Readings are Genesis 2:15-17;3:1-7 and Matthew 4:1-11
The archdeacon who taught me to preach said that every preacher was given a song to sing – the version of the Gospel message which was theirs especially to communicate. “When you are asked to preach and not told what you are to preach on,” he said, “give that sermon!” In fact after 15 years or so of preaching, I am finding – like many preachers – that I only really have one sermon at all. I just tell it in different ways each week.
My sermon is simply God loves you. God loves you more than you can possibly imagine. Always has and always will, and because God loves you there is always hope – no matter what.
Now some people might look down upon such a simple message – surely there should be a bit more judgement, even occasionally a bit of wrath. The Gospel isn’t all feel-good and wooly, Kate, they would say. But I persist. And one of the reasons I persist is this first Bible story this week.
Because in this first temptation, I don’t think that the temptation is the apple. It isn’t even the knowledge, or the possibility of becoming like God. The first temptation is to distrust God’s love – to distrust that God loved them and wanted what was best for them led to everything that followed. If the man and woman had held fast to the love of the God who had made them and given them everything they had, the rest would have been impossible.
So perhaps a question to begin this Lent is how sure am I that God loves me? How much do I trust God’s love for me? Maybe a Lenten discipline for this year could be to pause once a day and simply remind yourself that you are beloved.
In our second reading, Jesus enters the wilderness. But before he goes, he has the most amazing affirmation of God’s love. At his baptism in the Jordan, he hears the voice from heaven – this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Secure in that knowledge, he is able to resist the temptations that come his way: temptations to doubt his calling, temptations to use power and seek security, temptations to misuse scripture, temptations to fatal compromise.
Instead, Jesus holds fast to the path he is called to walk – the path of service not power, the path of vulnerability not security, the path that fulfils scripture and the path that leads not just to the Cross, but to Easter which follows. The path that shows God’s never-ending, undefeatable love for us, undoing all the harm of that first temptation, bringing us back into God’s Kingdom of life.
So perhaps another question for this Lent is: trusting in God’s love for me, how am I called to live? How can I be generous in a world that encourages selfishness? How can I be hopeful in a world of despair? How can I be gentle in a world that values might? Where might I trust in God’s love and risk living differently?
For some reason, my sermon subject came up at a family meal yesterday. My daughter suggested that I talk about the good side of temptation. Well that was a take I hadn’t heard before, so I asked her to say more. She said, “every time you resist temptation, you have a chance to show your faith in God!” I think my daughter has a point. I am not quite ready to suggest temptation can be a good thing – I don’t think Jesus would have taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation” otherwise!
However, temptation is a normal part of life. We shouldn’t feel guilty about it, but rather secure in God’s love for us resist temptations hopefully, lovingly and positively. The process of resisting that temptation can tell us more about who we are and who God is calling us to be. As our collect today says, Jesus grew closer to God in the wilderness.
What do I mean? Well, to use an entirely hypothetical scenario, let’s say there was a vicar who had a moderate crush on the actor David Tennant, and let’s say this vicar found herself in vicinity of David Tennant and her attraction was reciprocated – as I said, this is a very hypothetical situation. In fact David Tennant asked her out for a date. But our vicar is married! A real temptation. In turning down the date, the vicar isn’t just saying no to David Tennant, difficult as that might be. She is saying yes to her husband all over again, yes to her marriage promises, yes to the person she wants to be and yes to the God whose ways of love are more demanding and precious than the ways of selfishness. In that sense, temptation can be a good thing as Anna suggests, if we can resist it out of love for God and those people God places around us.
In the end, it is all about love. So this Lent, know that God loves you, live well in that love and if you do encounter temptation hold fast to God’s love and say yes to God’s loving ways. And if we struggle, know there is help. As the hymn says…
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer
Sermons at St Paul's 