1st Sunday of Lent, Year C (2004)
24/02/07 22:54
Homily
First Sunday of Lent, Year C (2004)
SPRING CLEAN-UP
[Before Mass, create a mess in the sanctuary of the church – trash, mops, buckets, brooms, etc.]
Did anyone here notice, when you came into church this morning, that there was something amiss? It looks like a hurricane swept through here! Nobody seems to have done their job yesterday of cleaning up the sanctuary! How many feel that the church looked like a mess this morning?
Now don’t panic. This was just a little stunt. Look on your handouts, where it says, “Time for Spring Cleaning.” How many here do spring cleaning at your house? Last week, I did my own spring cleaning and came up with this idea because today is the First Sunday of Lent, and I wanted to help us understand what this season of Lent is really all about.
The word “Lent” comes from old English and means “spring.” Lent is really a time to do some spiritual spring cleaning in our lives, to get rid of some of the spiritual cobwebs that have accumulated in our lives over the past year. The forty days reflect the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert, fasting and – as we heard in today’s gospel – enduring the devil’s temptation. It also mirrors the 40 years that the people of Israel wandered in the desert under the leadership of Moses, after escaping from slavery in Egypt.
On your sheet, it says, “All of us are flawed… but God wants to redeem (save) all of us.” That really is the good news about Lent. Even though we make mistakes, we are imperfect, we sin, we need spring cleaning in our lives, God loves us and wants to redeem or save us. Our second reading today, from Paul’s letter to the Romans, contains one of the most profound statements of this good news in all of scripture. Let’s read it together: “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” -- Romans 10:12-13, New American Bible (NAB)
You see, in the time of Jesus, different groups were claiming to be the “in” group with the key to salvation, and they considered everyone else to be in the “out” group. But Jesus taught that all of us are the same – we’re all brothers and sisters, and there are no distinctions between Jews and Greeks or between anyone else. God doesn’t have an “in” group or an “out” group. Even though we are all flawed and imperfect, God still loves us each and every one of us and wants to save us all.
Did anyone see the new Mel Gibson movie this past week, or at least, did you hear about it? “The Passion of the Christ.” Mel Gibson took a lot of flack for that movie. He was accused especially of being anti-Semitic. But in an interview on TV that he had with Dianne Sawyer, he said something very insightful. He said, “I’m not anti-Semitic or anti-anyone. The Jews didn’t kill Jesus. We all killed Jesus.” He then held up his hands and said, “These hands helped kill Jesus.” That’s Paul’s message in Romans, too – there are no Jews or Greeks, we’re all the same, we’re all flawed sinners, but we have a God who loves us and wants to redeem and save each of us. But we all need spiritual spring cleaning.
Our gospel today talks about temptation. That’s one area where we especially need to focus our spring cleaning efforts. So as we begin, let’s look at three quick preliminary points:
1) TEMPTATION IS ONGOING AND COMMON TO EVERYONE. When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time. – Luke 4:13 (NAB) Notice that last phrase, “for a time.” That means that the devil was planning to come back. Temptation is never ending. It always comes back.
2) TEMPTATION IS NOT A SIN; BUT YIELDING TO TEMPTATION IS A SIN. Let’s read the next verse from our gospel today: ”Jesus … was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days to be tempted by the devil. – Luke 4:1-2 Notice that the word “Jesus” is underlined. That’s to show that Jesus himself underwent temptation, and Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. If Jesus underwent temptation, temptation cannot be a sin. The sin is when we yield to temptation.
3) TEMPTATION CAN BE OVERCOME. Mark Twain, the famous 19th century American storyteller, wrote jokingly, “I can resist anything but temptation.” But of course, he was wrong. We can resist temptation, all of us. God wants us to overcome temptation. That’s why we pray to God, “Our Father, who art in heaven Lead us not into temptation”—Matthew 6:13 We are asking God to help us overcome temptation.
So how do we do that? The first step is AWARENESS – realizing that there are many kinds of temptation, some more subtle than others. And because we are all wired differently as human beings, some kinds of temptation will have a stronger effect on some of us and lesser effect on others of us. Maybe for us a really tough temptation is smoking, or watching TV, or overeating. Or maybe it’s booze, or gambling, or a foul mouth, or gossip, or cynicism, or bitterness or anger, or sex or the internet. The list of possible temptations is virtually endless!
I remember a little boy who was saving his pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to buy a shiny new bike. Every night he would pray, “Dear Lord, help me save up enough money for that new bicycle. And please, Lord, don’t send the ice cream truck down my street today.” That little boy understood the danger of temptation. Maybe you’ve heard the cute saying, “Forbidden fruit has resulted in many a jam.”
