The Rev. Margaret Watson
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:7 | Psalm 51 | Romans 5:12-19 | Matthew 4:1-11
Well, it's Lent are we having fun yet? I went home Tuesday evening and my dog greeted me at the door as she usually does. She's an "all-American" breed, so we are not quite sure of everything that has made her. But, she is definitely part Australian Shepherd, so she's not a real barky kind of dog. But Tuesday night she greeted me at the door with a lot of waa waa waa. She was talking so I talked back and all of a sudden she started to howl. Now this dog doesn't howl, and she was howling three sheets to the wind. And that's when it dawned on me: it's Lent. All this begging for mercy and forgiveness: it's Lent. And don't we look funny right here in a world that doesn't even acknowledge sin, that wouldn't know it if sin were put right in front of them. A world that would rather play and seek gratification.
So Lent is a good and necessary thing isn't it? Because, we being in the world have become infected with that whole mess. Paul told us this. Augustine told us this. Prophets and saints through the ages have told us this. So, Lent is a very good thing. Pray, fast, clean ourselves up. So what do we do? We give up food or we take on doing something good. Is this what Lent is about? In that light, doesn't Lent seem a little bit like the ultimate God given system for self-help or for self-improvement? Well I promise you, the Church is not a self-help group. Lent is so much more. Make no mistake, it is about sin. This Gospel is about sin, and it's imaginative imagery we are offered here, - delicious, imaginative imagery of the reality of glorious, glorious sin.
Why did I say glorious? Recall the first Lesson today, the powerful tale of creation. I hope we know by heart the iconic imagery of that Garden of Eden. Can you see it, the perfect gardens, the trees pruned, excellent fruit, delicious fruit and the lawns manicured. Manicured so well, I'll bet you golf was invented in Eden. And Adam and Eve moved through this garden, naked and unashamed. They didn't work. They were innocent and perfect. Now that was the good life - eternal Sabbath.
But look, look at the story carefully. What has God done? He has planted a tree right in the middle of the Garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God says eat your fill, but don't eat that one. Well, that should make us laugh. Which of us when denied something doesn't focus just a little bit more on that very thing? We know ourselves that well. Surely, God knows us that well. What was God thinking, putting that tree in the middle of the Garden. And to make matters worse, God puts that wicked serpent right there in the tree. Surely God knows the serpent well enough. God made the serpent, didn't he? What was God thinking? God's perfect Eden, with the tree and a serpent, right there from the very beginning. Why? And the sin, the temptation here, the tree was to be desired to make one wise. The sin, the temptation is wisdom, the knowledge of good and evil, which will make us wise like God. What's wrong with wisdom? If you look at this picture of Eden, human beings didn't invent much when it comes to sin, glorious sin. It was there, ripe for the picking, a delight to the eyes. In God's perfect creation sin seems to be waiting for us. And we know what happens to Adam and Eve. They are driven from the Garden, the gate to the Garden is cast open and they are delivered into the world.
And just as Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, we have the image of Jesus driven by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus, who is Wisdom in the flesh, who is the first fruit of that tree without blemish. Jesus, meets the tempter face to face. And what temptations are we offered here? What sin is given to us this time? The temptation to turn stones into bread, to feed ourselves thoughtlessly, when what we need is real bread. The temptation of the pinnacle of the temple,- to fly with power from the exalted place of worship, when what we need is humility. The temptation of the kingdoms of the world, to rule, the systems, the governments, when what we need to remember is that God rules.
Oh my, these sins are easy; they are delectable fruit, aren't they? Which of us hasn't participated in at least some of those? Sin, glorious, juicy, drip off our chin, eatable, seductive sin. Might we ask ourselves what is so tempting about wisdom? Didn't we all go to school? What is so tempting about bread and temples and government? Don't we engage these all the time? Isn't that our responsibility? Don't we find joy and duty and a sense of accomplishment in these?
Let me put it simply. When we ask ourselves what is so tempting, then we have Lent. I will make a bold assertion here. I bet 99% of us in this room have embarked upon a Lenten discipline of self-improvement, our personal habits, our personal diets, our personal thoughts, our personal deeds, convinced that if we can control this little bit of something, we can learn how to do more and greater things, that this discipline in these little things prepare us for greater things. Yes, indeed. Don't give up the Lenten discipline, but look carefully at these temptations presented today. These have very little to do with personal patterns of behavior. These temptations have to do with the broad functions of society and our participation in them, the way things are taught and learned, the way we seek those things to fill and satisfy us. The way we do religion. The way we pattern our civilization. These are not personal sins, but systemic sins, sins which are so rampant, so thick in every nook and cranny of our world, our cities, our families our church and the way we do things, it's downright discouraging. Paul tells us "and so death spread to all because all have sinned." Is there any way out? Why even bother with a Lenten discipline when it's so overwhelming?
Perhaps the key lies in the radical imagery offered us here today, God placing the tree and the serpent in the Garden, right in the middle of the perfect Garden, sin at the center of things, because it is this kind of perfectly imperfect creation that teaches Love and Grace. Perhaps a perfect creation cannot lead us to the depths of love. And again, in the radical imagery of Satan and Jesus in dialogue. Image that, can you see it? Satan, the grimace, the stance while he's talking: and yet even in the presence of perfect light, sin has a voice. Sin is not exiled, sin is not abolished, crushed or destroyed, as we would like. Sin becomes the turning point for a relationship with God. The dance Satan does around the rocks, the temple, the civic centers is the stuff through which he is able to converse with God, keeping the door open, because God is there on the other side. And here is our key - the way out of sin is to quit dancing around it, but to go right through it, because God is on the other side. Perhaps God put the tree and the serpent in the middle of the Garden, perhaps Jesus engages Satan without destroying Satan, as the ultimate gesture of love and grace. Paul tells us "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Where grace abounds, there is love, and God is love.
So here is our Lent in light of this love, our little self-help efforts and exercises to remake ourselves so that we can do better, these are puny gestures. We strive through these very efforts to carry the burden of our sins, to redo or remake and amend ourselves. And if we try this, we are like Adam and Eve sewing together fig leaves. Yes, it's audacity to think we can redeem ourselves. It's audacity to think we can even begin to tell the difference between good and evil. If we try, that makes us just like Adam and Eve. And imagine whom we look like if we think we can feed ourselves, if we think we can fly on the wings of faith, if we think we can rule.
So instead, this Lent, let's just name our imperfections, boldly and gladly. Let's howl them out and offer them to God in prayer. Trusting that where sin increases, grace abounds all the more. And this Lent, let's not try to remake ourselves, but instead offer to God his own creation, the delectable fruit he placed in the Garden. Instead, this Lent, let's pray for the whole world as Christ taught us to pray: Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Father make us one. Father it has been accomplished. Let us acknowledge sin, glorious sin, through which we may know God, for the sake of the world, trusting that when we offer God all that we are, all that we have done, that we are indeed truly worshiping and serving Him in Christ's name.
Amen.