Lent is a rather special time in our church life. It’s like an opportunity for some personal spring cleaning, a time to look beyond our own physical desires and wants, which we tend to default to in our day to day lives, and instead see to our spiritual needs. I’ve heard it said that Lent can be a time of stripping down to the essentials—time to think about things like what is it that we really need? Lent can be a time of simplicity, a reminder of how easily we get caught up in the excesses of our lives. Hence the idea of fasting: traditionally only one meal a day and only basic foods. That’s where the idea of Pancake Tuesday comes from: it was a way for medieval households to use up the foods in the larder they considered extravagant: like eggs, butter, cream and meats. Today we think of giving up something for Lent, like sweets and treats, or coffee or even screen time. It’s also a good time to consider the needs of others less fortunate than ourselves. Those extras that we’re doing without, can the money we’re saving from them be used to assist others who are truly in need? This is where the idea of Lenten almsgiving comes from. And during this time of looking to essentials, we consider another essential which we often don’t give enough time to—our relationship with God.
In our church and our services, we mark Lent by making some changes too: we change the ecclesiastical hangings to purple to remind us that this is a special time in the church year. Why purple? Purple traditionally is associated with royalty, and Jesus is King, and in Lent we focus on Jesus. So purple came to be associated with penitence and asking forgiveness, and with that a focus on being more Christ-centered in how we live our lives. We don’t traditionally use flowers in the church during Lent, and other décor is kept to a minumum. We simplify the music, and the hymns, with a quieter more reflective tone and theme. We don’t sing songs with Alleluia in them, it’s like we’re saving up all the Alleluias for Easter! We won’t sing the Gloria again until Easter, substituting the Kyrie, the Lord have mercy for our Eucharist services.
In our effort to be more Christ-centered in Lent, many churches will hold studies, or do extra services during these 40 days. All these things come together to help us to remember that we need to reflect on our lives as the people of God, as followers of Christ. Lent gives us the opportunity, a time to review our lives for our shortcomings, our sins—those things and behaviours that keep us from being as fully Christian as we would like to be—as God would like us to be. It’s an opportunity to take the time to walk closer with Jesus, a time to focus deeper on our experience as Christians, by studying scripture, spending more time in prayer.
Lent begins with the Ash Wed Service, a service in which we are reminded that we are God’s creatures, made from the dust of the earth, with a cross of ashes on our foreheads. It’s a truly hands-on reminder of just who we are, creatures of God’s creation, made of the dust of the ground and saved by the cross on which God’s son died, and from which he rose again.
Yes, we are God’s creatures and we forget that sometimes too as we get caught up in ourselves and our busy lives. That’s one reason I think why we read that passage from the second creation story in Genesis—as a reminder of just who we are and from where we come! And it also is a great story about temptation, and being drawn into temptation. Adam and Eve allow themselves to be talked into eating the fruit of the tree of life, by the snake, the tree God forbade them to eat from. That snake should have gone into sales! Eve tries the fruit first, and offered it to Adam after she tasted it, and found it to be tasty, and as the snake told it, it was desirable to make one wise. They chose to allow themselves to be talked into a desire that they both secretly harboured, even though God had warned them of it. Historically Eve has gotten a bad rap for pulling Adam in to the temptation, but truly, they were both in it together—verse 6 tells us Adam was right there with her, and he ate of the fruit too. He could have refused it, but they both wanted to know what it would be like to be God, to have the power and knowledge of God, Adam as badly as Eve did. And this is what this story is really about, succumbing to temptation – a desire that is so strong that even the pain of death doesn’t stop them! Don’t be silly the snake says, eating the fruit of the forbidden tree won’t kill you. God just doesn’t want you to know what God knows, how to be like God. One of the biblical commentators I read states that “The serpent’s question to Eve is intentional: the snake asks her “Did God say, You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?” Gen 3.1. It is an invitation to question the command of God.”[1] The snake presents the opportunity for Adam and Eve to question God’s love and care for them, question their ability to trust God and what God was telling them. You can almost hear them thinking: “If God really cared for us, why would God deny us the fruit of a really beautiful tree with delectable fruit—that wasn’t right! We can eat it if we want to, and then we too will know as much as God does—the snake said so, and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about!” And that was the temptation that lured them. ‘You will be like God.’ The snake was working on their basest desires, planting seeds of doubt, which allowed their minds to justify their wants, event though they knew it was against God’s instructions. We all want to be our own Gods, do what we want when we want, how we want, without restrictions. The decision we all have to make is what do we do? These are the temptations that we are continually being bombarded with that lead us away from God’s desires for us. Even Jesus was tested.
Jesus knowingly went into the desert, led by the Spirit. He didn’t get lost going for a long walk; he was led by the Spirit to the desert to be tested, fully aware that in his humanity, he would be tested and in severe circumstances. This was not a walk in the park. Was it really there for 40 days? I honestly don’t know, I think the point is that Jesus was in the desert a long time, long enough to become weakened, susceptible to being challenged at the core level of his being. How easy it would be just to give in to the devil, to get the whole trial-thing over and done with, and go home, have a bath, some good food, clean clothes, comfortable bed. Did you ever wonder what the purpose of it was? Well, here’s an insight I’d like to share with you from renowned biblical scholar William Barclay: I’ve update the language…. "Temptation is not meant to make us sin; it is meant to enable us to conquer sin. It is not meant to make us bad, it is meant to make us good. It is not meant to weaken us, it is meant to make us emerge stronger and finer and purer from the ordeal. Temptation is not the penalty of being (human) temptation is the glory of being (human), temptation is the test which comes to every person whom God wishes to use. So, then, we must think of this whole incident, not so much the TEMPTING, (but) as the TESTING of Jesus."[2].
The tests Jesus underwent were ones that only someone who had very special powers, very special gifts could overcome. Satan knew who Jesus was, and so knew how to tempt him: three times the tempter says to him: If you are the Son of God…. only Jesus could do what the devil asked him to do, superhuman things--turn stones to bread, throw himself off a building knowing angels would save him, accept a promise to rule Satan’s kingdom. The tempter even quotes scripture to him, to get Jesus to fall into his trap, crafty little devil. So, what can we take away from this story, we who are so much less than super-human, we who are so very human? Ah, that’s it. We are human, and so, as Jesus was tempted, was tested we too will we. And, like Jesus, we too will be tempted through our gifts. We won’t be making bread from stones however, where we are the strongest, we have the potential to be the weakest. We will be tempted to use our gifts to justify our behaviours. It is the very condition of being human.
And it is not God who leads us into temptation. A good and caring God could no more do that then a good and caring parent could knowingly lead their child into danger. Temptation is the condition of being human, as Barclay says, it is “the glory of being human”. When overcome, it makes us stronger.
However, we are not tested beyond what we can handle, beyond our capacity to endure, scripture assures us of this. Paul tells the members of his church in Corinth: “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.” 1Cor 10: 13 Enduring it is often the hardest part—but we don’t have to go it alone. We can go to Jesus to be strengthened, to get respite from the load. Jesus even calls us to come to him: “Come to me all that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you.” (Matt 11: 28) Jesus knows what we’re going through, he’s been there, done that. Do you think maybe that’s why Jesus shared the story of his first encounter with the devil, his having to deal with his own personal temptations, his testing? Jesus wants us to know he understands, he wants us to come to him in our trials, because life isn’t always a walk in the park.
This is what Lent is all about, coming closer to Jesus, walking with Jesus, knowing that while we could never walk in his shoes, he’s walked in ours and more.
[1] Allen C. McSween Jr. in Pastoral Perspective for the First Sunday in Lent Yr A in Feasting on the Word Yr A Volume 2 (WJKPress:Louisville Kentucky) p.m 28
[2] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/77639/william-barclay-on-temptation-by-gordon-curley accessed Feb. 23.23