Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-9
Mark 1:9-15
At the preaching conference yesterday we were talking about things we say over and over in church but we don’t really understand. Here’s one, a line from the Lord’s Prayer:
“Lead us not into temptation.”
Seems so unfair. I mean, I really don’t need God’s help in finding temptation. Why would God want to get involved? I’ve been thinking about this all week, and I can’t say I’ve really got an answer, but I can see how this line might be part of our faith journey.
This prayer seems to come out of Jesus’ own experience, what happens in today’s Gospel. Jesus is baptized; he sees the Spirit, a voice identifies him, and, then with no time to waste, he gets sent out into the wilderness. Not sent really, the Holy Spirit pushes him out there—driven, is the word our translation uses.
Why? What does the wilderness offer Jesus? Temptation, that very thing he tells us to pray to avoid. Wilderness is the place of temptation, and I think we can see why. Away from the crowds, with no agenda, no plan, no disciples, no audience, what does Jesus have left? In the silence what could be next?
This is Noah’s experience as well, I think. We tend to think of his story as a fun tale for children, but the details paint a different picture. Imagine Noah in that ark with all those animals, shut in tight. For 6 weeks it rains while Noah is in the darkness in that ark–imagine the smell! Then it’s weeks more of floating around, and all that time that Noah hears nothing from God. Then finally they hit dry land, Noah steps out onto the land, and what do you think it looked like—all drowned, and rotting, and dead. Is there anyone anywhere in the silence?
Jesus and Noah hear the temptation of the emptiness. Silence. No answer. What if that’s all there is? What if there is no plan, no call? What if no one is there?
Jesus tries to save us from this experience, just like an older brother might try to protect his younger siblings—“You don’t want to go there, trust me, it’s just no fun.” But as much as he might want to protect us from the wilderness, we wind up there on our own. The wilderness is where we end up when all our agendas and plans have failed. It’s the place of our grief, of endings and loss, of unemployment and scary diagnoses. When we are in that place, without plan or power, like Jesus and Noah, we face the emptiness.
Not really. We have an advantage Jesus and Noah lack. We have noise–ipods and computers, radios—noise distracting us from the silence. We have our busyness keeping us busy—anything to distract us from that place of temptation where we might hear the emptiness whispering doubts: What if no one cares? What if this is all there is? Distracted, we avoid the dangerous questions, but at the same time we also avoid the power, because while Jesus can’t protect us from the temptation, he can show us the way through. That’s why we’re here in this place on this day. The way through is what we call salvation, and today we have two stories to tell.
First, Noah: Walking off the ark into a silent, devastated world, Noah faces emptiness. He offers a sacrifice, maybe just to see if anyone is listening. He gets a response, and with it a promise. The sign of Noah’s salvation is the rainbow. What God has hung in the sky is literally a weapon, his bow—no arrows. The promise: God will not be the enemy of his creation. In fact God is working now to remake and rebuild his creation. Noah does not know that much later his own descendants will be part of that renewal. For now it is enough to know that God is on his side.
But the sign of our salvation is not a bow, but the cross. Our salvation story is titled the Atonement, which is the idea that Jesus bridges the gap between us and our Creator. But let’s be clear about this—Jesus dies for us, not for God. It’s not that God needs some sort of bribe from Jesus in order to be persuaded that humans are worth his attention. God is not our enemy—Noah’s rainbow demonstrates that. The violence and destruction on the cross— that is all us. We are the ones who reject Jesus’ message. God’s gift of salvation is in God’s reversal of our judgment. In that reversal, life wins over death and forgiveness over sin.
This story is what gets us through the wilderness, or to return to Jesus’ prayer, it is how we are delivered from evil. But this deliverance isn’t simply belief we profess, it is an experience we know. Maybe that’s why Jesus puts it into his prayer—to remind us.
If you go back to the story of the Gospel, we can see how. In our Eucharistic prayer today you’ll hear a summary of this story: “Tempted in every way as we are, yet did not sin.” You might think by this that Jesus is some sort of superhero, with super powers of goodness, able to leap tall temptations with a single bound. No. Jesus is no superhero, and it’s not that he never makes a mistake or changes his mind. What Jesus never loses is his connection with God. The Holy Spirit pushes Jesus out into the place of temptation, but somehow in that place Jesus remains connected. He knows who he is and his calling. He overcomes the temptation of silence through the strength of that connection.However we find temptation, God isn’t testing us to see how strong and faithful we are because our life following Christ is not about our strength alone. It’s about our faith meeting up with God’s grace, us being delivered from evil and into fullness of life.
Different settings for grace offer different pictures of salvation. Grace can look like us being thankful, when we realize that we have received and are blessed. Grace can look like our strength, when we respond to God’s call to serve or speak and find that we can. Grace can look like hope when you finally understand that you don’t have to keep doing the same thing that has failed so many times before, but that you are free to live a new way.
In the week ahead, it would be interesting to hear how you experience grace. Dare to risk a bit of silence—even temptation if that helps—but turn off the distractions and listen. Hear the silence, respond in faith, and see where grace meets you. What does it look like to know God’s power in your life?
One Response
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other”.
Each morning as I drive to work I spend a bit of time in silent prayer. I usually spend this time asking for God to watch over my kids, I pray for those in need, I give thanks for blessing of a new day and I usually end with the Lord's prayer. When I arrive at work I sit down at my desk and turn on my computer. Hanging on the wall, at eye level, to my right, is a beautiful plaque that was a gift to me from a special mentor in my life. The plaque has the words to the Serenity prayer engraved on it. As I wait for my computer to boot up. I read and reflect on those words, when I have a phone call that I know is about a difficult situation, I look over at the plaque as a reminder. As I leave my office for many of the countless meetings that make up the work day of an Assistant Superintendent, I remind myself of the words on that plaque. I am called to lead in my job, but I strive each day to NOT get caught up in how I will navigate my role as leader but rather how I can continuously be reminded of God's grace! This gives me the strength, courage and wisdom I need to live and work with the goal to love and serve to accept the challenge to change the things I can change, and the wisdom to know when I can't.
Leila