For the faithful the bells of Lent tolled at midnight this past Tuesday marking the start of the penitential start of the church’s liturgical season of Lent. Many of the faithful marked that day with the gathering to feast on pancakes, other sweets, and to burn the palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday. This “Pancake Tuesday” or “Shrove Tuesday” as it is traditionally called is that opportunity for the faithful to “let it all out” before moving into the season of confession, penitence, and absolution.
The season of Lent officially began this past Wednesday . . . Ash Wednesday . . . as many of the faithful gathered in sanctuaries to mark the start of Lent by marking themselves with ashes. Ashes that came from the burned palms of the previous year’s Palm Sunday. It is the “kick-off” of the season in which there begins fasting, prayer, and the hard work of the examination of one’s faith to move closer to God and to others. The faithful receive the mark of the cross made with the ashes. The ashes serve as a reminder of the fragility of the human existence . . . that time is short . . . and that life is to be lived in the moment to the glory of God. The ashes are received with the phrase, “Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.”
I think for Christians, Lent falls somewhere down on the bottom of most people’s lists like visits to the dentist. Lent is not a popular season in the church year. It is a season that many see as difficult . . . dark . . . and foreboding. It is not greeted like the season of Christmas with great anticipation or like the season of Easter which is embraced with joy. No, Lent is seen as a hassle . . . an inconvenience . . . a royal pain in the rear end. Why else would we spend the night before it begins practically having one of the biggest parties of the year? Yet despite its despicable presence on the calendar of faith, it is an important season that we—the followers of Jesus—must travel through in our journeys of faith.
It should come as no surprise then that the first Sunday of Lent always finds the gospel lesson focused on the temptation story of Jesus. This year it is Matthew’s version of the story that we are privy to hear. It is a simple story . . . after his baptism Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. During this time Jesus fasts and prays. At the end of forty days and nights the devil comes to tempt him. Three times the devil tempts Jesus and three times Jesus refuses to take the bait of temptation. In the end Jesus sends the tempter away saying, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” The devil hightails it out of there and the angels come to attend to Jesus. And that it is. That is all that the writer of Matthew’s Gospel has to say about the whole thing.
So, what is it that we have in this story?
We have Jesus. Freshly baptized and recognized by his baptism as the one God has sent save the people. That is his call . . . his ministry. But before he has a chance to begin he is whisked off by the Spirit to prepare to do God’s will. That preparation revolves around fasting and prayer. This period of preparation will be forty days and nights.
We also have the wilderness. When you think of wilderness what comes to your mind? Is it a desert? A barren wasteland? Is it some deep, dark forest? A canyon? A mountainside? Is it windblown? Desolate? Lonely? I imagine that the wilderness is many things to each of us, but the case is that it is a place that one goes to be alone . . . where there are no distractions . . . where one can find oneself. That is exactly why the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. He is there to find himself and his mission for God.
Then we have the “tempter” . . . the devil. In this story the devil is portrayed in the more traditional role of being one who tempts. This is what the writer of Matthew’s gospel tells us . . . Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The devil does nothing else but present to Jesus several scenarios of other things that he could do with all that power and blessing from God. The devil just dangles the carrot before Jesus’ eyes . . . the rest is up to Jesus. There is no magic . . . no hanky panky . . . no fireworks of evil portions. There is only good ol’ temptation.
And, lastly, there are the temptations . . . no, not the musical group, but those alternatives that are proposed to Jesus. Options for Jesus to consider. Now Jesus knows what he has been called to do. He knows from who that call has come. It is not an easy task that he has been given . . . we know it and he knows it. Those temptations become the possible barriers that could disrupt the purpose of Jesus if he so chose to embrace any of them. Those temptations are the barriers that could separate him from his purpose and God’s will for him.
In this round . . . Jesus passed.
We are unfortunate in that there is not a detailed rendering of Jesus’ life . . . a moment by moment telling of his life. What we have in the gospels of our bibles is a minute glimpse at a portion of the life of Jesus. There is much we do not know. We know that Jesus was tempted. We heard it in our reading this morning. We also know that he faced temptation at least one other time. That time in the garden where he had gone to pray as he struggled with doing God’s will. Remember those heart-wrenching prayers and his final admonishment to do God’s will? Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42, NIV) What does this mean? Well, it means that Jesus was tempted just like any other human being. Could it have been in those moments that he stole away to be in prayer that part of his prayers had to do with those temptations . . . those barriers . . . that separated him from God and others?
With the “temptation story” the season of Lent begins. It begins with a call for those who are his followers to enter into the wilderness and consider their faith.
As many of you know, I love musicals. One of my favorite musicals is Steve Sondheim’s Into the Woods. This musical intertwines the plots of several fairy tales that we are all familiar with . . . Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk with several others. These stories are woven into the tale of a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family.. Through an interaction with a witch a curse is placed upon them. The only way to remove the curse is to bring the witch certain items that all relate to the fairy tale characters. All of the action takes place in the woods . . . the deep, dark, scary, and foreboding woods. All the characters must journey into the woods to discover about themselves and their purposes as they seek what it is that they think they need. It is in the woods that the struggles take place. It is in the woods that discoveries happen. It is in the woods that transformation happens, and direction is discovered. None of the characters in the play come out of the woods without having been changed by their experiences.
Though it is a unique story that Sondheim has written with great music and humor . . . it is not a new story. No, it is an ancient story and we heard it this morning in our reading. Since humanity’s beginning people have gone into the wilderness . . . into the woods . . . to seek answers, to face temptation, to find purpose and meaning. This morning we see Jesus do this as he goes into the wilderness. Christianity is filled with such stories especially those of the mystics. Mystics who interpreted the wilderness as the darkness of the night and the struggles that take place in the darkness. The struggle that takes place until the light pierces the darkness. How does that old song go? “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.”
It is the coming out of the woods.
Jesus comes out of the woods. He knows and understands who he is. He knows and understands his purpose and God’s will upon his life. He comes out with direction . . . and we know he comes out and straight into his ministry. He has fought his temptations and removed those speed bumps and barriers that could separate him from God and others. And, I imagine that he understood that this was just the first of many temptations that would come.
This call upon Jesus is the same call we have if we are truly following in his footsteps. We are called upon to enter into the wilderness to discern those barriers and temptations that can pull us away from God, others, and doing God’s will. We are called upon to enter the woods. The season of Lent is our “woods” . . . our “wilderness”, and on this first Sunday of Lent we are issued the invitation to go into the woods. We are called upon to examine our faith . . . to discern through prayer our actions . . . and to consider that which is blocking our relationship with God and others.
There is no push for us to accept the invitation. It is up to us and whether or not we want to make the effort to go into the woods. Yes, it sounds like a lot of work . . . sound daunting . . . sounds like it could be filled with difficulties and things we don’t want to deal with. It sounds scary. But isn’t that all temptation? Isn’t that the reason Lent is ranked just below getting our teeth pulled?
Yep. But don’t quit before you start. You are not alone in the journey. Jesus was not alone in his journey. Just as God was with him, God is with us. So is the Spirit. And we have Jesus and his example to show us the way just as he promised. But we are the ones who must do the work. All the partying is done and now the work begins. It is up to each of us . . . are you going into the woods? Amen.
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