1st Mennonite Church, Reedley, CA
3rd Sunday of Lent 2010
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9
We are in the season of Lent, a time when we remember the 40 days Jesus was in the wilderness, fasting and facing temptation, the stretch of his journey between his baptism and affirmation as the Son of God and the start of his public ministry. For 40 days we come alongside Jesus in the wilderness. We may remind ourselves that "man does not live by bread alone" by giving up some food: chocolate, meat, coffee, dining out. We may participate in other kinds of fasting - turning off the television, abstaining from sex, hiding the credit cards, disconnecting the internet. We give something up in order to simulate a wilderness experience so that we might remember Jesus' life. It is, after all, the life we are called to live.
In the wilderness, Jesus embodied the words of sonship the voice from heaven spoke at his baptism: he shows us what it means to be a child of God. Core to Jesus' response to temptation is his trust in the story of God inviting his people into his kingdom. When Satan tries to undermine God's mission in the world, Jesus responds, "It is written..." Scripture witnesses to God's work in human history and echoes his promise to redeem his people. Jesus clings to this story. When Satan tries to adjust the plot, Jesus refuses the revision and embraces the gospel narrative.
The apostle Paul, in his letters to the Cornithians, tries to transform their imaginations with this gospel narrative. These gentiles have been shaped by another story - one where status accumulation is a major plot element. Recognition, being on top, acquiring wealth and respect... these are the ultimate values of the day. This kind of narrative is in conflict with the gospel story. The gospel, after all, has Jesus willingly entering into struggle, suffering and self-sacrifice. It is no wonder that Paul has to work so hard to correct the Corinthians' thinking. They mistake the gospel as another avenue of pursuing status, but Paul says, "Your way is not God's way."
He does this by submerging them into the story of Israel. "I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drakn from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." Paul says, "The wilderness story, the story of God liberating his people from slavery and ushering them toward the Promised Land, is the story of everyone who follows Christ." By calling Christ the rock, I imagine Paul is pulling together Jesus' life and the life of God's people. The Corinthians have responded to the story of Jesus' life, but they may have trouble seeing themselves as part of Israel's story. Paul says, "We are all walking in the wilderness with Israel - away from bondage, oppression, all that deals death in this world - including the narrative that you Corinthians persist in holding onto - and toward freedom, real freedom, the freedom that brings justice, peace, unity, and new life."
At this point the Corinthians may be nodding their heads and thinking, "Great. We're on our way to greater liberation. Sounds good." Paul's next words are, "Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness." All of a sudden, these fledgling Christians become aware of the larger wilderness story. It is dangerous. It is a place of testing. It is a place where identity is demonstrated. "Who will you be?" Paul confronts them with this question. "Which story will you live by?" He presses them to understand that they are on a wilderness journey. Though they may be living in a bustling city bursting with opportunities for wealth and pleasure, the reality is that they are in a barren land. They are trekking with Moses in the dust and heat that push the people to the place where they learn whether or not they trust the gospel story. Paul tells the story this way: the people are journeying in the wilderness with Christ who provides them the nourishment to follow. But they grumbled. They complained. They lusted after other things. In the wilderness they longed for Egypt, for the story from which they were supposed to be liberated. Paul urges the Corinthians, "Do not become idolaters as some of them did... We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did... We must not complain as some of them did... We must not put Christ to the test."
These words pull together Israel's wilderness story and Jesus' wilderness story. When offered the chance to revise the gospel story, Jesus' final response was, "It is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Jesus knew the path he had to walk, the path that would lead us all out of slavery and into a new creation. When tempted, Jesus demonstrated his trust in God's narrative. Paul urges the Corinthians to evaluate themselves in the wilderness: "What are you longing for? Meat? Pleasure? Wealth? Status? Security? Or could it be that your cry is, 'O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.'"
This season of Lent reminds us that we are part of Jesus' story. We are also in a sort of perpetual Lent. We find ourselves in the midst of the journey toward liberation and redemption. Paul reminds us that being part of Jesus' story makes us part of Israel's story. We are navigating the wilderness where we become the people of God. We will be tested. Satan will offer alternative paths, plot revisions. Take a few moments to consider what the revisions common to our social locations may be. Now turn to the person next to you and share - What temptations do we face? What paths does Satan offer us?
One of the ways in which I struggle with the path Jesus walked is that I do not want to bear the suffering of betrayal and abandonment he bore. He continually gave himself, opened himself, risked himself. Even when he knew that Judas would betray him to the authorities and that Peter would deny him among the crowds, he washed their feet and gathered them at the table. He demonstrated what is means to be authentically human: he lives a life of embrace, one that welcomed all into intimate relationship. I am tempted, however, to withdraw when I am disappointed, betrayed, or abandoned. The pain of those experiences seem too much to bear; they seem to threaten me at my core. And I want to protect myself from the possibility of more pain. When I choose the path of self-protection, I leave the path that Jesus walked. When I am faced with the temptation to leave that path, I am faced with the question we have raised this morning: Do I believe God's story? Do I strust the narrative of God's liberating and transforming and reconciling mission? Do I trust Jesus' story - that even though he was killed, God brought new life? Oftentimes this temptation seems more powerful than I am strong.
Lest we be overwhelmed in the wilderness, Paul reminds us, "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." God is faithful. Did you hear that? God is faithful! We can trust his story, the narrative of his mission in the world. On our wilderness journey we have two examples: Paul points to the example of the unfaithful Israelites as a warning - let us not follow in their footsteps. Paul urges us to follow Jesus' example of faithfulness, of trust and dependence as a child of God. Let us, in our attachment to Christ, bear his fruit.
We are walking the path that leads to new life by way of the cross. At times that plot may seem odd, too difficult or futile. However, it is the path that was set before Jesus and it is the path that he calls his disciples to walk. When we eat the bread and drink the wine of Jesus table, we emobdy Jesus and covenant together in his mission. We are the real presence of Christ in this world. When we encounter attempts to re-write or erase the story we cling to, may we prove ourselves sons and daughters of God in our radical attachment to the narrative spoken in the Word made flesh. May we hear God's voice calling in the wilderness:
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you [an eschatalogical promise], because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Amen.