Listen to Him: Sin and Separation

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Matthew 4: 1 – 11

The lectionary focuses each year on Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness on the first Sunday of Lent.

I suppose that reminds us that Jesus resisted temptations, and that we are seeking to do so too in these 40 days that prepare us for his death and resurrection. We might tend to see it as an example, or a level of solidarity with Jesus.

But I think sometimes when we look to Jesus as an example, we oversimplify who Jesus was and what Jesus did and how it relates to who we are and what we are capable of.

Today, I want to look at both the Genesis text and the Matthew text to help us perhaps understand sin a little more clearly. Maybe the purpose of understanding sin a little more clearly is that we spend less time trying to name it and point to it in others and so that we spend more time passionately pursuing the alternative.

We have been swimming around in Jesus’s sermon on the mount for a full month now, and what Jesus is doing, time and again, is shifting focus away from the tendency to seek righteousness – or law abiding-ness – that is something like a transaction where you are clearly right or clearly wrong and there is clear benefit and clear risk to your choice. 

I mean, wouldn’t it be best to have a list that outlines quite clearly – this is right. And this over here, this is wrong.

And in shifting away from something transactional, Jesus keeps pointing to a more complicated form of righteousness. Last week we had him expanding on the definitions of adultery and expanding on how sinful anger could be. 

There is something else at the root of determining righteous behavior.

There’s something about our orientation to understanding right and wrong that matters deeply in Jesus’s teaching.  I’m going to suggest over and over again that it has to do with the vital importance of orienting our lives toward a relationship to God and not to other things. 

Here in the season of Lent, we have a few weeks to “think on these things” and try to figure out how we might choose righteousness more.

Let’s begin by backing up to some details in the Genesis text that were not read today.  Prior to the creation of Adam’s partner, at Genesis 2:9, scripture says:  “Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

There are two trees “in the midst” of the garden. 

When Eve and the serpent are discussing the finer points of what God has and has not said about what to eat, Eve describes the prohibition this way: 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'"

In Eve’s mind, in her worldview, the forbidden fruit is at the center. 

But that’s NOT exactly how it is described earlier.  Earlier, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil are both “in the midst of the garden.” 

This makes me wonder…. what do we put at the center of our attention?

What is at the center of our garden?

How many times have you tucked away a treat that you should not consume – a stash of chocolate, a slice of cheesecake, whatever – and then it is ALL you can think about?  And you keep finding yourself back in the fridge, or back to that drawer where you’ve stashed the goods?  Or sworn off social media or looking at your phone ONLY to look at it twice as often once it is forbidden? 

Let’s hold on to that for a moment and visit our gospel text.

In Matthew’s gospel, “the tempter” troubles Jesus’s spirit with specific temptations. 

The first, on the heels of 40 days of fasting, is the challenge to take care of Jesus’s own hunger by turning stone to bread.  Essentially, the tempter is inviting him to take care of himself rather than relying on God.  Essentially, if you can handle this yourself, why wouldn’t you?  Why would you wait on God’s help? 

But Jesus is firm.  There are things more important that this basic human need.  God’s got this.

The second temptation is for Jesus to cast himself off the pinnacle of the Temple…so that he can be saved by Angels. If you know God’s got this, why not just show me what God will do to save you?

And Jesus’s reply essentially is that with faith there is nothing to prove. God doesn’t need to be tested to be proven real and true. 

And finally, the tempter offers power – the opportunity to be in control of much, in exchange for shifted loyalty. If you worship me, he says, you will have all the power that you can imagine. 

And of course, Jesus responds with the first commandment – worship the Lord your God only.  Jesus rejects anyone being at the center of his world other than Godself.

So in response to temptation, Jesus focuses his “why,” turning again and again to a right relationship with God.

God is at the center of Jesus’s response. All three times.

Take care of yourself.

Prove to me that God is real.

All this can be yours if only you will turn to another source…

Lent can be a lot of things, but I’d like to suggest it is pretty simple.

Lent is a time to focus on putting God back at the center of our world. 

OK.

That’s actually NOT very simple. 

But I also don’t think it has to be so complicated.

Are we finding time to let God into our hearts?

Are we finding time to absorb an understanding of how we are made in God’s image?

Are we finding ways to appreciate that those around us are also made in God’s image?

For me, in this season, the added practice is a simple one.  A daily meditation on the way God loves and the way I am called to love in light of that.

Sounds simple, until each day I’m supposed to imagine someone in front of me….lovingly sharing God’s love light with them. The instruction was to start with someone it is “easy to love.” I was sharing with Matt on Ash Wednesday the beautiful simplicity of the meditation…and that I had chosen to focus on him as someone easy to love in my first effort.

…and then I pointed out that there was a good chance that he would also be someone I focused on later as someone who challenged my ability to respond with love.

Because that is life.  A shifting set of challenges.  Day by day. Hour by hour. 

This morning, we gather at the table that God sets for a meal rooted in ancient practice.  We gather to quite literally become one with God in a moment so that we can go out and offer God to those around us.

Sharing the elements, turning our focus toward God and living into that over these 40 days has the potential to be a singularly focused, miraculous act, concretely placing God at the center of our nourishment…or lifesource…our decision-making…our shared live…our community.

Practice is just that – we aren’t perfectly skilled and so we have to try and try again.  Repeat the motions.  Over and over.  Malcolm Gladwell suggests that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery. 

40 days gives us a good start.  A practice of turning toward a relationship with God. Walking away from Sin.

May it be so.

Amen.

Sources: Working Preacher Sermon Brainwave Podcast #709, https://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx)