Today's reflection is brought to you by
Luke 4: 1-13.
Our service at the Community of Emmanuel this morning was very special, due in no small part to Jesse's reading of the Gospel.
Jesse is a young man with a crew cut and horn-rimmed glasses who shows up every Sunday wearing a big smile. He sits close to the front if he can, and pays close attention to everything that's going on.
Today was my Sunday to lead a morning prayer service for the community, and I went to Jesse once he found his place at the front table with his coffee. "Do you like to read?" I asked him. "
"I read all the time," he replied.
"Do you like to read out loud for others?"
"Yes," he said, his eyes flashing with excitement.
"Would you read the Gospel reading for me today?"
"I would love to!" he said.
When I called Jesse forward to proclaim the story in the Gospel of Luke about Satan's efforts to tempt Jesus after his forty days in the desert, he introduced himself, then said, "I'm not an actor. But there are two voices in this story, and you'll have to figure out which is which."
Then he launched into an incredible sharing of the story, complete with different postures and voices for the Devil and Jesus. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud with delight! Before I started my reflection, I leaned over the podium and said, "Oh, Jesse, that was incredibly good! Well done!" Had I been thinking, I would have led the applause like Jesse so often does whenever we sing.
Here is the reading Jesse read, slightly adapted from the First Nations Version of the New Testament:
From the
river where Jesus (Creator Sets Free) was baptized, the Spirit guided him into the desert
wilderness. There, for forty days, he would be put to the test by Accuser, also
known as Satan, the evil trickster snake.
For forty
days and nights Jesus ate nothing. His body became weak, and his hunger grew
strong.
“Are you
really the Son of Creator?” Satan hissed. “Prove it by turning these stones
into bannock.”
“It is
written in the Sacred Teachings,” Jesus said, “Bread is not the only food for
two-leggeds.
Then
Accuser, the evil snake, took Jesus up to a high mountain and, in a moment of
time, showed him all the great nations of the world. “All of these, their power
and beauty can be yours!” the snake said smoothly. "They were given over to me
and I can give them to anyone I choose. If you will bow down to me and my ways,
they will all be yours!”
“Go away
from me, you evil trickster!” Jesus answered. “For it also says in the Sacred
Teachings, “Creator is the only one people must bow down to and walk in God’s ways.
Then the evil
snake took Jesus to Creator’s sacred lodge, the Temple in Jerusalem. He took him
to its very top, high above the village. “Prove you are the Son of God and jump
down from here!" The snake taunted him. "Don’t the Sacred Teachings also say,
“His spirit-messengers will watch over you to keep you from harm. They will not
even let your foot hit a stone?”
“Yes,” Jesus
said, “But they also say, ‘Do not put Creator to a foolish test.”
Jesus had
passed every test. The evil snake could think of nothing more, so he slithered
away to wait for another time.
First Nations Version:
An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
(Downer's Grove IL: InterVarsity Press 2021, ISBN 978-0-8308-1350-6).
What follows is my reflection on today's Gospel reading, a slightly different take than you might have heard in your own church... mainly because I was speaking to an audience for whom security, wealth and power are very hard to find.
* * * * * * *
When I hear
this story, it’s not hard for me to imagine Satan, or Accuser, the evil snake,
as a bully that just won’t get out of Jesus’ face. We’ve all run into bullies
in our lives, right? Even if they don’t hurt us physically, they get into our
heads and often make us feel bad about ourselves. And through my life I’ve learned
that when I fall into negative thoughts and feelings, that’s Accuser at work, bullying
me and making me forget that I am God’s beloved child.
Now, just imagine that snake
following Jesus around the desert for his entire forty days there, plotting how
to drag him down. Then, when
Jesus is at his lowest point, energy-wise, because he hasn’t eaten for forty
days, Accuser, snake, the devil, or however you want to call it, shows up with
three big temptations for Jesus. Security in the form of immediate food, then wealth,
then spiritual power.
The Accuser snake
thinks it has God’s superpowers, and tries to make God-like promises using
sacred teachings to back them up, but because Jesus has been walking
with, praying to, and trusting in Creator’s care for forty days, he is so
plugged into his relationship with Creator, he’s not fooled.
Jesus knows that
when God made human beings, inside every one of us, God left a God-shaped hole.
Now, I can't say what God’s shape is like exactly, but since our Creator is
bigger than the universe, a God-shaped hole is a pretty huge hole to fill, and nothing can
fill it except God’s love for us and our love for each other, in the way
we form community and help each other.
