Fully, Only Human
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Striving to win and to test limits, athletes have been in the news lately for risking the use of illegal drugs in this effort. For others, the opposite is the case: failing to act decisively when we perceive a threat or danger. So, in this issue of The Immediate Word, Chris Ewing explores both the limits ("only human") and the freedom ("fully human") set for the first man and woman in the Old Testament Reading for today. Chris reflects also on the story of Jesus' temptation and on the Second Reading assigned in the lectionary for February 13.
Other team members will comment on striking facets of the First Reading and the Gospel for the day. As usual, we offer related illustrations, worship resources, and children's sermon.
Fully, Only Human
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
By Chris Ewing
Another drug shipment was stopped at the border this week -- a new performance-enhancing drug supposed to be undetectable in urine, a new way for athletes to transcend the limits of human performance, to break records, to be "as gods." There is scarcely any area of sports, from track and field to baseball that has not been rocked by drug scandals. Aspiring athletes often face a Hobson's choice between using banned and dangerous substances or resigning themselves to the probability of a career just out of the winner's circle, whose boundaries are increasingly defined by drug-inspired capabilities. In athletics, as in medical science and other fields, we are feeling for the boundaries of what is human, what is allowable -- what, if any, limits should be observed.
Refusing human limits is identified as the first, the "original" sin in today's reading from Genesis, and it remains a perennial human temptation. Even without going to the controversial fringes of human capability, establishing and respecting appropriate boundaries is a difficult issue. Business ethics, sexual ethics, and international relations all presuppose limits to allowable behavior. All assume freedom within a specific, limited sphere. Much news is made from either our disagreements about where those boundaries lie (abortion, homosexual unions, stem-cell research, cloning) or people's deliberate or inadvertent choice to transgress those agreed-upon boundaries (Enron, street crime, most scandals).
As perhaps the most characteristic sin of the male of the species, the overreaching of boundaries receives plenty of press time in the patriarchal documents of the Bible. From the fruit in the garden (where the woman also is presumptuous) to the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), Nebuchadnezzar's humbling journey through madness (Daniel 4) and more, keeping God on the throne and humans subservient is a recurring preoccupation of scripture. If there can be said to be one definitive expression of sin in the multi-faceted richness of Judeo-Christian tradition, it is the transgression of limits, the failure to keep one's human place. This might be an opportune moment to point out that our "place" is defined both in relation to God and to each other, and that there is as much in the Bible about justice and care for the vulnerable as there is about humility before God. Overstepping our bounds can take many forms, and the strong sheep butting the weak (Ezekiel 34) invites judgment as surely as someone eating forbidden fruit. A preacher exploring the nature of sin would want to look quite broadly throughout scripture in order not to sell the concept short.
Respecting our limits is an issue that surfaces again in our Gospel Lection, Jesus' temptation. He is urged to exercise his own superhuman capabilities, turning stone into bread. Then he is invited to pull rank on mere humanity, calling down legions of angels to save him from a suicidal stunt. And finally the tempter encourages him to lust after a breadth of temporal power that even Alexander would have envied. Whatever else may be said of the temptations, they are all enticements to live beyond the reach of ordinary human limits, and Jesus answers them as such. He first refutes the notion that such overreaching can satisfy ("One does not live by bread alone"); then he refuses to put God to the test; and finally he identifies the God of the covenant as the sole object of worship and service, of ultimate concern. Even though Jesus alone of all humans has a right to stand outside of human limits, he chooses to live as creature, not Creator: not grasping or exploiting his divinity, but becoming obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:6-7). In so doing, he returns, as it were, to the scene of the original crime, and reruns it according to divine intent, becoming the New Adam in whom a cosmic reordering takes place. "Just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all," notes Paul in today's epistle (Romans 5:18).
The refusal of limits, however, is not the only human sin. Implicit in the Genesis account of freedom within limits is the possibility of failing to access our freedom, of refusing to be fully human. Eve's infamous overstepping of boundaries notwithstanding, the sin of shortchanging our humanity is one most endemic to women: if there can be said to be a characteristic female sin, this is it. If women have been sinned against by societies that clip their wings and stunt their growth, many of us in these supposedly liberated times continue to be tempted by a less than fully realized humanity.
This sin is not the exclusive province of women. Tradition and religious dogma have often been made to stand in for thinking, for wrestling with life and engaging new ideas or realities. In social situations where education is unavailable and personal freedom circumscribed, such narrowness is more a case of being sinned against than sinning; but when contemporary North Americans refuse to grapple with the challenges of life, society, or science, it takes on a more sinister cast. In A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews' insightful novel about growing up in a rural Canadian Mennonite community, the narrator's mother, frustrated by local closed-mindedness, exclaims, "There are no adults in this town!" They insist, like children, on not thinking for themselves, on just doing what they're told.
This is not an issue belonging only to very conservative minority groups, however, or to people overseas who are struggling with modernization. Look at what is happening in school boards all across America, where a decision to duck the teaching of evolution demonstrates a notable lack of moral and intellectual courage. By contrast, consider the recent election in Iraq: in defiance of extremists who would have shackled them to a narrow worldview and limited possibilities, some 60 percent of citizens, at no small risk to themselves, stood up and claimed full adult control of their destiny. There is no more virtue in shirking one's humanity than in overstepping it.
Indeed, the scriptures and most thoughtful people since have recognized the need to leave innocence for maturity. Our gospel for today shows Jesus led to his temptation by the Spirit of God (Matthew 4:1); and in the portion of Romans immediately preceding today's lection, Paul points out the value of struggle and suffering in developing a mature character and reliable hope. John Milton in Paradise Lost, perhaps unwittingly following a stream of Jewish interpretation that sees Genesis 3 as a coming-of-age story, went so far as to speak of the "fortunate fall" by which we entered into our full humanity. A slavish, unthinking obedience to received commands or ideas is no virtue.
Eve in Genesis 3 is not portrayed as rashly or presumptuously gobbling what was not hers to take, but rather is shown making an assessment of risks and benefits. Having articulated God's command and heard the serpent's rebuttal, she "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise," and she came to her decision. This process is of the essence of human adulthood. If the choice made in this instance is condemned, nonetheless the wider appeal of the scriptures is often to do exactly what Eve did: to think, to weigh the evidence, to make a considered choice. In doing so, however, what is to be held in central consideration is the nature and call of God, and our covenant relationship with God and with each other. It is in so doing that Jesus in Matthew 4 made a better choice than Eve in Genesis 3, striking the balance of attempting to be neither less nor more than God made him, but fully, only human.
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: The gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is always one of the Synoptic accounts of the temptation of Christ. This year the lectionary parallels that with the story of the temptation and sin of the first humans in Genesis 3. That makes a certain amount of sense, but actually not as much as would coupling that story of the "Fall" with the Markan temptation next year. There Jesus seems to be put back in the situation of Adam ("He was with the wild beasts") to succeed where Adam failed. In Matthew, on the other hand, Jesus seems called to recapitulate the testing of Israel, God's "firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22).
Still, it is the same fundamental temptation and test: Will he put God and God's will first? Or will he fail to trust in God? Other possible courses of action seem more promising than taking God on faith, and therefore provide occasions for temptation. "God ... tempts no one" (James 1:13), but God may use the temptations that come to us in the world as tests. (The Greek peirazo can have both senses.)
The idea of a God who "tests" us may seem rather naive and anthropomorphic: Doesn't God already know what we're capable of? Yes -- but do we? Often teachers give tests to students to enable the students themselves to know how well they understand material or can apply it.
But when we look at things under their aspect of "temptations" they are understood to be temptations to sin. Thus with the texts for this Sunday we really need to wrestle with the question of what we mean by sin. And the first thing to realize is that sin has to do with our relationship with God. That's obvious from both of our texts. Eve and Adam are tempted not to trust God and to disobey God. Any sin against others (Adam blaming Eve, e.g.) is a consequence of that sin. Similarly, Jesus is not directly tempted to injure another human being. Instead, the tempter suggests that he depend on something other than God, that he put God to the test, and worship something other than God. This prioritizing of sin is, of course, confirmed by the Law given to Israel: It's no accident that the First Commandment comes before the other nine!