Our gospel today says that Jesus faced three types of temptation. The first was physical temptation. He was hungry and the devil urged him to change stones into bread. Anyone here ever faced a physical temptation? We have here a clip from the movie, “The Mask,” with Jim Carey. You guys, especially, pay attention and tell me if this is physical temptation:
[Show clip at 3:00 minutes into movie of beautiful woman entering bank, Jim Carey feeling tempted]
There are all kinds of physical temptations – a beautiful woman, a handsome guy, sex, food, booze. I remember a guy who loved donuts, but was overweight and went on a diet. Every day, on his way to work, he would pass a donut shop, but he was able to resist not stopping. After about six weeks of successfully dieting, however, he prayed to God, “Dear Lord, if I drive by that donut shop today and there is an empty parking spot in front of it, I know that will be a sign from you that I can stop, just this once, and get some donuts.” He got to work, carrying an armload of donuts, and his co-workers asked, “Aren’t you on a diet?” But he explained, “I told God that I would stop at the donut shop if there was an empty parking spot out in front, and sure enough, after driving around the block for about 10 times, there finally was an empty parking spot in front of the donut shop!”
What’s the solution to physical temptation? One word: RUN. Flee from it. Spouses, don’t place yourselves in situations that might tempt you to be unfaithful to your husband or wife. Teenagers, don’t go to parties that would place you a compromised situation, and don’t go to places with a date where you might be tempted to engage in inappropriate sexual behavior that you later might regret. Those of you who like donuts, don’t go near the donut shop!
The second temptation in our gospel today is the temptation of greed. The devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. “All this will be yours,” the devil tells him. And we too can become greedy, wanting this and wanting that. What’s the solution to the temptation of greed? Being thankful for what you already have, instead of always wanting more, more, more. And giving – being generous, becoming less attached to material things.
The third temptation in today’s gospel is the temptation of ego. Pride. The devil tells Jesus, “Prove that you’re a man! Jump from this tower!” We face that kind of temptation all the time, too. We want to impress someone. We yield to peer pressure. We follow the crowd, even when we know it is wrong, so that we can fit in. The solution to pride and ego is to serve –to help someone who is worse off than us. This teaches us humility.
On the back side of your handouts are three modern temptations that parallel the three temptations in our gospel today.
First: We live in a society that lusts for instant gratification and pleasure. We’re the McDonald’s fast food generation and, while you’re at it, super-size it! We’re impatient, always in a hurry, hate waiting. A lot of physical temptation is like that. We lack self-control. We want everything now, and it doesn’t matter how we get it.
Second, we often are tempted to ignore and neglect the inner life. We’re always on the run – go, go, go. Who has time to pray or read the Bible? And this is like the greed temptation – like is like a never-ending treadmill, because we are never satisfied and we always want more.
Finally, in modern times, we seek self-sufficiency; we want to be in control of our lives, not God; and we want to manipulate and play God, instead of letting God control and lead us. I heard a funny story of a psychiatrist who told his patient, “I don’t remember exactly why you are here to see me, so just start from the beginning.” So the patient replied, “In the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth….” The patient thought he was God! Maybe we’re not quite as overt about it as that mental patient, but all of us like to play God in some ways, rather than allowing God to control us and to control our lives.
So Step 1 in overcoming temptation is awareness – recognizing that there are many kinds of temptation out there. Step 2 is to get rid of excuses. Don’t play the blame game. We so often live in a world where everyone plays victim, but nobody ever expresses remorse for being at fault. Maybe some of you remember the comedian Flip Wilson from way back in the 1970s. In one of his skits, he played a minister from the Church of What’s Happening Now, and whenever he did something wrong, he would say, “The devil made me do it!” But we need to accept responsibility for our own actions, including sometimes, the consequences of those actions. And we need to stop playing with fire, because we know that eventually, fire will burn us.
Last week, I read an interesting native American parable: Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There he fasted. But on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall rugged peak, capped with dazzling snow. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world. He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a
rustle at his feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke. "I am about to die," said the snake. "It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley." "No," said the youth. "I am forewarned. I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite, and your bite will kill me."
"Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you." The youth resisted awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass, when suddenly, the snake coiled, rattled, and leapt, biting him on the leg. "But you promised..." cried the youth. As the snake slithered away he turned and said, "You knew what I was when you picked me up."
The third and final step is what I call the five “R’s” and we’ll go through them very quickly:
1. REFUSE to be intimidated… DON’T GET ALARMED, FRUSTRATED, DISCOURAGED. To often, we are not initially successful in combating a temptation, so we get frightened, alarmed, frustrated and discouraged. We may even give up and feel that we are incapable of overcoming a certain temptation. Instead of giving up, fight back and refuse to be intimated by Satan.
