So tempting

•March 12, 2011 • Leave a Comment

What tempts you?  For me cake or biscuits can always distract me from what I should be doing.

We all have things that will lead us from the straight and narrow.  We have good intentions: to eat better, exercise more, spend more time with people, even read the bible or pray more…  There are temptations to try to gain more power, without worrying about those who are trampled along the way; to make more money; to move up the ladder; to want the best…

Jesus is made a tempting offer

Matthew 4:1-11

1The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, so that the devil could test him. 2After Jesus had gone without eating for forty days and nights, he was very hungry. 3Then the devil came to him and said, “If you are God’s Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.” 4Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say:`No one can live only on food.

People need every word

that God has spoken.’ ”

5Next, the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest part of the temple. 6The devil said, “If you are God’s Son, jump off. The Scriptures say:

`God will give his angels

orders about you.

They will catch you

in their arms,

and you won’t hurt

your feet on the stones.’ ”

7Jesus answered, “The Scriptures also say, `Don’t try to test the Lord your God!’ ”

8Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power. 9The devil said to him, “I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me.”

10Jesus answered, “Go away Satan! The Scriptures say:

`Worship the Lord your God

and serve only him.’ ”

11Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came to help him.

Jesus is tempted with food, security and power – all gained easily and cheaply – or were they?

If Jesus had accepted any one of these offers, given in to any one of these temptations, where would we be?  Because that would make Jesus just like us – and he came to save us, not join us.

Jesus faced temptation.  But he came through it.  He recognised the true paucity of what was being offered.  All of these would be gained only by denying God’s way.

Food would be nice, Jesus must have been very hungry, but giving in to what the devil offered was missing the point.  The food that we need in our lives is way more than that which fills our stomach.  We need food for our souls as well, and grasping after easy pickings may still leave us spiritually starving.  We should be looking for what God offers, not necessarily the easy option.

Surely asking God to care for him would be ok?  The devil even quotes the bible, so it must be all right – mustn’t it?  But that’s taking the attitude that I can do what I like, and God will look after me.  Not so.  God is not someone to be tested to see what clever tricks he can do, he is someone to be loved and followed.

And Jesus is offered power.  Surely all this belongs to him anyway.  Isn’t he God’s son?  But at what cost is this power gained?  “Selling your soul to the devil”, may appear to get you a lot, but it takes you away from God, and what you should be doing.

“Worship the Lord your God and serve only him”

That is the way to get on in life.  Follow God, seek what he wants to do.  Look to him – it’s what is truly satisfying.

Lord,

when we get tempted

to go the easy way,

to look for the wrong things,

to try and force your hand,

to serve ourselves;

may we remember you,

and the struggle Jesus had on our behalf.

May we worship you

and seek only to serve you

Posted in Jesus, Lectionary, lent
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Consequences

•March 11, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Romans 5:12-19

12Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die. 13Sin was in the world before the Law came. But no record of sin was kept, because there was no Law. 14Yet death still had power over all who lived from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. This happened, though not everyone disobeyed a direct command from God, as Adam did.

In some ways Adam is like Christ who came later. 15But the gift that God was kind enough to give was very different from Adam’s sin. That one sin brought death to many others. Yet in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God’s gift of kindness to many people.

16There is a lot of difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gift. That one sin led to punishment. But God’s gift made it possible for us to be acceptable to him, even though we have sinned many times. 17Death ruled like a king because Adam had sinned. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. God has been so kind to us, and he has accepted us because of Jesus. And so we will live and rule like kings.

18Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life. 19Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.

They say that every action has a consequence.  How true that is proved to be in this reading – one bad, one good.

The world God made was perfect.  But just one little thing wrong by Adam and Eve let sin into it.  They knew they were doing wrong and couldn’t resist it – which opened the floodgates for more wrong.  Very soon eating an apple became murder.  A matter of degrees perhaps, but all doing what God had asked them not to.  Sadly the effect was not just on them, but on the whole world.  Now the possibility of doing wrong was out there.