At this point, Jews and Christians have often jumped to the conclusion that the basic sin is wanting to take the place of God: The promise of the serpent, "You will be like God," may suggest that. Ezekiel's blazing third oracle against Tyre (Ezekiel 28:1-11) is the most powerful condemnation of the boast "I am a god" (verses 2 and 9), and in the Christian tradition pride has been thought of as the chief of the seven deadly sins and the root of the others.
But this is only half of the story. Some years ago Valerie Saiving, in an essay titled "The Human Situation: A Feminine View," pointed out that the type of sin to which women are tempted may be just the opposite. (This essay can be found in Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow, eds., Womanspirit Rising [Harper & Row, 1979], pp. 25-42.)
The typical masculine sin may indeed by trying to be more than we are supposed to be, attempting to usurp the role of the creator instead of accepting the status of creatures. But it is also possible to fail to trust in God and do God's will by refusing to be as much as we are called to be. God's purpose for humanity -- "male and female" -- is set out in Genesis 1: To be God's representatives in caring for creation. It is a tremendous calling, and thinking ourselves unworthy of it is to fall short of God's purpose for us as is the idea that we are to take the place of God.
Saiving's point was that women are more inclined to the "falling short" type of sin than the "more than" type. That's a tendency that can be encouraged by patriarchal cultures that want to keep women in subjugation and thereby suggest that an inferior status is what God intends for them.
It would be misleading, though, to suggest that one type of sin correlates exclusively with men and the other with women. (This would then become just another "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" notion.) The point is that there are two ways in which we can sin and therefore two ways in which we can be tempted: by trying to be more than creatures of God or by acquiescing in a status less than that of the kind of creatures God calls us to be.
The temptation of Christ of course differs from any temptation that we experience in several ways, not least because he is not only fully human but also fully divine. How it is possible for one who truly is (in the tempter's phrase) "the Son of God" to be tempted is something that we really can't understand. The possibility that there could be any difference in will between the Father and the Son seems to threaten the very nature of God. But in a way that must remain a mystery to us, that may be a risk that God somehow takes: The Letter to the Hebrews (4:15) speaks of Christ as one "who in every respect has been tested [tempted] as we are, yet without sin," and without any possibility of yielding to temptation, there is no real temptation.
Philippians 2:5-11, which will be the Second Lesson for Passion Sunday, sets out the contrast between Eve and Adam on the one hand and Christ on the other. The former, who were creatures, fell for the idea that they could be God. The one who "was in the form of God," on the other hand, "did not regard equality with God" -- which he had by right -- "as something to be grasped." And yet this emptying of self was not from any sense of unworthiness or inferiority but for the good of creation. That is the reason why Paul quotes the Christ hymn in Philippians as an example for us: "Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4).
Carlos Wilton responds: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 "Bet you can't eat just one." For years, the manufacturers of a certain brand of potato chip used that slogan to hawk their wares. Surely just one couldn't hurt ... or could it? The tough thing about temptation is that it always sounds so reasonable. Eve finds that to be true in the Garden, and Jesus feels the pull of the devil's elegant reasoning as they contend in the wilderness. Sin is sneaky!
In a psychologically true-to-life way, we hear in Genesis 3:6 how the woman rationalizes her decision to sample the forbidden fruit. She does so by listing the good things that can come of her act of disobedience. The tree is "good for food." It is "a delight to the eyes." And it is "to be desired to make one wise." In other words, Eve seeks from the tree utility, beauty, and wisdom. These are good things, but they lead her into sin. Isn't that always the way, though? It's always the good things, it seems, that lead us into sin.
These three rationalizations could provide the outline for a three-part sermon. When something tempts us, we frequently give into that temptation because there's something about it that seems useful. Utilitarianism is a powerful philosophy, but it's also one that can be ethically blind. The Nazi horror, for example, could be described as a particularly rigorous application of John Stuart Mill's dictum, "the greatest good for the greatest possible number." One can justify all sorts of atrocities against a minority if one sees those actions as leading to a greater quality of life for the majority.
