Lent 1C
March 10, 2019
Luke 4:1-13
INTRODUCTION
On this first
Sunday in Lent, we always hear the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. I
always imagined the assignment of this text to this Sunday was aimed at those
of us who undertake Lenten disciplines, to help us stay the course and not give
in to temptation. Now, of course, I realize that temptations threaten us
whether we’ve given up chocolate or not!
So really, the
temptation story, and all of our readings, are less about helping us avoid
temptation, and more about strengthening and nourishing us for staying
steadfast in faith. The story from Deuteronomy reminds us to give thanks, for
what we have today and for what God has provided for us throughout the story of
our ancestors. Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us to keep our focus not on
our differences, but on God’s word. And the temptation story from Luke reminds
us of the wily ways of the devil, who comes to us in our weakest moments and
tries to entice us away from the One who gives us life.
As you listen,
consider how these texts can guard you against those forces that would try to
steer you away from God and God’s word. And try to find specific words or
phrases that you can cling to in order to stay the course, even in the midst of
the myriad temptations in this world to turn from God. Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Jesus ate nothing
at all for those forty days, and when they were over, he was famished.” Well
yeah, I should think so! Isn’t it interesting that Luke felt the need to tell
us that Jesus was not just hungry, but really, really hungry after not eating
for over a month? Of course he was! He was a human being, after all, who, even
though he was also God, did not escape the various bodily experiences that come
with every body!
But Luke does tell us that Jesus felt hungry, and
so I think it is worth dwelling on that detail for a moment.
Because hunger is
something I think we all really get. And no, I don’t just mean the
tummy-growling sort of hunger. I mean the soul-growling sort, the type of
hunger we feel in our hearts. The hunger that may present as restlessness, or
dissatisfaction, or longing, the hunger that makes you think, “I am missing
something in my life… what is it exactly and how can I get it, that it might
nourish my soul?”
Anyone ever feel
hunger pangs like that before? Maybe even right now? I always find myself
thinking about that when Lent comes along, because Lent is a time when we are
encouraged to spend a little extra time and energy on our hearts, and our
relationship with God. “Create in me a clean heart,” we sing and pray
throughout this season. “Renew a right spirit within me.” Set me on the right
path. Show me what I am missing, and direct me toward whatever it is that will
fill this emptiness inside me.
To this end, I
usually try to choose a Lenten discipline that helps me to fill that spiritual
hunger. I have done traditional fasts – not eating from sun-up to sun-down, and
using the physical hunger pangs as a reminder to pray for those who hunger like
that all the time. I have done energy fasts – showering fewer days a week,
swapping out light bulbs for energy-efficient ones, buying local food whenever
possible, eating less meat. I have taken on prayer practices – one year I made
an effort to walk more, and to include more prayer in my walking. One year I
focused on almsgiving, by being very intentional about my financial giving, and
was sure to pray that week for the organizations to which I gave. Many of these
things became habits after I did them for Lent, because I realized I felt
better when I did them, and felt that they realigned me with a life closer to
what God was calling me to live. Some served their purpose for those six weeks,
and then I let them go. All of them had something to teach me along the way.
This year, I was
having trouble finding a discipline that would feed my particular hunger,
because everything I could think of seemed it would just exacerbate the very
thing I was trying to relieve. Now, I’m about to be a bit self-disclosing here,
a bit vulnerable, and so I ask that you be gentle with me, and listen lovingly.
You see, between starting a new call (and all the joys and challenges that go
with it!), and raising two dynamic young children, not to mention being a wife
and daughter, a sister and friend… the lack that I was feeling, the hunger, was
one that perhaps you, too, have felt: I found that I struggle to carve out time
each day just to sit with God. Now, it’s not that I haven’t been reading the
Bible or talking to God. I pray and study the Bible for a living, after all!
But that’s not what I mean. I mean doing that outside of what is required for
my work. I mean doing that not as Pastor Johanna, but as Just Johanna, just
plain old child-of-God Johanna. As I have entered this Lenten season, the
hunger I feel is a hunger for God himself.
