You see, our life is on a continuum...every decision we make, every action we take moves us along this continuum. At one end is God, at the other end is what some people might call the devil, others might call darkness, still others call evil and what I call “Not God.” What we do—all day, every day--- either moves us closer to or farther away from God.
Are you moving toward God or away? Are your choices fueled by light and grace or by darkness and despair? Do you trust God? I mean really trust God?
In today’s Gospel Jesus trusted God. And boy, did that tick off the forces of darkness, the evil one, the Not God in our world.
Today’s Gospel gives us a glimpse into one of the most epic battle of wits of all time. The devil challenges Jesus at every turn, and at every turn, Jesus has the perfect response.
Now remember, at the time of this morning’s gospel, Jesus has just been baptized and anointed as “God’s beloved” when he’s thrust into these 40 days of blistering heat, endless hunger, heart wrenching loneliness and 40 nights of bitter cold, desperate sleeplessness, and terrifying visions. The Devil is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at our Lord but because Jesus refuses to shut God out, because Jesus trusts in God no matter what; the temptations of the darkness, the evil forces of this world, the pull of Jesus’ humanity don’t win. In today’s Gospel, light defeats dark, hope overwhelms despair, Love beats hate and the march of God’s goodness continues on its way.
Today’s Gospel gives us hope; hope that as we begin our Lenten journey, the steady drumbeat of the light of Christ given to us at Christmas and Epiphany will fuel us.
And that’s good news because to really do up Lent right, we need that light. For it’s the light of Christ that shines in all the dark corners of our lives.
You know those parts of us that we hide from, those things we’ve left undone, or those things we’ve done that we wish we could undo.
The work of Lent is opening up space for God to come in and help us with the spring cleaning of our souls. In Lent we change the rhythm of our lives… not just so we can say that we successfully avoided chocolate or red meat or swearing or smoking for these 40 days, no we change the rhythm of our lives so that we notice when God slips in and shows up in the most unexpected places.
But this is where it can get a little tricky… because changing the rhythm of our lives makes us vulnerable. And being vulnerable is a frightening prospect---look at how vulnerable Jesus was during those 40 days in the wilderness.
He had two choices as the devil led him around: stay in fear and trepidation, holding on for dear life, or move into trust and faith, letting Go and letting God.
You know what? We are faced with this same choice each and every day….we can give into darkness or we can trust the light. We can hold on to our fear or we can let Go and let God. We can move toward God or we can move away from God.
My friends, you, as a community of faith, have a great deal to ponder this Lent. What is God calling the community of Grace to do? Where is God calling each of you individually and all of you collectively? These may not be new questions, but the level of urgency has increased. Over the years you’ve had frustration, anger and fear. You’ve also experienced hope and dreams, excitement and energy.
And now, today, you find yourselves at a real crossroads.
Lent has come just in time, because Lent –as so clearly shown in our Gospel reading this morning--is about turning our hungers, fears, doubts and worry over to God. A “well-done” Lent means learning how to trust that God is always the one we can turn too, that God is always the one who can feed us like no one or no thing else. May each and everyone of you, engage in a rigorous Lent, refusing to give into fear, doubt and anger. May each and every one of you learn from Jesus in the wilderness, saying good-bye to the darkness and hello to the light.
May this Lent teach us all that by experiencing some dark nights of Not God we will muster the courage and the trust to move fully and wholly into the bright days of Only God.
Amen+
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