The woman is also tempted by the tree's beauty. Our aesthetic sense is a wonderful gift, but it's a poor guide for ethical decision-making. Very soon we will be treated (or subjected, depending on one's point of view) to yet another televised Academy Awards ceremony. All the "beautiful people" of Hollywood will revel in their few seconds of fame, as they walk out of their limousines and down the red carpet, camera strobes flashing all the while. Cloying television commentators will focus on every aspect of the gowns, the make-up, the coiffures. Beauty will be celebrated ad nauseam -- or at least, a certain understanding of beauty. Many of these "beautiful people," with their marital infidelities and conspicuous substance abuse, are in fact anything but beautiful, when it comes to inner life.
Finally, Eve is led astray by a judgment that the fruit of the tree will make her wise. It's certainly true that there's a sort of wisdom that comes from bad decisions. The grizzled veterans of certain twelve-step groups come to mind in this regard. Yet this sort of wisdom is particularly hard-won, its cost so high that one could legitimately wonder whether it's worth it. That sort of wisdom may be a by-product of sin, but it by no means ought to be a goal for life. Far better to try to live righteously, by God's law.
Did you ever notice that the serpent never lies to Eve? No, every word out of his mouth is the truth. Yet always the serpent fails to tell the whole truth. He slices off a carefully selected segment, one that is calculated to impugn God's motives.
The same is true of our inner voices of temptation. Seldom are we tempted by the bad things of this world. We're drawn on by the little bits of good that are imbedded in the bad, flecks of gold at the bottom of a streambed. No one sets out to commit adultery; they're just "looking for someone who really loves them." Nobody sets out to cheat another person; they just "need the money, that's all." No one sets out to abuse a child; they're just "enforcing a little discipline."
Beware of doing the wrong thing, for all the right reasons.
Related Illustrations
From Carlos Wilton
It is no sin to feel tempted. Sometimes, though, we behave as though it is. We commend ourselves and feel virtuous when we aren't tempted. It feels good to say, "That doesn't tempt me a bit." Yet the person of greatest spiritual strength is not the one who never feels tempted, but the one who feels it all the time -- who struggles against temptation, and succeeds in resisting it. Martin Luther once said, "My temptations have been my masters in divinity." His temptations, in other words, were his greatest spiritual teachers. Shakespeare displays a similar insight as he writes, "It is one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall."
***
In the coal country of central Pennsylvania, an underground fire has been burning for over twenty years. No one knows how it started, but it was probably through some minor accident. Now, it is an ever-expanding, smoldering inferno, burning along whole seams of coal in tunnel after abandoned tunnel -- and there is no solution in sight. Whole towns have had to be evacuated, as smoke began to seep up into peoples' basements. And all this because of a simple fire that was ignored too long! Lead us not into temptation.
***
John Bunyan, author of the classic Pilgrim's Progress, says of temptations that "when we first meet them, [they] are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them."
***
"It's no sin to be tempted. It isn't the fact of having temptations that should cause us shame, but what we do with them. Temptation is an opportunity to conquer. When we eventually reach the goal to which we are all striving, God will look us over -- not for diplomas, but for scars."
-- Peter Marshall, quoted by Catherine Marshall, A Man Called Peter (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951), p. 51
***
One of the gifts of the Inuit people of the arctic to the human race is the distinctively designed boat known as the kayak. Anyone who's ever tried to paddle a kayak knows how easy those boats are to tip. The marvelous advantage of kayaks, though, is that as easy as they are to tip, they're just as easy to right. An expert kayaker can tip completely over, hang for a moment head downward in the water -- and then, with a quick twist of the paddle, flip back upright again. That's not a bad image for Lent, as we face temptations of various kinds. Whatever spiritual disciplines we adopt, these forty days are a time of shedding baggage, of getting back to the basics of the spiritual life. Eventually, we're bound to fail at fulfilling those disciplines: it's a virtual certainty, the human heart being what it is.
If we capsize, though, it's no big deal. One of the lessons of Lent is that, as long as we're trusting God and traveling light, it only takes a quick twist of the paddle to right us. So, don't worry overmuch if your spiritual discipline fails. Just get yourself upright, and start over again.
Worship Resources
By George Reed
N.B. All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.