Now, to turn this
away from me for a moment, and back into a more general spiritual concern: I
wonder if there are a lot of people out there who also hunger for God, but have
not found their way to naming it as such. And so instead of seeking a way to
fill what theologian Blaise Pascal called a “God-shaped hole,” they (or we!)
fill that hole, that hunger, with any number of things that may fix the pangs
temporarily, but ultimately do not nourish: working harder or longer,
exercising more, shopping, various hobbies, watching TV, alcohol, drugs… And
yes, those things do provide a
temporary fix. They give us a purpose, or they take off the edge, or at the
very least, they distract us from our hunger pangs. But as another theologian,
Barbara Brown Taylor, says, it is like a baby’s pacifier. She writes, “Whenever
we start feeling too empty inside, we stick our pacifiers into our mouths and
suck for all we are worth. They do not nourish us, but at least they plug the
hole.”
This Lent, I
wanted to do more than plug the hole. So I admit, our Lenten program this year,
to hold FAITH5 conversations over soup on Sundays, is partly self-serving. In
case you haven’t read the description of it, let me give you a little
background. FAITH5 offers a way to equip families and individuals to talk about
God in the home throughout the week. In small groups, or families, you start by
sharing highs and lows from your day or week. These are the things that stuck
out to you about your day, for better or worse. Sometimes you have to think a
bit, sometimes they are right on the surface. Whatever the case, they are
remarkable for some reason, and serve also to make us aware of what is going on
in the lives of people we love, and how they are feeling about it.
After sharing, then we read something from the Bible. You
noticed, I’m sure, in the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, that
with each effort the devil makes to shake Jesus’ trust in God, Jesus refutes
him with a quote from Scripture – because this is the most concrete way we have
of encountering God’s will for us. And so in FAITH5, we, too, will look to this
word that is trustworthy and true.
After reading God’s word, we will then talk about how God’s word
might speak to our highs and lows from the day. In this way, God’s word has an
opportunity to speak directly to the things that happen to us that left a mark
on us. This is a chance to see God’s movement specifically in our lives, to see
what God has to say to us in our highest points and our lowest.
Having listened to
God through scripture, then we move to a time of talking to God – because every
meaningful relationship involves honest and meaningful communication. We will
pray for one another, giving thanks to God for being present in the highs, and
asking God’s presence with us in the lows. And finally, we will bless each
other on our way. FAITH5: Share, Read, Talk, Pray, and Bless.
In preparation for
running this program, our Christian education committee tried this at our last meeting.
And I will tell you, it was incredibly meaningful. I learned about people, I
learned about God, I surprised myself when God showed me his presence in places
I had not initially seen it – and so now, next time that same sort of thing
happens to me, I will know to look for God there. I was moved to be prayed for
in my presence by someone else, and encouraged to be blessed.
In short: I felt nourished. I felt my hunger for God begin to be
satisfied.
I plan to do something similar on my own or with my family the
other six days of the week, and I hope you do too, but I cherish the
opportunity to do this with you on Sundays. I hope that you will try to come at
least once to try it out (and maybe even to bring soup or bread one week –
there are lots of slots still open!). I look forward to being sated in both my
physical hunger and my hunger for God, and I am excited to hear how you, too,
have seen God’s presence in the ups and downs on your week, because I believe I
have a lot to learn from you and your faith.
My greatest hope of all, of course, is that during this season
in which we prepare for and reflect on the death of Christ, that we will all
also draw closer to the God who ultimately promises us life. I hope that
through reflecting together on the word, and coming forward week after week for
the sacrament, that we will all discover what hunger in us needs to be filled,
and come to discover that the one who can fill it completely is Christ, who
emptied himself so that we would be full of life.
Let us pray… Fulfilling
God, we come to you this season with hunger in our hearts that we may not even
know how to fill. Help us to determine what it is that we lack, and give us
wisdom to seek fulfillment from places, people, and activities that will fill
us with your love, grace, and peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment