult question of deciding exactly how he should do it, avoiding some more obvious temptations and following the ways of the world. Maybe we will need to think at some length about just how we are to respond and, of course, pray about it at length, too. Like Jesus, the one thing we do need to do is to pray even if we don t need to 4
spend 40 days and nights doing that and praying about it means listening, being silent and waiting on God, not us talking all the time. Nor is prayer only a matter of listening to God and awaiting his guidance. Prayer is taking time to enjoy and experience God s great love for us; that is as much our proper response to God s love as actually doing something. 5