In facing
the first temptation to turn stones into bread, Jesus refuses. Why? What is he thinking? He's so hungry!! But perhaps he can say no because he knows that food tastes best when shared. People need more than bread
to live on, Jesus reminds the snake. We also need community, friendship, and
love, to be God-with-skin on for each other.
Facing Satan’s
second temptation of all the treasures in the world, and living under King
Herod and the Roman Empire, Jesus saw first-hand that the people who amass treasures and power often become cruel to protect their privilege and authority.
They start thinking of themselves as favoured, as better than everyone else. But Jesus knows
God is a mother, or a father, if you prefer, who loves all God’s children equally. There
are no favourites because we are all God’s favourites.
And facing
the third temptation, Jesus knows Creator isn’t about spiritual magic, either. She
is like a mother hen, all about love as she holds her chicks (that's us) tenderly under her
wings. He is a protector, caring for his children through our challenges even more
than our successes, encouraging us to live in joy, peace, and harmony with
creation. Jesus doesn’t need to test whether Creator cares for him or not. He
knows that Creator cares for him. And because of his teachings, we know that Creator cares for us, too.
Yes, Jesus
certainly could have turned stones to bread so he wouldn’t be so hungry, and he
could have agreed to bow down to Accuser to win all the world’s wealth, or he
could have taken Accuser’s dare and jumped off the top of the Temple to prove
that he would be caught by angels as he fell.
But none of
that meant anything to Jesus, because he knew that nothing can fill the
God-shaped hole in each of our hearts -- except God. It makes me think of the very
wealthy people in the world whose main purpose in life seems to be trying to
get more and more money, power, and privilege.
What they
don’t seem to understand is that Creator’s good road exists where people share
and love like Jesus did. Our lives are not about collecting things or money or
power, but about doing like Jesus did, giving our lives away to others in love.
Our brother Farley used to sing a song that went like this… “What can you do
with each moment of your life, but love till you’ve loved it away.”
(from Thanksgiving Eve by Bob Franke).
So when we
meet the Accuser in our lives, Jesus is our model. He walks away from the Accuser's efforts to make us feel bad about ourselves and our world, and he walks away from the temptation to cling to fake treasures. He shows us the truest superpower -- the
power to let go of things that divide us, the things that make some people think
they are winners and other people are losers. We’re all winners
in God’s eyes, we just need to remember that and make it true for everyone.
Satan wanted
Jesus to depend on wealth and power and privilege, but Jesus was saying, “I depend only on God.” He chose to love and walk with all the people
in the world who do not have security, power, wealth, or spiritual authority.
Which is most of us. We walk with each other as community, and there’s nowhere
I see it more clearly than here on 96th Street in the Community of
Emmanuel.
So as we
begin walking through these forty days of Lent, let’s take a walk through the wilderness with
Jesus.
Relax, sit
comfortably, and close or lower your eyes if you like. Feel your feet on the
floor.
Breathe in
deeply, and out gently as is comfortable for you.
Imagine that
you are walking along a hot, dusty desert path, following Jesus. See the
scrubby vegetation covering the ground beside the path all around you.
Feel the dry
breeze blowing into your face as you climb a steep and rocky hill. Jesus looks
back and sees that you are struggling over some rocks, and reaches out his hand
to help you.
His eyes are
full of love for you.
As Jesus
leads you over the top of the hill, you smell a sweet fragrance, and see a
small stream surrounded by trees in the bottom of the valley below, and a
million tiny pink flowers on the hillside’s scrubby bushes that are giving off the sweet scent. The desert is in
bloom in this valley.
You descend
the hill behind Jesus. Reaching the edge of the stream, he dips his hand in, takes
a drink and then splashes water over his head. You do the same, and you smile
at each other.
There are
some rocks to sit on. As you and Jesus slip your dusty feet out of your
sandals and into the cool water of the stream, he turns to you and says, “Wherever your treasure lies, there you will
find your heart.”
Take a few
moments to silently tell Jesus what is on your heart…
As your
conversation comes to a close, Jesus says, “Leave all that with me, beloved
child of God, and let me care for your heart.”
I invite you
to come back into this room… to open your eyes if they were closed, and to
continue to breathe gently.
And I invite
you to pray with me:
Creator,
We thank you
for your loving care for us.
Please walk
with us and help us in these forty days of Lent that lead to Easter.
Helps us to
listen to you and ignore the Accuser when he tries to make us feel bad about
ourselves and our world.
Help us to
remember that you are with us, always, and that you invite us to put aside the
things that divide us.
Help us to find
our treasure in knowing that we are your beloved children, and in living out
that love in our relationships with you and each other.
Be with us
Lord, and keep us safe in your care.
+AMEN.
