1st Sunday in Lent
Matthew 4:1-11
Some of you know that both my husband, Harbour, and I enjoy cooking. And so, we like to watch some of the cooking shows on TV. We especially like watching Andrew Zimmern, on the show Bizarre Foods. Andrew travels to many different places to experience what people eat. And yes, some of those foods can seem rather bizarre, or at least, very different from standard American fare!
One of the episodes finds Andrew preparing to travel to a deserted island. His preparation involved training from a wilderness survival expert. This person spent a couple days with Andrew, showing him how to prepare a shelter, how to start a fire, how to find food, and so on. Then, Andrew was off to the deserted island.
Yes, you guessed it. There was, indeed, a camera crew. I mean, of course, it’s TV. Cameras had to record Andrew’s experience. So the cameras were there, but the crew was not allowed to interact with him at all, and they left him at night on his own. The wilderness expert is also on the island and not interacting with Andrew. He appears separately on camera, speaking quietly as he observes Andrew’s experience from a distance. He comments on how well Andrew is doing, or, conversely, how poorly he is doing!
Andrew has a time of it. He does not build his shelter very well, but he manages to sleep in it. He tries fishing and catches absolutely nothing. Eventually, he is so hungry he resorts to eating bugs out of a rotting log.
You might think, why isn’t he frightened at the prospect of starving? Why isn’t he worried about rain that could chill him to the bone in his poorly constructed shelter? Andrew may not see the camera crew, but he knows they are present, and if he really got in trouble, they’d come to his rescue.
It’s all about the camera angle, isn’t it? If we engage with the story, the viewer forgets about the camera. Except for the beginning of the show, where we see the camera crew setting up, and where we see Andrew talking with the wilderness expert, the TV viewer then only sees Andrew, alone on the island. Of course, we see him thru the lens of a camera, but the lens disappears, in the excitement of the story, as we listen to Andrew’s experience on the island. What if the “camera angle” represents the presence of the Holy Spirit? We know the Holy Spirit is always there, ready to help us when needed, but perhaps just out of sight of the camera angle, so that we must intentionally seek, to feel the Spirit’s presence. That intentional seeking can easily get waylaid by the challenges of life, the feeling that we are alone on a deserted island. But as God’s children, we are never alone.
My friends in Christ, every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are naming the experience that Jesus encountered in the wilderness with the devil. Surely, he included the words “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” in the prayer for the disciples in part because he himself had lived this very experience, of temptation in the presence of evil, when he was in the wilderness.
We know that Jesus entered into the wilderness with a purpose. He was intent upon fasting, he was seeking solitude, he likely desired silence, and surely, he prayed without ceasing. We know that the Lord’s Prayer includes a commitment to the kingdom of God, and also, an opportunity to glorify God. So surely, in this wilderness, Jesus centered his thoughts upon God’s kingdom, and the multiple ways God can be glorified.
But even with all of that preparation, somewhat akin to the preparation Andrew experienced with the wilderness expert…even with all those advantages, going into the wilderness, Jesus had a time of it! The fasting commitment meant that by the time the devil found him, Jesus was not just a few days hungry, but 40 days famished! And you, and I, and everyone who reads scripture is engaged with the story, sitting on the edge of our seats, watching the TV, waiting to find out, does Andrew survive the deserted island?; reading scripture, waiting to find out, does Jesus survive the wilderness?
Meanwhile, back in God’s Kingdom…and meanwhile, back with the film crew, things are happening. The camera crew has trouble climbing the muddy, narrow path to follow Andrew, so they call ahead to their camera tech at the top of the trail, to ask them to position themselves behind a tree, and record this part of the story. Andrew is virtually never without a camera crew nearby, even tho they may be hidden. And as for God’s Kingdom? Well, you might think of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of this analogy, as somewhat like a script girl, reading along with Jesus’s words, just in case he needs prompting, just in case he needs her support, just in case he forgets some of the scripture he recites…She is there to protect him from the temptations and destructive danger of the devil.
You see, my friends in Christ, the Holy Spirit is guiding our story. The Holy Spirit is never far from us. The Holy Spirit is ready to prompt us when we forget, ready to guide us when we are tempted, ready to protect us from a fall, and yes, ready to step back and allow us to build quite possibly the poorest excuse for a wilderness shelter if ever there was one! But even there, even there, when the cold raindrops pelt their way through the meager roof and drip incessantly onto the soft sleeping mat of pine needles, the Holy Spirit is with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is with you, and with me, comforting, encouraging, giving us hope, shining light into the darkness.
How do we, in this 21st century, withstand the temptations of this world we live in? Today’s gospel gives us insight. We find at the beginning of today’s scripture, that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. Now why would the Spirit do that to us, you might ask? Well, let’s think about this. Do we learn better when someone instructs us how to watch out for trouble in our lives? Or do we learn better when we actually experience being in the thick of trouble, and have to make a decision…either turn to God for guidance, or ignore God and give ourselves over to temptation? Typically, we humans are not good at heeding advice, and so we tend to jump into trouble, and then have to find out for ourselves what path is best. And in the thick of trouble, how easy is it to be tempted? Very, very easy. The devil is well versed in providing quick fixes, like stones becoming bread, and we humans like quick fixes. We humans are also rather fond of power, and the devil was counting on that yearning for power, when he offered Jesus kingdoms in exchange for devil worship (and devil worship, in today’s terms, can be anything that separates us from God, such as drugs, alcohol, or gambling addictions, and so much more that distracts us from the love of God and brings harm to the gift of our life that is God-given).
What was it that Jesus had, that enabled him to resist the devil time and time and time again? Yes, of course, he is perfect. So there is that! But what did he know in his heart, that you and I also know, as a people of faith, in our hearts? Even in this vast and desolate wilderness, he knew, without a doubt, that God would never abandon him, because why? Why was Jesus so sure that God had not just abandoned him to the devil?
Last week’s scripture about the Transfiguration tells us why. And I encourage you to write these scriptures down, and when you are feeling low, when you are feeling that maybe God has abandoned you, read these scriptures. 2 Peter 1:16-21, but especially verse 17 “He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the magnificent glory, saying, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.’” And the gospel reading for last week, Matthew 17:1-9, especially verse 5: “While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!’”
If God so loved his only Son, Jesus Christ, who took on the sins of the world, died for us, and rose again, that we might know eternal life, then surely, God loves us, for we are his beloved children. And God’s love is with us, always. And the Spirit? The Holy Spirit? We don’t see her. But she’s the mild-mannered script girl in the wings, always present, but never actually seen on stage. She’s the one that keeps it all together, for us. We turn to her for the support we need, when we need it. And she’s always ready to help us. Never forget that. The Holy Spirit is always with us, even in the wilderness, even when we can’t see any sign of her presence.
Andrew was mighty glad when his time on the deserted island came to an end. Indeed, the wilderness expert arrived and brought a hearty, delicious breakfast cooked over an open fire on the beach. Kind of reminds me of another breakfast, on a beach, with the risen Christ…but that scripture is for another day, not today. For today, it is enough to know that God dearly loves us, too, and will never abandon us. Amen.