OPENING
Music
Hymns
"Maker, In Whom We Live." WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1747; MUSIC: George J. Elvey, 1868. Public domain. As found in UMH 88.
"Creating God, Your Fingers Trace." WORDS: Jeffery Rowthorn, 1874; MUSIC: attr. to Elkanah Kelsay Dare, 1799. Words (c) The Hymn Society of America. As found in UMH 109; Hymnal '82: 394, 395; TPH 134; TNCH 462; CH 335.
"If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee." WORDS: Georg Neumark, 1657; trans. Catherine Winkworth, 1863; MUSIC: Georg Neumark, 1657. Public domain. As found in UMH 142; Hymnal '82: 635; LBOW 453; TPH 282; TNCH 410; CH 565.
"I Want A Principle Within." WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1749; MUSIC: Louis Spohr, 1834; adapt. J. Stimpson. Public domain. As found in UMH 410.
"Make Me A Captive, Lord." WORDS: George Matheson, 1890; MUSIC: George J. Elvey, 1868. Public domain. As found in UMH 421.
TPH: 378
"O God Who Shaped Creation." WORDS: William W. Reid, Jr., 1987; MUSIC: Dale Wood, 1968, 1988. Words (c) The United Methodist Publishing House; music (c) 1969, 1988 Contemporary Worship 1: Hymns; harm. (c) 1988 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As found in UMH 443.
Songs
"Jesu, Jesu." WORDS: Tom Colvin; MUSIC: Ghana folk song; arr. Tom Colvin; harm. Charles H. Webb. Words and music (c) 1969 and harm. (c) 1989 Hope Publishing Co. As found in CCB 66.
"Seek Ye First." WORDS & MUSIC: Karen Lafferty. (c) 1972 Maranatha! Music. As found in CCB.
"Open Our Eyes, Lord." WORDS: St. 1 by Bob Cull; st. 2, anon.; MUSIC: Bob Cull. (c) 1976 Maranatha! Music. As found in CCB 77.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Come into the presence of the One who created us.
People: We come with joy to greet our Maker.
Leader: God has made us in the image of the divine.
People: We are in awe of what God has created in us.
Leader: God has filled us with the very breath of God.
People: We use that breath to praise our maker.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God who created us to be your presence in the midst of creation: Grant us the grace to allow your Spirit to flow in us, through us and out into your world as we choose your path in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
We come to praise you, O God, and to be renewed by your Spirit. There are many choices we need to make each day. There are many temptations to make choices that make us something other than you created us to be. We are your creatures, your children. Help us to live in the joy of that good news. Amen.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: Let us draw near with faith and confess the state of our lives to the One who created us, loves us, and redeems us eternally.
People: We confess, O God, that we make many choices that do not allow us to live as you created us. We chide under the thought that we are your creatures, your children, and we seek to make ourselves bigger than we are. Sometimes we do that by trying to make others seem smaller than they are. We choose poorly for ourselves and try to make choices for others instead of allowing them to respond to your presence in their lives.
Forgive us and by the power of your Holy Spirit call us back again to our rightful place by your side. Help us to live with joy and meaning as your presence for all creation. Amen.
Leader: God has created you. God loves you and seeks your salvation with the salvation of all creation. Know that you are forgiven and commissioned to live God's love for all.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
We are in awe of your grandeur and your grace. You are the creator of all that was, and is, and ever shall be. Yet in your loving kindness you have not forsaken us but given us of your own life and Spirit.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We confess to you, our God and Creator, that we do not live as you intended. We make poor choices for ourselves and try to force our choices on others. Afraid of what it means to be your spirit-filled children we try to be less than we are. Afraid that we are not good enough we try to usurp your place. Forgive us and renew us as your image and presence.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from you. You are the very foundation of all that is and you are the basis of our lives. It is in our relationship with you that we find meaning, joy and purpose.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We offer up to you the sorrows and cares of your creation. As you weep with those who weep may our spirits and love join you in reaching out and caring for this world and all who dwell there.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship
A Children's Sermon
What a temptation
Object: a candy bar and a piece of fruit
Based on Matthew 4:1-11
Good morning, boys and girls. Does anyone know what a temptation is? (let them answer) Here's a temptation. Imagine that you're finished eating dinner. But you haven't had dessert. Your parents offer you some fruit for dessert. Instead, you want a piece of candy. (hold up the candy and the fruit) You are tempted to have the candy, but you know that the fruit is better for you. The candy is a real temptation, isn't it? Have any of you ever had that temptation? (let them answer) This candy temptation reminds me of today's Bible story about Jesus. Jesus went into the wilderness. There he faced many temptations. He was able to make the right decision in each temptation. He was tempted to turn away from God and worship Satan but he did not do it.
