March 1, 2020 – Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
More – Lent at the Movies I: The Rise of Skywalker
First Sunday in Lent – March 2, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
The wilderness is a place where the Israelites were sent to school long ago.
It’s in the wilderness that the people learned that they had enough.
They learned that what God gave them would be enough:
enough manna and enough water and enough quail, if they shared.
They had to learn this, because the fundamental problem in human history ever
since Adam and Eve had been the desire for more.
It took the Israelites 40 years to learn this lesson – an entire generation.
It will take Jesus 40 days this morning.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
The man and the woman are given to each other.
They are given the beautiful garden to care for.
And they are given God’s presence and friendship with them.
That is supposed to be all they really need.
It sounds idyllic, and it sounds perfect . . . until.
Until they are tempted to want more, until they are tempted to think this is not enough.
The snake comes along and tempts them with “being like God,” that is, with wanting more.
You can have all knowledge and all power and be like God, the snake assures them.
As if what they had already was not enough.
They are tempted to want more –
and that is when the beautiful dream of life in the garden unravels.
They are soon at odds with one another, at odds with creation, at odds with God.
Surely, God thinks, an eternity of that would be awful, and so God graciously tells them to
leave the garden so that they no longer can have access to the tree of life.
Perhaps the knowledge of mortality will help them to cherish what they have,
will help them cherish the precious gift of one another, of life on earth,
Of life with God – these things are precious,
all the more so if you know you only have them for a limited time.
Well, time goes on in the biblical story.
And the sad story of human history is repeated over and over in the human desire for more.
It leads to conflict, it leads to dissatisfaction, it leads to destruction and hatred.
And God weeps.
So after liberating the people from slavery God decides to start over and attempts to
educate the people in those things that lead to life, abundant life for all:
the knowledge that what God provides will be enough,
the knowledge that if they share what they have everyone will have enough.
The knowledge that their purpose in life is to enjoy one another and delight in one another.
To be grateful for the things in life they do have, and for the people around them.
To know that life is a gift, and that it is enough.
Well, as time goes on, sometimes the people remember and sometimes they do not.
And the desire for more rears its head and causes a lot of problems: hatred, war, and killing.
Human history changes, though, when John the Baptist takes the people to where?
Right! The wilderness! And there John attempts to teach the people again the ways of
manna sharing, the ways of “enough.”
Jesus himself becomes a very willing pupil, is baptized into this life by John,
and in his baptism is proclaimed Beloved, and Apprentice of God.
This identity comes with a task: to engage in God’s mission to love, bless, heal and feed
this whole world and every person in it: in short, to share the love of God given to him.
It is right after this we see Jesus this morning: in the wilderness, for 40 days,
where he is tempted to forget his identity and his mission:
he is tempted to want more than what God has given him.
More food for himself, more protection for himself, more power for himself.
But Jesus knows that the desire for more only and ever leads to no good.
He remembers the lesson of Adam and Eve – and seeks to reverse it, to put the world right again.
Paul picks up on this in the reading from Romans,
where he contrasts Adam’s choice which leads to death for many with
Jesus’s choice which leads to life for many.
Jesus refuses to play the game: to give into the temptation for more would lead him astray from
the mission he has to love, bless, feed and heal this world and every person in.
And so he remains content with the task God has given him, with the people God has given him,
with the protection God promises him,
and with the promise God gives him to care for him.
And of course, when the devil leaves Jesus, angels appear to bring him food.
There are many things I could say about the latest Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker.
Suffice it to say that the heroine, Rey, must withstand the very same temptation Jesus faces,
and that all of us face: the temptation for more.
Rey’s task is to restore balance to the universe and reverse the forces of darkness that threaten to
enslave this world and everyone in it.
Her task is to use the force the restore this balance.
The old enemy, powerful Emperor Palpatine, is the one behind this rise of evil and
her task is to confront him.
When she finally does, he tempts her to use hatred to kill him in anger
so that she can rule the universe in power – if she does, he will win.
“Kill me,” he says, “and my spirit will pass into you. . . . You will be Empress. We will be one. . .
With your hatred you will take my life.”
Her response?
“All you want is for me to hate, but I won’t . . . Not even you.”
Then he tempts her to think that she is alone, but she isn’t.
Her friends soon arrive and save the day.
And then she begins to hear the voices of all the deceased Jedi
who surround her like a cloud of witnesses.
They assure her she is not alone.
It is then that she stands up and confronts Palpatine.
Having withstood his temptation, he tries to kill her.
But she withstands all his evil energy – it is reflected back on him with Princess Leia’s lightsaber
. . . and destroys him.
He is destroyed by his own evil power.
We are all tempted to want to become something we are not, or something more than we are.
We are all tempted to stray from the things that lead to life and abundance for those around us.
It is easy to give into hatred and anger, which does seem to be on the rise.
But the season of Lent is here to help us.
To help us re-learn the lesson of Adam and Eve – and enter into the life of Jesus.
To help us withstand the temptation for more.
Lent is a time for refocusing our priorities and for spring-cleaning the soul as I often say.
It is a time for simplifying and culling.
It is a time for re-turning to those things that make us fully and beautifully human:
love and care and gratitude for what we have been given.
It is a time to focus on the relationships we have been given,
rather than chase after those we don’t have.
To delight in the simple things we have, rather than lust after those we don’t.
To enjoy the work we have been given, rather than chase the ambition for more.
It is a time to look at those around us right now, right here, in worship, at school, at work,
and realize that each person is a miracle, and to never take the love they give for granted.
It is time to remember that there is no higher ambition, no higher calling than
the one we have been given in our baptism, the same baptism as was given to Jesus:
To participate in God’s mission to love, bless, and heal this world and every person in it.
To care for the garden of life we find ourselves in, along with those we find in it with us.
That is all – and that is enough.
An ambition for more will – the storytellers and artists tell us – bring to ruin what we have.
An ambition for more will replace love with hatred.
In our baptisms we were given the very same Spirit that was at work in Jesus.
The Spirit to resist the temptation for more.
The Spirit to resist the temptation to be apathetic about our neighbours and about injustice.
The Spirit to resist the temptation to take those around us and their love for granted.
The Spirit to resist the temptation to think there is a higher purpose in this life than
the one God gives us to be blessing: to love and be loved in turn.
So let us enjoy this day that God has given.
Let us have light hearts knowing that God will give us what we need this day.
Let us give thanks for those around us, and let us be generous in our giving,
knowing that we have enough.
And together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
