FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT A

[cappie]

The ancient texts in the book of Genesis, which speak to us of creation Here they are, in paradise, everything’s going just great, and along comes this lousy snake with a smooth line and some new ideas. And then is the fall from grace, providing us with  insights into our nature and the nature of the world about us. In the gospel there is a powerful contrast, Jesus is driven from his baptism into the wilderness—which is just about as far from paradise as you can get. There, unlike Adam and Eve (who were surrounded by ease and plenty), Jesus has nothing; he is exhausted, starving, weak, and alone as he struggles with his time of temptation and challenge.

The two stories form such an obvious contrast that it’s impossible not to compare them, and to look for what emerges when they are taken together. On one level it looks simple enough: Jesus is the winner, and Adam and Eve are the losers; they are weak and he is strong. So, you might conclude, it’s better to be like Jesus than like Adam and Eve. 

What’s more, since today is the First Sunday in Lent, there is the added point that Lent is supposed to make us stronger so we will be more like Jesus than like Adam and Eve—at least as far as such things as temptations are concerned. 

What makes the story of Adam and Eve a true story is not simply that it describes something that happened somewhere else a long time ago—that’s not what’s here. One way the story of Adam and Eve is a true story is that it describes exactly what life is like here and now. It tells the truth about us. And over and over again, we find ourselves just like them. We are forced to decide what to do with something which, on the one hand, looks really good—something that seems useful and popular, and just might teach us a thing or two—but which, on the other hand, we strongly suspect is not what God, and our better selves, think best for us. And we must choose. When that happens, we might well find that it is better to be stronger, to have developed some of those spiritual habits that help us to choose in the right direction.

 Notice  what’s going on in Jesus’ temptation. He has fasted and prayed for a long time,  and he’s famished—he’s exhausted, worn out from the weather and the loneliness and the effort it takes to sustain something like this. 

He’s not at his best. And this is when the temptations hit Jesus, strength and energy and cleverness were all gone. There weren’t any left.

This is a different sort of temptation from the one Adam and Eve faced. This story models times when we face strong, or compelling,  just plain hard temptations and we have run out of resources to resist them.

No matter how strong we were to start with, we simply can’t any longer move in the direction we want, and we are drawn instead along lines defined against our will, by our appetites and our ego. It’s not just a matter of not being strong enough; it’s a matter of being empty. That’s where Jesus was.

Jesus does not say one word of his own. Instead, he quotes scripture in a simple and straightforward way . 

Jesus has no words, no resistance, no strength of his own—he’s simply holding on to the Father, and letting the Father’s words, and the Father’s mind, come through him. 

Jesus’ response to the tempter is not a victory of personal, spiritual strength. Instead, his victory is the gift of grace that comes from surrender. 

Doubtless his time in the wilderness gave Jesus  the insight and the courage to surrender, and so to depend not on his own best efforts, but on an emptiness that can only be filled by the Father, and that can only be filled by a gift of grace. 

 At the end of the day, the spiritual life is never about us, about what we can and cannot do. At the end of the day, it is always about God, and about God’s gifts—gifts of grace, gifts that do not fail. This Lent, may Jesus lead us individually, and as a Church, back towards the joyful communion God intended.