We all face temptations just like Jesus. Some of them are very difficult temptations. Here are some temptations that each of you might face. Have you ever broken anything at home and you were tempted not to admit that you broke it? Have you ever wanted to interrupt someone from talking even though you knew you should wait until the person finished? Have you ever been tempted not to share your toys with a friend? Have you ever been tempted to watch television longer than you said that you would? These are all things that we are tempted with. Temptations will always be with us. When you are tempted to do something that you don't feel right about, think about Jesus. Think about doing what you think is the right thing. It may be difficult to do. It may be sharing a toy when you don't want to. It may be telling the truth when it is difficult. It may be helping pick up your toys when you would rather play.
Remember, Jesus was tempted by Satan to stop worshiping God. It was a difficult temptation. Our temptations are difficult, too. This week, and during Lent, think about things that tempt you. Try to remember Jesus' temptation. Try to make the correct decision.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Other team members will comment on striking facets of the First Reading and the Gospel for the day. As usual, we offer related illustrations, worship resources, and children's sermon.
Fully, Only Human
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
By Chris Ewing
Another drug shipment was stopped at the border this week -- a new performance-enhancing drug supposed to be undetectable in urine, a new way for athletes to transcend the limits of human performance, to break records, to be "as gods." There is scarcely any area of sports, from track and field to baseball that has not been rocked by drug scandals. Aspiring athletes often face a Hobson's choice between using banned and dangerous substances or resigning themselves to the probability of a career just out of the winner's circle, whose boundaries are increasingly defined by drug-inspired capabilities. In athletics, as in medical science and other fields, we are feeling for the boundaries of what is human, what is allowable -- what, if any, limits should be observed.
Refusing human limits is identified as the first, the "original" sin in today's reading from Genesis, and it remains a perennial human temptation. Even without going to the controversial fringes of human capability, establishing and respecting appropriate boundaries is a difficult issue. Business ethics, sexual ethics, and international relations all presuppose limits to allowable behavior. All assume freedom within a specific, limited sphere. Much news is made from either our disagreements about where those boundaries lie (abortion, homosexual unions, stem-cell research, cloning) or people's deliberate or inadvertent choice to transgress those agreed-upon boundaries (Enron, street crime, most scandals).
As perhaps the most characteristic sin of the male of the species, the overreaching of boundaries receives plenty of press time in the patriarchal documents of the Bible. From the fruit in the garden (where the woman also is presumptuous) to the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), Nebuchadnezzar's humbling journey through madness (Daniel 4) and more, keeping God on the throne and humans subservient is a recurring preoccupation of scripture. If there can be said to be one definitive expression of sin in the multi-faceted richness of Judeo-Christian tradition, it is the transgression of limits, the failure to keep one's human place. This might be an opportune moment to point out that our "place" is defined both in relation to God and to each other, and that there is as much in the Bible about justice and care for the vulnerable as there is about humility before God. Overstepping our bounds can take many forms, and the strong sheep butting the weak (Ezekiel 34) invites judgment as surely as someone eating forbidden fruit. A preacher exploring the nature of sin would want to look quite broadly throughout scripture in order not to sell the concept short.