The cost of what Adam and Eve did was a downward spiral of awful possibilities, and one look around the world tells us we have continued in that tradition very well…

But, fortunately for us, that was not the end of the matter.  Because God didn’t give up on us.

Just as the actions of one person – Adam (not quite sure why all the blame is laid on Adam in this passage and not collectively or solely with Eve?), let sin and death into the world, so in one man – Jesus – comes acceptance and forgiveness, and the chance for everything to be made right again.

Because of what Adam, and subsequently each one of us, has done, we deserved to be punished.  But because Jesus came into the world, took on a human life, showed us how to live it the right way, and then gave his life as an offering to make up for ours – God accepts us again.  Adam’s actions caused people to do the wrong thing, but Jesus gives is the opportunity to do the right thing.

Are we going to take it?

Thank you Lord

that through the life and death of Jesus

you give us new possibilities.

As we naturally follow wrong ways,

make wrong choices

and open up those ways to others,

thank you that you offer us a different way –

a way of acceptance and forgiveness,

the chance to do right things.

We bring to you our bad choices.

Thank you that through Jesus

you take them from us,

and give us a different way.

Posted in forgiveness, Jesus, Lectionary, lent
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Coming clean

•March 10, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Psalm 32

1Our God, you bless everyone

whose sins you forgive

and wipe away.

2You bless them by saying,

“You told me your sins,

without trying to hide them,

and now I forgive you.”

3Before I confessed my sins,

my bones felt limp,

and I groaned all day long.

4Night and day your hand

weighed heavily on me,

and my strength was gone

as in the summer heat.

5So I confessed my sins

and told them all to you.

I said, “I’ll tell the LORD

each one of my sins.”

Then you forgave me

and took away my guilt.

6We worship you, Lord,

and we should always pray

whenever we find out

that we have sinned. Then we won’t be swept away

by a raging flood.

7You are my hiding place!

You protect me from trouble,

and you put songs in my heart

because you have saved me.

8You said to me,

“I will point out the road

that you should follow.

I will be your teacher

and watch over you.

9Don’t be stupid

like horses and mules

that must be led with ropes

to make them obey.”

10All kinds of troubles

will strike the wicked,

but your kindness shields those

who trust you, LORD.

11And so your good people

should celebrate and shout.

Adam and Eve realised what they’d done the minute they had done it.  What looked beautiful and tasty, turned out just to bring embarrassment and shame.  Having their eyes opened turned out not to be as good as they thought it might be.

Knowing you have got something wrong can be the most uncomfortable feeling there is.  But what can you do with those feelings?

Perhaps the only effective thing to do is hand it over to God.

That sounds like such a simple solution, but sometimes it is the only thing we can do.  Some things we can try to make right – others we can’t.  Do we let our lives be crippled by them?  Or do what we can.

There can be some quite hideous things go in our bin.  Mouldy bread (there’s always a couple of mouldy slices in the bottom!), cloths from cleaning up spills and general dirt, things that are used or empty and no longer have any use, and in my brown bin at the moment the poor dead plants that have failed to survive the winter.  But the bin men will take all that away, it is gone, dealt with, and they never come and dump it back on my doorstep.

God does the same with the things that have gone wrong in our lives.  We can give them to him.  He deals with them.  They are gone, wiped away, forgiven.  We can hide them away, and they will fester even more; or tell them to him and know his forgiveness and freedom.  And he does more than that.  God doesn’t just leave us with a hole in our lives, he doesn’t leave us floundering, but points us in the way to go from here.

God forgives us – we can celebrate and shout, and without all that baggage, journey much easier.

 

Thank you Lord

that though we sometimes get things wrong

you forgive us,

you wipe us clean

and take our burdens from us.

You save us

and point us in the way we should go.

May we walk with you

with our hearts freed,

our souls lifted,

trusting your path

Posted in forgiveness, God, Lectionary, lent
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