The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
Today is the first Sunday IN Lent...not the first Sunday OF Lent. Sundays do not belong to Lent; every Sunday is a little Easter, a little celebration of Jesus' rising from the dead. Sundays, by definition, cannot be a time of penance. They HAVE to be celebrated!
The Church graciously provides us with two readings today to guide our Lenten observance. The first is from Deuteronomy. Moses is teaching the Israelites how they are to observe the Feast of First Fruits. It is actually part of the Jewish Pentecost observance. In Israel, wheat and other crops are sown in the fields around Passover time, and at Pentecost, about seven or eight weeks later, the first plants are ready to harvest. The very first of every harvest belongs to the Lord (that's why we give to God before we pay our bills...we give him the first fruits of our labor). But what is so important for us to remember and understand is the WAY that Moses instructed the Israelites to bring the first-fruits to the Lord for an offering of thanksgiving. He told them not to say, "My forefathers were wandering Arameans." Instead, they were taught to say, " I was a wandering Aramean...."
The point of this is not that we give thanks only for the wonderful things God has done for our ancestors. No. Instead, we are to give thanks for the wonderful things God does in our own life. Our life is an extension of the lives of our ancestors, and what God has done for them, he has done for us. And we are to be grateful in that way, according to the huge measure of all God has done for us and our forefathers down through the ages.
Think of it! We people today could come to the Lord and put our pledge into
the offering basin and say in our hearts, because, you know, God hears us when
we pray, aloud or in secret: I was lost, but I learned about you, my Lord, and now I am found; in my ancestors, I came to this country to find a place where I could worship you according to my own conscience, and I benefit every day from that freedom. You guarded me, in my ancestors, on the dangerous voyage from the Old World to the New; you safeguarded me in this land, against all kinds of strange and dangerous events; you were beside them, and me, as we struggled for liberty, and tried to help the world; you taught them, and me, how to live according to your ways....and so, my Lord, I bring you my offering with a heart full of thanks.
That's what Moses' lesson might sound like, if he were teaching it to us, today, instead of to the Israelites some five or six thousand years ago. The point of it all, you see, is to do as the apostle Paul told us: always be giving thanks, always be remembering what God has done for us.
And then we come to the familiar story of the temptation of Jesus. He had just been baptized, and so he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by Satan. Why? Well, Jesus is wholly God and wholly human, and like every human, he had to learn to struggle against temptation. I want you to pay attention to how Jesus reacted to temptation. There are valuable lessons for us there, not just for Lent but for our whole lives.
First: To be tempted is not a sin. But to give in to temptation is a sin. That means that you cannot use as an excuse "the devil made me do it." No. The devil can indeed tempt you, but only you can decide to let the temptation become action. Sometimes it requires a truly difficult battle or struggle to overcome the desire to say "yes" to temptation. Remember Jesus in the garden, the night before he was crucified? Lord, let this cup pass from me....but if I must drink it, I will. You will, not mine, be done. That is how to confront temptations. The Army has only three permissible answers to a question: yes, sir; no, sir, and no excuse, sir. But the Christian has the same three answers, however, we are supposed to address them to specific people. To the devil who tempts us (and that devil might be hiding in your best friend's person) we say, No, sir, no way! To God, when we know what he wants us to do, we say, Yes, sir, your will, not mine, be done. And to God, when we fall into the nasty swampy bogs of temptation, all we can say is: No excuse, Lord. I was tempted and I gave in. Jesus never had to say that last, thank the Lord. If he had, none of us would be saved!
Second: Jesus resisted every temptation by immediately turning his thoughts to God. You notice that every time he said "NO" to the devil, he followed up with a Bible verse telling why he simply could not do what the devil asked. It's good to memorize some verses from the Bible, so we always have spiritual ammunition handy to throw in the devil's face when he comes with his temptations. And you know we all face many temptations every day...that candy bar, that bit of gossip, that good-looking new person in the office, or at school; money we find on the sidewalk; the desire not to be blamed for something nasty we did. Jesus' temptations were king-size, because he is King of Heaven. Ours are much smaller, and let's thank the Lord for that, while we do our best to cope with them.
Third: When Jesus had stood up to the devil, even though it was terribly difficult...after all, he had been fasting and was weak...and finished his struggle, God sent the angels to minister to him and give him peace and healing. You can almost hear them saying, Well done, you good and faithful servant. Although our own struggles against temptations may take a lot out of us, and leave us spiritually and emotionally and even physically exhausted, God always provides comfort at the end.
If you have not made your Lenten rule for this year, please do so. If you need help, see me or some other minister. Lent is a most blessed time given to us every year for our own spiritual growth. It is almost like a sabbatical to spend in the Lord's presence. There are many ways to keep a good Lent, and if you don't know how, any minister would be happy to help you make a plan for yourself. Not everybody has to give up chocolates or smoking or movies! Each person should do what they need to do, to help themselves become closer to God and stronger ministers of God to others. Every Lent a little more, a little deeper....until we arrive at the heavenly gates, fit and ready to take our part in the Church Triumphant.
Amen.
