Matthew 4.1-11 Susan J. Barnes
Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:7 17 February 2002


I knew a woman once who said that God spoke clearly to her in English all the time. She seemed perfectly sane, so I have no reason to doubt her. In fact, she made me a little bit jealous. When we met I had just come through the process of discerning my call to ordained ministry. The hardest part of that was figuring out what God really did want me to do. It took months and months--but that's another story.

Back to the woman. God didn't talk to her about other people or events. She wasn't cursed with prophesy or anything: who wants to be a prophet? No, what God did say to her was what God wanted her to do. She admitted that--more often than not--she didn't do it. And she laughed about her own short-comings with refreshing self-acceptance. Then I couldn't understand her contrariness--or her candor. Now I do: she knew herself well as a child of God.

I don't know about you, but I don't hear the voice of God in English--or any other language. The voice I do hear--all too often--is the voice of the tempter.

That voice--the tempter's voice--permeates today's readings. The Old Testament and Gospel lessons are bookends in a way, the Alpha and the Omega of Temptation. From Genesis we have the first temptation, the Fall--as it has come to be called. That event suddenly shattered humanity's innocence and the harmonious life with God in which we were created. Then, from Matthew, we have Jesus' temptation. His unblinking confrontation with the Devil was the first sign that Jesus would restore humankind to God, that Jesus would triumph over the world, the cross and death itself.

Friends, these two lessons have more or less the whole enchilada of Christianity. There's far too much to say. So I'd just like to offer up some thoughts about temptation, then and now. They can be summed up in the French expression: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." The more things change, the more they remain the same.

About Adam and Eve. It hit me in reflecting on these lessons that this couple--especially Eve--have gotten a terrible rap. I mean, they were babes in the woods--quite literally. This is chapter one, page one, of human history. Nothing prepared Eve for the cunning argument of the serpent. She hadn't been to school or to church. She hadn't read the Bible. She wasn't a lawyer. She hadn't been around the block. She never left the garden. All she had was God's Word against this crafty creature's. Today, with all that we know about evil, about temptation, about human weakness, about greed--we're not doing any better. Witness Enron. Personally, I wouldn't want to be casting stones at Eve.

But, then, that's the point of the story--isn't it? Our Jewish forebears distilled the essential issue of evil into a single powerful cautionary tale for all time. Eve made the same mistake, succumbed to the same temptation, that we all do when we sin. And Jesus did not. What's the temptation? It's listening to the voice of our ego, doing our own will, instead of doing God's will. It's devastatingly simple. Let's listen again to the voice of the tempter in Genesis and in Matthew. To Eve, about the fruit, the serpent said, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The serpent tempted Eve to assert her identity, her will, and her power to act contrary to God's command--to become like God. This is the sin of idolatry. And Eve bit.

The voice and the temptation are similar in Matthew. The first two temptations begin: "If you are the Son of God..." Satan calls on Jesus to assert his identity, to act like the Son of God, to demonstrate his own power, to use the gifts that God has given him, not to do the will of God, but simply because he can, because he--Jesus--wills it. In response, what Jesus does, what Jesus shows us how to do, too, is to step back. Jesus resists the temptation to act on his own, to assert his own will. Instead, he invokes God; he brings God's word, God's will, God's commandments into the center.

Satan has power only in this world, and all three temptations are about this world: material things (the bread); political power; and entitlement--the presumption of God's favor and protection. Jesus deflects the tempter at every turn. He does not dignify him by engaging on the devil's terms; instead Jesus points away from the things of this world, and toward God.

As Richard Rohr wrote in his wonderful book, Everything Belongs, Jesus knew that his life wasn't about him, but about something much bigger. Jesus came not only to redeem us in the future but in the present, to show us that our lives, too, can be about something bigger: the Kingdom of God.

