NO
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
2/10/08
Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of God.” ’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you”,
and “On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to
the test.” ’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; 9and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ 10Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Back when I was a child my Presbyterian Church wasn't a very
"liturgical church" in any sense of the word, but we did practice
Lent. We may not have taken notice of most of the other seasons of the church
year, but we celebrated Lent. Our pastor always stressed the importance of
"Lenten self-denial."
I recall a service, on the first Sunday of Lent, in which we all were
given small pieces of paper and pencils where we had to write down what we would
give up for Lent. We wrote down things like chocolate, hitting our sister, ice
cream after school, and before school, things like that. Then, as the organ
played "Beneath the Cross of Jesus," or some serious hymn like that,
we all processed down to the front of the church, laid our folded pieces of
paper before the cross, and knelt there a moment in prayer to ask Jesus to help
us to keep our promise to give up something for Lent.
I needed help, because ice cream was, some say still is, my greatest
temptation. One year, praise God, I
went all of lent without “whacking” my sister, not that she probably
didn’t deserve it.
Today is the first Sunday in Lent, but we are a long way from that world
of Lenten self-denial. I've now heard lots of sermons that poked fun at our
rather trivial acts of self-denial, including my own. In most of our denials we
aren't denying ourselves that much. Besides,
our puny little self-denial pales in comparison with the huge act of self-giving
that Jesus is about to make for us on his cross. Giving up a bowl of ice cream
each day is nothing compared with God's giving to us in Christ.
Yet, these days I find myself harkening back to those childhood acts of
denial. True, Lent means much more than my rather pitiful attempts at
self-denial, but Lent does not mean less than this either.
We walk the way with Jesus this Lenten season amid a society of self-satisfied, self-indulgence. "Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow me. . ." is a statement that has never been uttered in a TV advertisement.
"Enjoy yourself," that's our most popular slogan, followed by
"You owe it to yourself," and "You deserve it." For some
years many segments of the church have been in the grip of what some have called
the "prosperity gospel." Got something wrong with your life? Want more
out of living? Then come to Jesus and he'll get that for you. Jesus is there to
fix what ails us, to go and fetch us what we want but can't reach on our own.
Such a Christianity becomes just another self-help technique of getting
what we want. Indulge yourself on
Jesus.
Our culture thus makes Lent one of the most countercultural of the
church's seasons. The work of God in
our world is not to help us get what we want but rather to enable us for the
first time in our self-centered lives to get what God wants. And how does God
get what God wants? Not through the use of economic, political, or spiritual
power (the three temptations offered to Jesus in the wilderness) but rather
through rejection and renunciation.
In the desert, what Jesus said to Satan was "No!"
As a parent I have continually found that the toughest job of being a
parent is the courage to look my child in the eye and say 'no." And
Barb will certainly tell you that I don’t do that very well!
That is a particular challenge in a culture where most of what we hear
tells us that our job as a parent is to work hard to give our children
everything their hearts desire.
But, more and more, I am coming to believe that Jesus had it right.
I’ve got to say “no” more often if I want to grow and be what God
has called me to be. The answer is
not in more, the answer is in less.
My mom has a friend who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian church.
Growing up, after I committed my life to Jesus, and was in seminary, I vividly
recall how he regaled me with tales of his fundamentalist childhood. Movies,
even Walt Disney movies, were out for him - too worldly. Soft drinks? That's a
no-no. Dating? Not until he was 18, and then he had to be in by
"Can you believe the triviality, the authoritarian, frightened
nature of these Christian fundamentalists," I thought in my sophisticated
sophomoric mind.
I talked to that friend when I was visiting my mom just after this past
Christmas. His young adult son is in an alcohol treatment program. His daughter
is living through the hell of her second divorce. He has had, by his own
estimate, a very difficult adult life.
Now he's back at church. Back attending a backward, narrow, authoritarian
fundamentalist church like the one of his childhood! Why?
"I realized too late that I had absolutely no means of saying
'no,'" he explained to me. "I knew how to go out and get everything I
ever wanted, but I had no means of knowing what was worth wanting."
He is now back in the church of his youth, a church that gives him the
strength to say, "no." And
I am slowly returning to those childish ideas of Lent from my younger years.
Self-denial deserves a second look.
We need to take some small baby steps toward new life that begins in
denying ourselves some small things in order to be receptive to greater goods in
our lives. A few dollars a week given to relieve some of the suffering of
others, a few hours taken from ourselves in order to expend them for others,
these are not huge acts of self-denial, but we must start somewhere. God give us
the grace to practice some Lenten self-denial.
So here are some Lenten questions for you: What do you need to give up in
order to give Jesus a chance with your life? What is that thing in your life
that is in danger of taking over your life? What do you love too much in the
wrong way?
The good news of today's Gospel is that Jesus says "No!" to
Satan, not once but three times. Jesus
was tempted by the wrong use of power. That was the first temptation.
Jesus was also tempted by the wrong way to popularity. That was the
second temptation. Finally, Jesus
was tempted by the wrong kind of partnership. That was the third temptation.
With each temptation the “no” rings out.
Jesus triumphed over the temptation to be who he was meant by God to be.
The “no” is so important.
We can say “no” too. The
good news is that Jesus is powerful over temptation, even your own temptations.
He can give us the grace to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses daily and
follow. Ask him to give you what you need in order to give up something for
Lent.
Around 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel launched a classic experiment.
He left a succession of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a marshmallow. If
they rang the bell, he would come back and they could eat the marshmallow. If,
however, they didn't ring the bell and waited for him to come back on his own,
they could then have two marshmallows.
In videos of the experiment, you can see the children squirming, kicking,
hiding their eyes—desperately trying to exercise self-control so they can wait
and get two marshmallows. Their performance varied widely. Some broke down and
rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted 15 minutes.
The children who waited longer went on to get higher SAT scores. They got
into better colleges and had, on average, better adult outcomes. The children
who rang the bell quickest were more likely to become bullies. They received the
worse teacher and parental evaluations 10 years on and were more likely to have
drug problems at age 32.
Mischel concluded that children may be taught "that it pays to work
toward the future instead of living for instant gratification."
(David Brooks, "Marshmallows and
Public Policy," The New York
Times,
Or, as Jesus says, maybe the healthiest living begins with “no.”
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton
,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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