When I went home I looked up a Christian definition of hope and found this:
'hope is not a kite at the mercy of changing winds, but an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast'.
This is the hope that we carry into Lent - the hope that comes from the light and joy of the incarnation celebrated last weekend at Candlemass, so close this year to Lent. Hope at the start of this journey that Jesus calls us to make with him. Jesus who asks each of one of us to take up our crosses and follow him to Calvary.
Our lessons today are all connected by temptation, hope and hopelessness, and of which we may well encounter on our journeys this Lent.
Firstly we are in the Garden of Eden, a garden that is lush and beautiful with the many foods and fruits to choose to feed on and we meet 'the woman', unnamed but who we know as Eve, who is tricked by the serpent to enter into sin, tricked to question the reputation of God, tricked to look and when she liked what she saw she took. She in turn tempts the man, who we now know as Adam, who had been told by God not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge and by doing so he showed contempt of God who had put him into the garden.
The result, as we all know, is of their self awareness of their shame, shame that they could not hide from God. The self awareness that resulted from their disobedience to God, God who had been in the habit of walking with them in the cool of the evening but who now was estranged from them. They were thereafter deprived of the honours and joys of paradise.
In our Gospel reading we meet Jesus, who before his ministry was led into the wilderness after his baptism by John the Baptist to stay 40 days and 40 nights fasting in the Judaean desert. Jesus is alone with the devil, driven into the wilderness by God's Holy Spirit. The devil tempts Jesus to question God's authority by urging him to look at all that he could have if he did so. Like 'the woman' he looked but did not take. Jesus had resisted temptation as he would right up to Calvary. He chose the way of the cross as redemption of our sins to right the sin of Adam for all time.
The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke's gospels; recognised by the early church as an important event and the writer of Matthew records Jesus spelling out why he won't be tempted, quoting from scripture, reminding his community of the scripture that Jesus, and they, had been brought up on.
And finally in our Epistle, Paul, in his letter to the Romans compares Adam, the first parent who, through his sin, estranged man from God, with Christ, the head of the new reconciled humanity. Paul's letter speaks of God having done more than putting the human race back to where it was before the arrival of sin - God has done far more, the covenant with Abraham is being fulfilled through Jesus the long heralded Messiah - the hope for the world.
As we journey with Jesus over coming days can each one of us stop with him a while on the road and ask the very personal question of Christ dying for us - what does it mean for me?
Perhaps the temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness can be a starting point:
Can we, like Jesus, reject the temptation to rely on our own will rather than really putting our trust in God, especially when the going gets tough?
Do we really honour God and accept the mystery, not constantly putting God to the test constantly challenging?
And can we honestly say that we put worshipping God, with a capital G, before the worship of gods, with little g's?
Our journey may take many forms - reading, praying, meditating, walking the stations of the cross on Friday evenings here, our journey is personal to us and to God, like temptation it is a personal inner experience, a personal experience that nourishes our relationship with God, the God that Jesus knew and trusted, the God that he would never disobey.
Jesus' journey to Easter does not end with his death on a cross, no, through this resurrection it continues as our gateway to eternal life. His gift to us, his grace.
And a few words of prayer from George Herbert to carry with us on our journey this Lent -
'Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me, with faith, with hope, with charity; that I may run, rise, rest with thee'.
Amen.
And finally in our Epistle Paul, in his letter to the Romans compares Adam, the first parent who, through his sin, estranged man from God, with Christ, the head of the new reconciled humanity. Paul's letter speaks of God having done more than putting the human race back to where it was before the arrival of sin - God has done far more, the covenant with Abraham is being fulfilled through Jesus the long heralded Messiah - the hope for the world. As we journey with Jesus over coming days can each one of us stop with him a while on the road to consider the very personal question of Christ dying for me - what does it mean for me?
Perhaps the temptations that Jesus faced in the wilderness can be a starting point:
Can we, like Jesus, reject the temptation to rely on our own will rather than really putting our trust in God when the going gets tough?
Do we really honour God and accept the mystery, not constantly putting God to the test?
Can we honestly say that we put worshipping God, with a capital G, before the worship of gods, with little g's?
Our journey may take many forms - reading, praying, meditating, walking the stations of the cross on Friday evenings here, our journey is personal to us and to God, like temptation it is a personal inner experience, a personal experience that nourishes our relationship with God, the God that Jesus knew and trusted, the God that he would never disobey.
Jesus' journey to Easter does not end with his death on a cross, no, through this resurrection it continues as our gateway to eternal life.
And a few words of prayer from George Herbert to carry with us on our journey this Lent -
'Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me, with faith, with hope, with charity; that I may run, rise, rest with thee'.
Amen.
Sermon by: Christine Barclay