Lent 1 A - Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1-11

It is right after Jesus’ baptism when The Voice from heaven declared “You are my beloved Son” that the Spirit led him into the wilderness for the time of testing. Famished after fasting, the tempter’s first attempt appeals to Jesus’ stomach. “Turn theses stones into bread” is an appetizing option after forty days and nights without food.  But Jesus is well fed on the word of God and trusting The Voice that declared him The Beloved, he is not as hungry as the devil thought. The consummate con man changes tactics and using “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” tempts Jesus to give a demonstration of his trust. This temptation is trickier than it appears because proof negates trust but Jesus knows that testing The Voice denies the truth that he is The Beloved.  Believing the third time’s the charm the devil goes back to the basics and uses the temptation that worked so well in the garden. It is a temptation to take power from The Voice who called him The Beloved, even though it appears in bowing down Jesus would have to give power away. But the devil is offering an option, a discount if you will. Bow down on a high mountain or climb a hill to the place called the skull. It’s your choice, Jesus, and don’t let some Voice tell you different. To which Jesus replied, “Nice try.” And the devil said, “damn you” and left knowing he’d have to meet Jesus on the hill and there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to fool the Beloved there. And the angels came smiling, laughing, rejoicing, as Jesus breathed a sigh of relief and rested in their arms.

Lent 1 A - Romans 5:12-21

Romans 5:12-21

The fifth chapter of Romans articulates the great reversal we make conditional by claiming it cannot be fully accomplished without our assistance. If Adam’s sin did me in and I had nothing to do with it why does Jesus need my help to undo what Adam did? Some would say that Jesus only covers Adam’s deed (original sin) and therefore I am responsible for what I’ve added to the mix. But if I was flawed from the get go I didn’t stand a chance in h-e-double hockey sticks to get it right, and even less of a chance without the benefit of being born to Christian parents in a Christian country in an age when not being Christian was less of an option than it is today.  If you hold onto a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the password to paradise you must accept that the vast majority of humanity that has ever lived suffers eternally in hellish torment beyond what even the most demented human mind can devise.  But if “the free gift is not like the trespass” surely we can trust that in the end Christ is more effective than Adam. So is there no consequence for sin? Of course there is and we live it every day in things done and left undone, in things said and left unsaid. Judgment does not wait for a future day but is present in every word, thought and deed that diminishes the life of love, the life the Creator intended for us. The final future belongs to God and if the cross is any indication I’m betting God will be more merciful than you or me. “The free gift is not like the trespass” or in other words grace trumps judgment.

Lent 1 A - Psalm 32

Psalm 32

My guess is that we have all lived through more than a day and night of “when I kept silence my body wasted away.” Of course some are better at holding up under the heavy hand of the Lord than others but sooner or later the soul longs for relief, and confession, good for the soul, also blesses the body. That we resist so long, or at all for that matter, speaks to our stubbornness to submit to a Higher Power and conform our lives to the life of our Lord. But the consequence of silence is that we will be overcome in times of distress, and trouble, like the rush of mighty waters, will overwhelm us. The hiding places of our own design are not helpful and the deliverance we experience is an illusion. The “happy are those” only happens through absolute honesty with self and the Lord. However, (and here’s the part I don’t like) the Lord is not silent either, but speaks through flesh and blood faithful friends we know we can trust to tell us the truth. That’s because we can confess a thousand times over to the Lord and no one’s the wiser. But if we confess what troubles us to a faithful friend our hiding place will be less lonely and the deliverance will be more permanent.  

Lent 1 A - Genesis 2:15-3:21

Genesis 2:15-3:21

However you read this story, as literal truth or origin myth, it is dead on about humanity’s fatal flaw.Despite living in paradise the first humans were not satisfied, wanting just one more thing. The serpent gave voice to the doubts already in their minds about the One who walked and talked with them but withheld that one thing. It was their lust for the fruit, a delight to the eye and desirable for knowledge, that led them to roll the dice and bet paradise they’d gain more than they would lose. Of we course we know they lost everything, except the One who walked with them in the first place. Even though the ultimate consequence is death God clothes them to cover their shame and protect them from the harsh reality of life outside the walls of paradise. That’s the grace in this story for them and for us.  Despite our rebellious nature, our own lusting after power or possessions, or our devaluation of self through destructive behaviors or relationships, the One we have offended bears the offense of the cross, clothing us in righteousness, so that in our final end we return to that perfect beginning.

