Sermon by Mary Urban Keary
March 12, 2011
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
I don't know much about how the lectionary was put together ... In fact I don't know anything about it. ... which is not a bad thing because then I get to make up my own story about its creation to fit what I want to say to you tonight. And here's what I make up: that its brilliant compilers found ways to have all the readings on any given day relate to each another ...
When I began to read today's readings (and this time they were the correct readings ... b/c David included them in his e-mail to me inviting me to preach) my reaction was "Whew! I see threads of commonality in these ... now let's see if I can get it together to share what I see with these members of the Blessed Community."
The primary theme that pops out to me in these readings is temptation. As I think about temptation, it occurs to me that there are two kinds. In Genesis the source of temptation is external. Here are Adam and Eve ... placed by God in this glorious garden. Imagine the most glorious garden you've ever seen: lush, full of color, fragrant, all kinds of vegetation ... flowers ... bushes ... grasses ... and trees ... nothing to make your eyes water or your nose itch ... Then increase that vision a hundred fold and we can get an inkling of what this garden was like. Adam has the perfect job: he's the garden's gardener ... he gets to revel in the soil and the smells and the beauty of this place. And while Genesis doesn't tell us what Eve is doing in the garden ... how she spends her time ... I'm going to assume that she was equally happy.
When God puts Adam and Eve in the garden, he gives them just one rule: "help yourself to everything, He says, "except for the fruit on this tree over here. Eat from this tree and you'll be in trouble." Now, even before the serpent showed up, can't you imagine that once God told Adam and Eve to leave this tree alone, it grew in importance to them? ... I can imagine that it became a frequent focus of their attention ... their eyes wandering over to that tree ... perhaps wondering why God told them to leave it alone ... not eating from that particular tree may have felt something like going to a buffet dinner, surrounded with a myriad of choices of fabulous foods ... and nothing looking more appetizing ... more delectable ... than the one dish you know that if you eat it will keep you up all night with heartburn.
And then the serpent shows up: what I think of as external temptation. "C'mon," he says to Eve "I know God better than you do ... he says you'll die if you eat this fruit ... but you won't ... in fact if you eat from this tree, you'll be like God ... " And the rest is history: Eve eats the fruit ... Adam accepts her invitation to do the same ... they realize they have made a terrible mistake ... shame is born. Temptation wins.
How often this serpent shows up in our own lives! The chocolate cake ... the diet Coke that call to us so seductively even though we vowed to forego them during Lent ... The serpent plopping itself in front of us in the form of the bus showing up just when we had decided to walk b/c we need the exercise ... The article of clothing that costs more than we want to spend but is so pretty ... "C'mon," says the serpent, "I know better than you what's good for you ... one little bite ... or sip ... or purchase won't hurt you. In fact, you'll feel good/rewarded/satisfied." So we eat ... or drink ... or purchase ... or hop on the bus ... And the rest is history. We realize we have made a mistake. Shame, or at least regret is born. Temptation wins.
"So you are the Christ, the great Jesus Christ/prove to me that you're no fool/walk across my swimming pool." "So you are the Christ, the great Jesus Christ,/prove to me that you're divine/change that water into wine." So sings the devil in Jesus Christ Superstar. Those aren't quite the words that Matthew uses to tell us of Jesus' temptations in the wilderness. But tempted he was. He's just had this powerful experience of being baptized by John ... God has declared Himself well pleased with Jesus ... has declared Him to be His Son.
The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness where he encounters ... temptation. Not a serpent this time, but the Devil. I want to suggest to you that this Devil didn't slither into the place where Jesus was, as the serpent did in the garden. Let's think about the possibility that Jesus brought his tempter with him to the wilderness. Let's think about the possibility that these tempting and all so human thoughts came from within Jesus ... that there might have been parts of him that were just a little curious and tempted to discover what kind of powers he'd been given. "C'mon," his internal tempter might have said to him, "What harm will it do? You're out here all alone. You're famished! Nobody will ever know if you turn these stones into bread." "C'mon," his internal voice may have said, "What could happen to you if you threw yourself from the top of the temple? After all, you are the Son of God." Think about the life you'll have if you worship me." Quiet voices ... tempting voices.
Our internal temptations are so insistent, aren't they? And how often they go deeper than external temptations. "You don't deserve to be happy," whispers the serpent in our innermost place. "The world is not a safe place," "I'm worried ... I'm scared ... I'm lonely ... what does my future hold?" How strong can be the temptation to listen to and believe these slithery serpent voices ... they attach themselves to us like velcro ... they're so familiar that often we neither question nor challenge them ... Our internal temptations can rule us. We believe them. Many of them have been with us for so long that we barely notice their presence. They can be as insidious as Adam and Eve's serpent and Jesus' devil. Sometimes we believe ourselves to be powerless over them.
And lo! Here's where today's Psalm comes into play ... David writes of God: "you are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance ... " And if I were to be so bold as to paraphrase this part of the psalm, I might say, "You save me from my temptations. You surround me with shouts louder than my inner voices."
It is the safety that God provides us that is the antidote to our serpents of internal temptation. God who will keep us safe. God, whose voice is louder than any serpent, any devil ... whose love is greater than the temptation of chocolate cake or harsh, cruel thoughts we have about ourselves. The problem is: we forget to listen for God's shouts of deliverance, for sometimes those shouts come in a very quiet voice.
For several days this week, until we learned differently, Bruce & I had reason to believe that he may have had a medical condition with potentially serious consequences. When he first told me I was stunned. Then terrified. I turned icy cold. My brain was frozen. I could neither think nor feel.
As I slowly began to thaw out and absorb this information, guess who slithered into my brain? Yep, my serpent and my tempter: unbidden and uninvited: "What if he needs surgery? How will I be able to take care of him and still work? And most fearfully, "Who will take care of me? "What will happen to me?" My serpent was doing what serpents and tempters do: worming (pun intended) itself into my youngest and most vulnerable places ... tempting me to believe that I am alone ... And then, from the deepest, most quiet place in me, I hear "I am your hiding place. I will preserve you from trouble ... No matter what, you will be ok ... I am here ... you will be ok."
My terror diminished ... it didn't vanish completely, but I found that it had been reduced to a manageable worry and, to my surprise, in place of the terror was a sense of calm and belief that no matter what I would be ok.
Slivering serpents ... .diabolical devils ... within ... without ... and through it all ... above us ... below us ... and, more importantly, within us: God's steadfast comfort and safety.