Luke 4:1-13
Lent 1 - Year C
Guarantee: Get Spirit: Get Tempted.
If there is one thing that the Spirit of Life is not, it is not a guarantee of anything. It blows where it will and in its wake come all the Pandoran temptations to turn from life to death. Somehow or other Spirit, in all its ecstasy, leaves hope behind.
Without hope still remaining, Spirit feels like an answer to prayer and arrives with great transformative power. Imagine the Transfiguration scene from last week and everything works out well — Jesus floats away. Rather death was an intimate part of that event, including the conversation with Moses and Elijah and Jesus’ announcement on the way down the mountain and more?
The spirit comes, belovedness arrives and is tempted away from being a grounded self to an elevated sense of self. Why not turn stones to bread or the other way around? Why not use this new charisma to develop a political following? Why not test the boundaries of miracle?
Do note that the temptations will continue to follow any who dare pay attention to the spiritual part of their life. So rejoice in the temptations and learn from them. This removes their power from them and transfers it to you. There is another temptation on its way, are you ready to rejoice and learn? If not, what is Lent for?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/02/luke-41-13.html
In Lent our 40 days in the wilderness does not include Sundays. I wonder if Jesus had any holidays.
How do you imagine the 40 days going. Were there ravens that brought a bit of sustenance? Was Jesus also a survivalist and able to fend for himself?
On to the fasting part.
Presume for a moment that today's wilderness is a culture of consumerism. The central organizing principle of this religious wilderness is Economic Growth.
What would be the response to the powerful economic temptations of today?
Here are 6 as found in an article by Jay McDaniel and John L. Farthing in the book Thy Nature and Thy Name is Love: Wesleyan and Process Theologies in Dialogue:
1. sharing with others
2. freedom from inordinate attachments
3. freedom from affluence
4. freedom for the poor
5. freedom for simplicity
6. freedom for the present moment.
All of these relate to fasting.
These ideas were challenging in John Wesley's time and they are challenging in ours.
McDaniel and Farthing also write:
"We might also imagine consumerism as having its doctrines and creeds. Its doctrine of creation would be that the earth is real estate to be bought and sold in the marketplace and that other living beings -- animals, for example -- are mere commodities for human use. Its doctrine of human existence would be that we are skin-encapsulated egos cut off from the world by the boundaries of our skin, whose primary purpose is to ' have our needs met.' and its basic creeds would be 'bigger is better,' 'faster is better,' 'more is better,' and 'you can have it all.' Admittedly, our caricature is negative and cynical. Still, we think there is truth in it. If we are entering an age of Economism, then there does seem to ban ideology -- a set of attitudes and values -- that functions like a religion: that is, a way of organizing the whole of life, inner and outer. Thus, a serious question emerges: Can middle-class Christians in high-income countries, who have been so deeply co-opted into the ideology of consumerism, nevertheless find resources within their heritage, past and present, for critical and creative response to this lifestyle and its accompanying religion?"
A key way to respond to the temptation of our day is the monastic vow of poverty -- voluntary and intentional fasting in the face of the temptations that have come around at the latest "opportune time."
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/february2004.html
Temptations lead us to work. When we have come through (or not) a temptation it is not as though temptations are over and done with, once and forever.
Whether successfully countered or not, temptations (and our response) give us material to work with as we proceed to live out what we understand to be the movement and intention of G*D.
That is from verse 14. It helps to let us know what temptations are about.
Part of the reason this is so important is that temptations come at their own opportune time. They come at what is probably our least opportune time. How, out of our weakness, might we rise to the occasion?
At least one response is to spend our time between temptations doing what practice we can to continually and consistently envision the larger significance to daily events. Did you see G*D in your eating and other survival mechanisms today (presuming it isn't a fast day for you)? Did you see G*D in the world today with all its emphasis upon power and control? Did you see G*D in the church today, even in its institutionalness?
If you didn't make that application might we say that the Satan had no reason to tempt you because you had already capitulated? How might you better practice the larger view today that you might be ready for tomorrow's tempting?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/february2004.html
A piece of wisdom from the United Methodist tradition - that which sustains life is to be dealt with according to this formula: Earn all you can; Save all you can, Give all you can. Alternative phrases include: Be Industrious; Be Frugal; Be Generous.
One way of relating this to the temptations and turning them on their ear:
1) A temptation to a Lottery way of life. A temptation is to Wait for the miracle that will turn your stony life into one of pleasure, where bread becomes chocolate and caviar and cream. Somehow we don't have to till the stony ground and nourish it with water and mulch. There is work to do among the poor-in-property and the poor-in-spirit to transform them from a fixation on relying on a Lottery (either PowerBall or PowerExegesis).
2) A temptation to an External Saving way of life. A temptation to Rely on Mechanistic Salvation that will turn our perceived danger into one of a universal Get Out of Jail Card, where accumulated resources, strength of positioning, and other connections can cover the reality that every bigger barn will be called to account - tonight. Somehow we can hedge ourselves around with all manner of protections to keep us from feeling that which goes bump in the night - our security angels that promise to hold us up. There is work to do among the fearful and the satisfied to transform them from a fixation on relying on a leverageable economic position - a pile of money will be as hard to land on as cold hard ground and the invisible hand of an economic angel is not where life will ultimately be found.
3) A temptation to Staying in Charge way of life. A temptation to find a way to make it All About Me and my personal salvation, apart from the salvation of all, and thus avoid the integral part mission plays in a basic commission to not simply receive a blessing, but to be a blessing. There is work to do among dominionists and fundamentalists to transform them to take a stewardship responsibility for the earth and an evangelistic responsibility for the whole-story into the world.
This is a formula that must be read backward. If there is no impulse to give there is no motivation to be frugal with the fruit of one's labor or to invest labor in many small returns. Without the impulse to give we look for comfort first and find it accumulation of resources. Without the impulse to give we see our accumulated resources being our source of wealth rather than our on going investment of time and energy which will put us in a position to give more.
The most opportune time to get to us is when we are focusing exclusively on getting and having. Always we need to move on to a stage of integrity of giving, not settling for any previous state of receiving and storing that will ultimately leave us flat. If we don't keep a focus on a theology of generosity and expansive love we will settle for get-rich-quick schemes, reliance upon mechanistic buffers, and power and control over our resources and that of others and thus miss the joy of diligence that more might be given, the joy of frugality that more might be given, the joy of giving that more might be given.
- - -
joy joy joy
comes in the morning
anticipating giving
justice justice justice
comes in the day
earning honestly
peace peace peace
comes in the evening
daily bread shared
hope hope hope
comes in the night
satisfaction enough
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
O how many opportune times there are for compromising just a bit on matters of expansive love, specific justice, and desired peace. This passage makes it sound as if there might only be one more test - thus the marvelous work by Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ.
Presuming Jesus to be our brother, we know that there isn't just a superbowl of temptation that comes around in a scheduled sort of way. Temptations are built into the system (ever wonder what it says about God that Jesus prays for release from testing, temptation, and a load of debt?). So we regularly pray to not be put to a test. We know from experience that temptations are not usually codified, first a temptation about this aspect of life and then another about some other aspect. Temptations are as holographic as blessings - they run all the way through and any one experience of temptation is found in every experience.
I would find it more helpful to pray for a presence of hope in the midst of temptation, rather than simple avoidance of temptation. It may be that presence might make it seem as though temptations have been avoided, but there is a qualitative difference between not being tempted and assisted in the presence of temptation.
This difference might be glimpsed as Jesus, full up with spirit, becomes famished after 40 days. What hope is left to proceed as though life is still about expansive love when facing diminished resources? What hope is left to hold to justice when power and authority offer so many shortcuts to constrain behavior? What hope is left to live peaceably when spectacle is the coin of the realm? What hope do you return to, time after time, when you are not full-up with Spirit, when you are facing a soul's dark night? Is it something deeper than hope?
- - -
how much grace it takes
to sift through a deep listening
to life's persistent questions
to find a nub of the matter
and respond straight-forwardly
without arguments ad hominem
how much surety it takes
to stay put when the world swirls
around with answer upon answer
and shift the ground
to a response that opens
further conversation
how much hope it takes
to match our experience
with our understanding
to sift and winnow both
without resorting to despair
of ever coming whole
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
Water baptized on the outside; Holy Spirit filled on the inside. Jesus says, "Bring it on."
A wilderness test: is there sufficient Spirit stored, camel-like, to lead beyond hunger, prestige, and security to see their temporary nature?
An ordinary test: Is there sufficient Spirit stored, guanaco-like, to lead beyond thirst, glory, and power to see their temporary nature?
As always with tests, there is another one coming. What might become appropriate disciplines and/or methodologies to prepare for future tests?
The hints here lie with three processes.
First, a trained perception to not be fooled by the surface, first level, or literalistic level of life. We don't live by bread alone or scripture alone or any other one answer response.
Second, an experienced appreciation for layers of worth. We often settle for one good (allowing participation in several other evils) rather than striving for additional virtues.
Third, a deepened appreciation of limits that we don't put our security needs in some magical basket. Perceived tests are often not that, simply another part of life's journey, and taking them lightly moves us past either/or, right/wrong, answers and into responses more appropriate to a much longer journey than this moment.
May your innate and accumulated spirit find you a willing fellow-traveler.
- - -
Textweek.com notes a helpful adjunct for this note by Barbara Brown Taylor, "Settling for Less"
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/02/luke-41-13.html