All it takes is surrendering our lives! This kind of submission is hard for anybody, but particularly people like us. On one hand, our worldview is shaped by Western Enlightenment notions about the importance of the individual. On the other we are immersed in a consumer culture that constantly tells us it is all about us. We are seeing once again, how dangerous and destructive that egoism can be for all kinds of people, for the nation and even the world economy. The evidence pours in every day. Leaders of important businesses in key sectors of the economy--energy, accounting, stock brokerage, and law--have succumbed to temptations of power and wealth at the expense of honest, responsible practices. This is contrary to God's will. As Father Joe pointed out, Satan is crafty: Satan beguiles us by using things that can be good--like ambition, inventiveness, success, profitability--to lead us into evil.

In our baptismal covenant, we vow to repent and return to the Lord whenever we fall into sin. I used to think of sin as a big, rare event, like stealing or adultery or murder. Now it seems clear that sin is less about what we do, than about our inner attitudes, about our ego, our will. Sin is an everyday occurrence. And with God's grace so, too, are repentance and forgiveness.

Evil deeds proceed from evil thoughts and attitudes. We can save ourselves a whole pack of trouble if we catch ourselves early on and defeat the thoughts and attitudes That means we have to be keenly attuned to the voices that we hear--to recognize the inner tempter, the ego. Let me give a few examples, though I can only speak for myself. I hear the tempter's voice: when I compare myself to someone else--favorably or unfavorably; when I judge someone, particularly based on their appearance, speech, or attitude; when I want credit for something; when I blame myself; when I get fixated on anything--food, a goal, a person, a possession; when I compete with anyone in any way; when I feel entitled to anything. The list goes on, but I won't; we don't have all day.

So, we need to recognize the voice of the tempter, and--as Jesus did--to reject it to obey God's voice, God's will. That's simple, but it's not easy. Remember that the medieval root of the word obedience meant "to hear." To obey God, we must hear and recognize the voice of God. Reading scripture helps, of course, as does the fellowship of good Christian people. God speaks to us through both. But the most important way that God speaks to us is through our own hearts and souls. And, if God doesn't speak to us clearly in English, we have to learn, we must develop a relationship with God based on listening hearts.

Lent is a wonderful time to work on this. Fr. Joe suggested on Wednesday that we all try to spend more quiet time each day with God this season. Some of us are on very close terms with God. Others have become estranged. Others are just becoming acquainted. Wherever we are, we can only get better. The contemplatives among us might meditate twenty minutes, twice a day. That is optimal. If you're doing that, you are blessed--as I was the one Lent I managed it. For most of us it will be less. Whatever you do, don't worry. Be realistic. You'll figure out what's best for you--with God's help. And be forgiving of yourself as God is forgiving of you. Don't get defeated if you fall short. Repent--and readjust, if necessary, to something that you can do. God will bless your efforts. Those of us who are very active may just take a few minutes at the start or the end of the day. Let me suggest stopping for a minute here and there regularly throughout the day--before you eat, when you arrive somewhere, when you get into the car, when you hang up the phone, when you sit down. Take a minute, close your eyes, breathe deeply. Come back to the Center. Feel God's presence and God's love. Touch base with God. Then open your eyes and see God in your experience.

Joseph Schmidt wrote a great little book, Praying Our Experiences. It is about bringing the awareness of God into our everyday lives, knowing that everything we do and everything we are truly is God's concern. When we sense that, we can begin to see how God is active in encounters, events, and conversations all day long, how God can shape our hours and days as they unfold.

Our lives are filled with temptations of all kinds. They can be dispelled, or they can grow bigger depending on how we handle them. Jesus showed us that if we can step back, if we look to God's will, if we listen to God's voice, we can resist. Furthermore, if we remain aware of God's constant presence and God's love in our lives, we can truly belong to something bigger. We can, and we will play our little parts in the Kingdom of God. And we will be blessed.

Let us pray. Open the eyes and the ears of our hearts, Lord. Help us to see you. Help us to know you, and do your will. Help us be your children, and live in the light of your love. Amen.