Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The First Sunday in Lent
I have heard that English is one of the most difficult of all languages to learn as a second language. The difficulty lies in our verbs, since there are so many irregular verbs. A good example of this is the verb to go, the past tense of which is went, which bears no resemblance to the verb go. It’s amazing we learn the language at all, and as our children learn to talk, they often say the darnedest things, to borrow a phrase from Art Linkletter, which I realize really dates me!
Our children were so much fun watching them learn the language, as all children are. I can remember our daughter, Rebecca, having some trouble with the verb “to eat.” When she had eaten something, she would say she “ot” it. “I ot my potatoes.” she’d say. One night as I was saying prayers with her at bedtime, I noticed she said, “Our Father, who ot in heaven,” and I realized her picture of what she was saying must be that our heavenly Father, whom she had not seen, must have quite an appetite, which was not unlike her earthly father, whom she had seen.
The Lord’s Prayer is full of words that children don’t understand—temptation, trespasses, hallowed, and, of course, art, in Rebecca’s case. Some people might question the practice of teaching a child something that he of she cannot possibly understand for many years to come, but of course we teach our children these things now so that they become a part of the fabric of their lives, so that later on, when they do understand, they will know how to pray, and will have a reservoir of spiritual teaching that will aid them in the chances and changes of this life.
In today’s Gospel we heard again of how Jesus was baptized and how he went from that baptism into the wilderness. His baptism was a prefiguring of his death and resurrection, and his time in the wilderness was a time of preparation for his earthly ministry. Just as our Lord’s baptism was only the beginning of his ministry, our baptism is only the beginning of our life of faith.
We often live as if our membership in Christ’s Body, the Church, is a static reality, that by virtue of our baptism we are made members of the Church, and that’s the end of it. But baptism is only a beginning in our pilgrimage as Christians. Through our baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ we are beginning a lifetime of learning what it means to die daily to sin and rise to newness of life. And just as our Lord was tempted in the wilderness, so we, too, encounter many temptations throughout our lives that would take us away from that central reality begun in us at our baptism. As we teach our children the content of the faith at an early age, our hope is that they will have the resources to withstand temptation, and also to know that when they do fall, which they will, they will know that their heavenly Father forgives them.
The lesson here, however, is of course not just for children and how to train them, for we all encounter temptation, and are subject to falling away from that course that always takes us to the cross. The philosophy that Linda and I used to train our children and that so many of you use or used to train your children is really the philosophy that is best for us as we seek to be faithful. Pray daily, read the Holy Scriptures, be present on Sunday for the Eucharist, not because we may be in any particular danger of falling on any given day, although that is always a possibility—actually, it is a probability—but because we need to build the spiritual strength for those “big” tests of faith, and if we have not been conditioning ourselves our resources will be slim.
It is so easy to get caught up in the various activities that consume our time—work, sports, television, plays, the opera, movies, and so on—to forget the discipline that is so essential to Christian life. It’s not dramatic, but it must be present if we are to grow as Christians.
This being the First Sunday in Lent, we are beginning a journey and we are doing it together. Always on this First Sunday in Lent the Gospel has to do with the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke in their accounts of the Gospel give us the substance of Jesus’ temptations, but Mark, which we heard from this morning, does not. He tells us very little, but the little that he tells us is interesting indeed. The first part of the Gospel is about Jesus’ baptism. It’s a wonderful picture that Mark paints for us, with the heavens opening and God’s voice saying “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” Immediately after this very affirming action by God, the Spirit of God then drives Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus has accepted his role for the salvation of the world and has begun his ministry by being baptized. But there is no baptism party afterward. God then drives him into the wilderness where God knows Jesus will be tempted by Satan. That doesn’t sound very encouraging—not much of a reward for doing what God the Father wants him to do! As I believe Mother Theresa once said, “God, if you treat those who love you like this, no wonder you don’t have many friends.”
And I wonder how Satan tempted Jesus. As I said, Matthew and Luke give us some specifics, but if Jesus was truly tempted, which the scriptures assure us he was, then the Tempter had to have been subtle, and what Jesus was tempted to do must have seemed to be an attractive alternative to what the Father wanted him to do in his ministry.
That’s the way temptation works. The snake didn’t tempt Eve to be evil, but to be like God. The fruit was attractive and tasted good. Likewise, we aren’t tempted to be evil. We wouldn’t find that tempting at all. We are tempted to disobey God because we think that it’s really alright this time, or just one time won’t matter, or it really won’t hurt anyone because no one will know. The second time we’re tempted it’s even easier to rationalize. And the third time we might not even think about it. Just do it.
Our Lord recognized the temptations for what they were. He knew what God wanted of him and he did not allow that course to be altered. He had a spiritual reservoir that he called upon to answer the Tempter. He used the scriptures he had been taught from childhood to fight those temptations.
We take our ability to talk for granted, yet the learning of the English language takes years to master, and the art of communication is a lifelong pursuit which must be worked at continually. The life of faith is no different. It begins in baptism, but it takes a lifetime to live into that baptism. Take a moment to think about the nature of temptation in your life and ask your heavenly Father to help you in resisting that temptation.