The Feast of the Transfiguration Year A - Matthew 17:1-9

Matthew 17:1-9
It’s only been six days since Jesus rebuked Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” for not understanding that picking up the cross was the purpose of Jesus’ life and the only way for the disciples to follow. Now blinded by the light Peter wants to stay put and dwell permanently on the mountaintop. It’s the voice, “LISTEN TO HIM” that shuts Peter up and overcome by fear he and his companions faint dead away. It takes the touch and voice of Jesus, “get up and do not be afraid” to wake them and then sworn to secrecy they descend to the less frightening and more familiar places on the plain. It’s a strange story but then that’s the nature of a theophany. The recognizable transfigured into the mysterious as the Jesus who ate and drank with disciples in the valley glows like a nuclear reactor on the mountain top while talking to the long gone law giver and end time prophet about God knows what. So we who are comfortable with “What a friend we have in Jesus” also sing “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” and hold the two in tension. The familiar and friendly Jesus is the One who in the beginning was the Word and in the end will be judge and jury of all. It may be that in our end, when we come face to face with that terrifying reality, we will faint dead away, but then I’m trusting that the Lord Jesus will touch us and “Get up and do not be afraid” will be the only Word we hear.

The Feast of Transfiguration Year A - 2 Peter 1:16-21

2 Peter 1:16-21

It is a testimony to the conviction of the first disciples that anyone believed what surely must have seemed less a cleverly devised myth and more just outright nonsense. But people did believe the eyewitness testimony of these Galilean fishermen and then with equal passion proclaimed the crucified and resurrected Jewish peasant preacher Jesus, who they had never seen, to be the Beloved of God and Savior of the world. Whenever we are tempted to despair of the statistical decline of the church we would do well to pay attention to the lamp of their prophetic message shining in the darkness of our time; not because we fear some future final judgment, but because we are convinced that the same word that captured the imagination of first century people is equally relevant in our time. Perhaps the church grew complacent for a time, satisfied with the status quo, but the prophetic word is always present and just waiting for those who believe to give it voice. So let us pray that the day will dawn and the morning star will rise in our hearts as it did theirs, and moved by the Holy Spirit we will make know the power and coming of our Lord Jesus.

The Feast of Transfiguration Year A - Psalm 2

Psalm 2

Let me start by kissing the Lord’s feet and acknowledge that God is God and I am not, so if God wants to speak with wrath and fury to break the nations and smash the people to pieces that is God’s prerogative. But I have some trouble with this text where God laughs at and then with terrifying fury uses his servant to destroy kings who exalt themselves. That’s because people without power perish right along with princes and the king God set on Zion’s hill broke a long list of nations with an iron rod and spared no one, not even women and children. And secondly it would appear the trembling foot kissers taking happy refuge in the Lord are only doing so to avoid being destroyed themselves, for God’s wrath is quickly kindled if proper respect is not shown. So what do we do with the second psalm? We can say there is truth in these words and there are good reasons to destroy rulers of the earth who exalt themselves, Adolf Hitler being a prime example. But when it comes to the nature of God this is not the truest word. The truest word about God’s nature is that instead of kissing the Lord’s feet we nailed them to wood and “Father forgive them” was clearly not a second psalm response.

The Feast of Transfiguration Year C - Exodus 24:12-18

Exodus 24:12-18

In some ways the ancient stories sound odd to modern ears. The glory of the Lord in thick clouds and a devouring fire on the top of the mountain sounds a lot like a Texas size storm and even though the closest strikes might warrant an “Oh my God!” I understand lightning in scientific terms. The ancients saw God’s hand at work in the timing of what we know as naturally occurring phenomenon. But then we “moderns” often do the same thing by giving extra-ordinary meaning to everyday events as when instead of turning left we turn right and a chance encounter bears blessings. So I guess I’m okay with the children of Israel camped before the mountain giving glory to the Lord for what may well have been Mt. Sinai having a little volcanic hiccup and spewing some smoke. It’s Moses entering the cloud of mountain top devouring fire that defies explanation. He was a reluctant leader in the very beginning and even though barefoot he carried on a conversation with a burning bush he was always looking for a way out. Of course the Lord provided that through signs and wonders, not the least of which was the parting of the sea, but that’s not what Moses had in mind. In some ways God has worn down his reluctant leader so that when summoned to come up to the mountain and camp Moses obeys and does not complain. Maybe a faith that follows without complaining or seeking a way out has less to do with spiritual discipline and more to do with God wearing us down so that like Moses the way out is really the only way in.