Lent 1, Year A
February 13, 2005
Rev. Katherine N. Mitchell, DMin

Yesterday I was checking my email and one of the e-mails I received was from a Mr. Phillip Mark.  The e-mail presented me with a very enticing subject line that said, "Your help is needed."  

Well, I don't know Mr. Mark and I could hardly imagine why he needed my help...  and this made me very curious... so I did what I know I'm not supposed to do ...  I succumbed to temptation, I opened up his e-mail.  It turns out Mr. Mark had an alluring and attractive business proposition for me.

Mr. Mark says he is an accountant at the Bank of Africa and needs my help in claiming $35 million dollars deposited in an unclaimed account in which the depositor died, leaving no known heirs.  If I help Mr. Mark, he promises to give me 30% of all that money.  30% of 35 million dollars is such a large sum that I had to go to my calculator to figure out just how much money I could make off this business deal.  According to my calculator I would receive $10.5 million dollars, 10 and a half million dollars -- and those are US tax free dollars.  His offer was tempting to say the least!

As I thought about all this money that could mine, I started to dream of all the ways I could use that money, .... Some for personal enjoyment; naturally, I would share it with my husband and children; and of course, because of God's generous  bounty to me, I would even give some of that money to the Church of the Good Shepherd.  That money would resolve my financial concerns, as well as Good Shepherd's money woes.

This was a mighty temping offer and I wondered what I should do for about a mina-second.  Although the offer was enticing, it just seemed too good to be true. So, I did nothing.
I don't think that I intentionally go looking to be tempted by Satan.  Life itself presents each of us with many temptations and some inducements are so appealing.. and enticing.. that we just  can't say no.  Evil has an insidious way of moving in and taking over our lives in sly and unassuming ways. 

Interestingly, I find that the greatest temptations come to me when I am under stress, when I am feeling most vulnerable, when I'm worried, when I believe that I am the only one in the whole wide world who can be and must be in control of events in my life.  

Matthew's Gospel tells us that Jesus was led by the Spirit,   ... led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Some of us may not think Jesus was really tempted, at least, not in the same ways that you and I are tempted.

  However, we need to know and believe that because Jesus was human, he was tempted, tempted  by the very same things that lure you and me -- things like money, power, sex, work, possessions, and the list goes on and on of all the devilish things that try to capture our bodies, minds, and souls.

Jesus spent those 40 days in the wilderness fasting, praying, reading scripture, and deepening his relationship with God.  Jesus was prepared!   He was ready when old Satan came calling on him.   Jesus knew exactly what he had to do to get past the tantalizing temptations of life that Satan offered up to him; those of power, adoration and discipleship.  Jesus  always, always  looked to God to fulfill his needs, so, he knew that whatever Satan offered to him was false and unattainable.
Just as Jesus was, we are led to that great wilderness that happens for all of us at various times in our lives. That is the place that we too can come face to face with God and with our humanness.   God is there ready to struggle with us in our personal temptations.

Both our Old and New Testaments readings provide us with an opportunity to find our way out of that wilderness. These temptation narratives are really about relationship, about connection; about Adam and Eve's relationship with God juxtaposed against Jesus' relationship with God.  These are both stories about being human.

Jesus identifies with humanity.  Jesus relates to and with you and me. He does not depend upon his power to change stones into bread; he doesn't look to the angles to save him.  Rather, He depends upon his being one of us, his humanity to draw us into a relationship with him.

This temptation story helps us in that struggle. It helps us to remember that we will be tempted to put other things in our lives before our faithfulness to God.  This story is a vivid reminder that we can look to God as our help and our salvation and the sure knowledge that God lives and reigns in all the places of our lives and makes them holy.

The wilderness, whether real or a place deep within us, is where we can, just as Jesus did, connect with God.  This is a holy, a sacred place.  Lent offers us an opportunity to connect with Jesus in his humanity and with God in our own lives as we struggle with our relationship with God and with one another.  How will you connect with God during this season of Lent... Amen