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Genesis 2:15-17: 3:1-7
Matthew 4:1-11
I
had a call last week from a young man now in his late 20’s who grew u=
p in
this congregation and had been an active participant in our youth ministrie=
s. A
burden had been laid on his soul the previous night while at a bar where
he’d gone with a colleague after work. Over a few beers, some intimate
and troubling information had been shared with him and he thought I’d=
be
a good ‘sounding board’ to check out whether the response he fe=
lt
called to make was really the right one. His fellow worker had confided in =
him
that he has been HIV-positive for the past five years and had stopped taking
the prescribed medication, due to their expense.
After
hearing that much, I expected that my advice was being sought concerning ho=
w to
encourage a young man also in his 20’s to regain perspective and hope=
and
start taking his meds again. But that’s not where the conversation we=
nt.
Apparently
the infected young man is bi-sexual in his erotic attractions and promiscuo=
us
in his behavior with both males and females. None of those with whom heR=
17;d
had sexual relations over the past few years had been made aware of the
contagious and potentially deadly disease he carries. My friend knew severa=
l of
those who had been unwittingly exposed to the AIDS virus, and he was rightf=
ully
angry about the confession he’d heard --- the more so because the
confessor seemed still unwilling to face up to what he’d done and inf=
orm
those whose lives he has put at risk.
Reflecting
on that conversation at the bar, my young friend said he remembered some yo=
uth
group discussions about situational ethics where we passed around a can fil=
led
with “What would you do if”&nb=
sp;
kinds of questions. Only this time, he noted, the situation is real =
and
requires more than a theoretical response.
As
he mulled over what that response should be, he felt strongly that those
involved in intimacy with this infected man needed to be informed immediate=
ly
of the situation so that they could get tested and, if need be, treated. And
since the responsible party was not willing to be responsible, the boy with
whom I spoke was wrestling with whether that responsibility had now been pa=
ssed
on to him.
In
addition to discussing the propriety of being the informer and, if so, some
ways in which he might do that, we also had another issue to deal with: the
temptation to not get involved. After all, the situation didn’t direc=
tly
involve him. Was silence an ethical option --- or a coward’s way out?=
Awareness
of good and evil was something my young friend would almost rather not have=
possessed
that night, but such knowledge is the ‘burden and glory’ of our
humanity --- as we read this morning in that well-known story from
Israel’s primeval history. The luxury of not having to know what is g=
ood
--- and what is not --- may well have worked in that mythical perfect garde=
n of
our origins, but our lives are lived out in a less-than-perfect world. Good=
and
evil not only exist but constantly clash within and around us. Making things
even more difficult, much of what we experience often has elements of both =
and
we must sort as best we can what comes at us day by day --- hopefully not
giving in to the ever-present temptation to simply take the easiest way out=
.
Several
recent situations have reminded me of all the temptations our youth encount=
er in
the course of that ageless adolescent struggle to affirm their independent
identity. Since my ministry has largely been with young people of this age,
even memories of my own struggles with this issue have not been left to fad=
e.
How
often have I seen a good student with big plans for college and career sudd=
enly
lose interest in school because of the temptation to do something more
immediately satisfying --- li=
ke
spending all their time with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or playing in a rock
band, or spending hours playing games with others on the Internet?
How
often have I watched a young person with a real talent --- for music, or
sports, or theater, or whatever --- stop practicing or doing it because new
sources of peer pressure convince them it’s not “cool” to=
do
that anymore? The temptation to place above all else the priority of having=
a
“cool” image with the desired group of friends at school can re=
sult
in bad decisions. The temptation to become --- or at least pretend to be ---
someone they’re really not and possibly jeopardize their future for a=
ll
the wrong reasons may be the way in which the ‘apple’ of mass
deception can end up being picked by even the most ‘normal’
adolescent.
Our
lectionary texts for this season of Lent begin with the theme of temptation.
Today we read Matthew’s account of the temptations Jesus encountered =
in a
wilderness setting prior to his ministry of teaching and healing. Mark, the
earliest written gospel, covers the experience in just two verses. An addit=
ional
source of original material was available to Matthew and Luke, and they giv=
e us
more detail about what it was our Lord struggled with during his 40-day fas=
t.
Temptation, we all know, is primarily an inner and personal experience, and=
at
first glance it may be as difficult for us to identify with Jesus’
temptations as it would to imagine a serpent talking us into eating an appl=
e!
Biblical
scholars suggest that a 40-day period represents an amount of time thought =
to
be sufficient for things like sorting out life’s options, coming to
clarity about one’s calling, and establishing relationship with the
Spirit beyond one’s self that gives strength and guidance for the
journey. Jesus’ time in the wilderness also recalls the 40-day fast of
Elijah, the 40 days Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the
‘commandments,’ and the 40 years Israelites spent in the wilder=
ness
before entering the ‘Promised Land.’
Turning
stones into bread may recall the testing of Israel’s faith during the=
ir
journey out of slavery when they learned to trust that God would give them =
each
day their daily bread: manna sufficient to their needs. The temptation to u=
pset
the order of Creation for selfish purposes --- if that’s what Jesus w=
ould
have been doing by making stones edible when he was hungry --- is a temptat=
ion
to which we regularly submit. Everyday examples of political policies and
corporate greed that contribute to our world’s environmental crisis w=
ould
suffice as evidence. Racism, ethnic animosity, religious self-righteousness,
homophobia, and nationalism are all examples of ways in which we treat othe=
rs
as if they are somehow not created in the image of God, as we are, and
therefore are not worthy to be treated as our sisters and brothers.
The
pursuit of dominance over others by any means and at any cost fills our news
each day. The destruction wrought by arrogance when combined with power is
easier to see when nations and peoples other than our own are doing it, of
course. But Jesus’ admonition to take the log out of one’s own =
eye
before trying to remove specks from the eyes of others is as relevant to us=
as
to anyone else.
Knowing
there is evil as well as good in human nature and knowing how badly we hand=
le
our attempts to play ‘god’ (as today’s story from Genesis
puts it), we can reasonably conclude --- as the Israelites did in those sto=
ries
from their primeval history --- that power and glory are safe only in the h=
ands
of our Creator.
As
Jesus’ struggle to clearly envision the will of God for his mission a=
nd
ministry came to an end, even the ultimate temptation of ruling all the emp=
ires
of the world was no longer tempting. Worldly empires are, after all, created
and sustained by those who love power. The Kingdom Jesus was to rule is cre=
ated
and sustained by the power of love.
During this season of Lent may we open our hearts to the living presence of the One who was able to keep worldly temptations in perspective in the light of his special calling --- and who can help us do the same in our time and place.<= o:p>