2. REQUEST God’s help… Send out a spiritual SOS, an emergency cry for help from God.
3. REFOCUS your attention. Change channels. Don’t keep dwelling on what tempts you. If donuts are your downfall, don’t keep thinking about donuts, and especially, don’t drive by the donut shop!
4. REVEAL your struggles to a friend… CONFESS. We can’t go it alone! That’s why God gave us a family, the
church. Now I’m not saying, “Tell the whole world about your temptation.” But I am saying that it is important to be able to trust and confide in someone, not just yourself!
5. RESIST the tempter, not the temptation… Notice that Jesus never denied the temptation, denied that he was hungry. He was starving! He hadn’t eaten for 40 days and 40 nights! But he rebuked the tempter, Satan. In the epistle of James, it says, “GIVE IN TO GOD and RESIST THE DEVIL” -- James 4:7 – Notice the two-step process – let God have control in your life, and second, resist the tempter. You see, temptation will always be there, and being tempted is not a sin. So don’t focus on the temptation. Focus instead on God, and focus on rejecting the power of Satan in your life.
On your handout are three traditional Lenten practices that can help us do spiritual spring cleaning and overcome temptation.
The first is prayer. Use this Lent to pray more, read the Bible more, go to church more, attend a retreat or get involved in a small faith group or a youth group – grow spiritually this Lent, so that we are not neglecting the inner life.
The second is fasting. This helps us overcome the temptation of lusting for instant gratification. It helps us overcome the sinister materialism of our society. It can be a fast from food, or a fast from something else, like not watching TV or not playing Nintendo. It can be a positive fast – giving money to a favorite charitable cause, to help someone in need. As I was thinking about fasting last week, I thought of some of the teenagers on the high school wrestling team. They fast all the time, to maintain their weight class – and it requires great effort and self discipline. But they don’t complain, because they have their goal firmly in mind. Shouldn’t we be at least as enthusiastic about fasting for God as we would be for fasting for a wrestling trophy?
The third Lenten spiritual discipline is almsgiving. Become more thankful and more generous – give more to others. It can be giving of money, or giving of your time and talent. Almsgiving helps us overcome the modern temptation of selfishness and self-sufficiency and thinking that we are God.
The world is full of darkness. Just read the newspaper – the stories of the Osama bin Laden’s and Sadaam Hussein’s and Fidel Castro’s of the world. The world is fascinated with power and popularity and fame and riches – just turn on the TV and watch the stories about the Donald Trump’s and the Janet Jackson’s and the Jason Timberlake’s of the world. But the world needs children of the light, people who are willing to REALLY and TRULLY follow Jesus Christ in their lives.
On your sheets are three last statements. First, Good News once again from our second reading, from Paul’s Letter to the Romans: "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart… -- for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10:8-9 (New American Bible)
You see, we have a God who is near us – whose word is in our very hearts and lives and mouths – close to us to help us undergo spring cleaning, to lead us to salvation. We need to believe. We need to speak out.
The second statement, from the epistle of James: Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. – James 1:22 (New American Bible)
And third, a poem from Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. -- Poet Robert Frost
Lent is a time for spring cleaning. It is a choice – to choose the road of God, not the road of temptation and the devil. And if we choose wisely, if we choose the road less traveled – that will make all the difference in our lives.
One last story and one last activity. The story: A man on his deathbed in the hospital. His guardian angel asks him, “Are you ready?” and the man replies, “Sure, I’ve done lots of important things in my life. I’m ready.” But at that moment, another angel appeared, standing at the pearly gates of heaven and said, “He can’t come in. His hands are dirty!” The guardian angel sadly admitted it was true but explained, “He was a very successful man, and it is true that sometimes he had to dabble in some dirty dealings.” The angel at the gate continued, “Also, his boots are muddy.” And the guardian angel replied, “He did sometimes take some short cuts in life.” The angel at the gate continued, “And his clothes are torn and bloody.” The guardian angel explained, “He often fought with his brother.” At that, the man himself replied, “I’m an only child. I don’t even have a brother.” The angel at the gate said, “See, he doesn’t even realize that he has many spiritual brothers and sisters.” The guardian angel then said to the man, “The doctors say you are going to live. Take advantage of your second chance.”
Lent is our second chance to do spiritual spring cleaning. Don’t waste the opportunity.
The last thing we are going to do today is clean up this mess. I want to invite the children and any of the adults to come up and let’s quickly clean up – let’s do some spring cleaning here in the church.
[Invite people to come up and help clean]
There’s an important point in this last activity, too. Lent is not just a me-and-God sort of thing. We are all called to do the work of God together. That’s why God gave us a spiritual family, brothers and sisters in Christ, the church. When we all work together, the job goes a lot easier!
So this Lent, let’s all pull together, let’s all do our part to grow spiritually, to do our spiritual spring cleaning. In our working together to overcome temptation, our God will be glorified!