Respecting our limits is an issue that surfaces again in our Gospel Lection, Jesus' temptation. He is urged to exercise his own superhuman capabilities, turning stone into bread. Then he is invited to pull rank on mere humanity, calling down legions of angels to save him from a suicidal stunt. And finally the tempter encourages him to lust after a breadth of temporal power that even Alexander would have envied. Whatever else may be said of the temptations, they are all enticements to live beyond the reach of ordinary human limits, and Jesus answers them as such. He first refutes the notion that such overreaching can satisfy ("One does not live by bread alone"); then he refuses to put God to the test; and finally he identifies the God of the covenant as the sole object of worship and service, of ultimate concern. Even though Jesus alone of all humans has a right to stand outside of human limits, he chooses to live as creature, not Creator: not grasping or exploiting his divinity, but becoming obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:6-7). In so doing, he returns, as it were, to the scene of the original crime, and reruns it according to divine intent, becoming the New Adam in whom a cosmic reordering takes place. "Just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all," notes Paul in today's epistle (Romans 5:18).
The refusal of limits, however, is not the only human sin. Implicit in the Genesis account of freedom within limits is the possibility of failing to access our freedom, of refusing to be fully human. Eve's infamous overstepping of boundaries notwithstanding, the sin of shortchanging our humanity is one most endemic to women: if there can be said to be a characteristic female sin, this is it. If women have been sinned against by societies that clip their wings and stunt their growth, many of us in these supposedly liberated times continue to be tempted by a less than fully realized humanity.
This sin is not the exclusive province of women. Tradition and religious dogma have often been made to stand in for thinking, for wrestling with life and engaging new ideas or realities. In social situations where education is unavailable and personal freedom circumscribed, such narrowness is more a case of being sinned against than sinning; but when contemporary North Americans refuse to grapple with the challenges of life, society, or science, it takes on a more sinister cast. In A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews' insightful novel about growing up in a rural Canadian Mennonite community, the narrator's mother, frustrated by local closed-mindedness, exclaims, "There are no adults in this town!" They insist, like children, on not thinking for themselves, on just doing what they're told.
This is not an issue belonging only to very conservative minority groups, however, or to people overseas who are struggling with modernization. Look at what is happening in school boards all across America, where a decision to duck the teaching of evolution demonstrates a notable lack of moral and intellectual courage. By contrast, consider the recent election in Iraq: in defiance of extremists who would have shackled them to a narrow worldview and limited possibilities, some 60 percent of citizens, at no small risk to themselves, stood up and claimed full adult control of their destiny. There is no more virtue in shirking one's humanity than in overstepping it.
Indeed, the scriptures and most thoughtful people since have recognized the need to leave innocence for maturity. Our gospel for today shows Jesus led to his temptation by the Spirit of God (Matthew 4:1); and in the portion of Romans immediately preceding today's lection, Paul points out the value of struggle and suffering in developing a mature character and reliable hope. John Milton in Paradise Lost, perhaps unwittingly following a stream of Jewish interpretation that sees Genesis 3 as a coming-of-age story, went so far as to speak of the "fortunate fall" by which we entered into our full humanity. A slavish, unthinking obedience to received commands or ideas is no virtue.
Eve in Genesis 3 is not portrayed as rashly or presumptuously gobbling what was not hers to take, but rather is shown making an assessment of risks and benefits. Having articulated God's command and heard the serpent's rebuttal, she "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise," and she came to her decision. This process is of the essence of human adulthood. If the choice made in this instance is condemned, nonetheless the wider appeal of the scriptures is often to do exactly what Eve did: to think, to weigh the evidence, to make a considered choice. In doing so, however, what is to be held in central consideration is the nature and call of God, and our covenant relationship with God and with each other. It is in so doing that Jesus in Matthew 4 made a better choice than Eve in Genesis 3, striking the balance of attempting to be neither less nor more than God made him, but fully, only human.
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: The gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is always one of the Synoptic accounts of the temptation of Christ. This year the lectionary parallels that with the story of the temptation and sin of the first humans in Genesis 3. That makes a certain amount of sense, but actually not as much as would coupling that story of the "Fall" with the Markan temptation next year. There Jesus seems to be put back in the situation of Adam ("He was with the wild beasts") to succeed where Adam failed. In Matthew, on the other hand, Jesus seems called to recapitulate the testing of Israel, God's "firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22).
Still, it is the same fundamental temptation and test: Will he put God and God's will first? Or will he fail to trust in God? Other possible courses of action seem more promising than taking God on faith, and therefore provide occasions for temptation. "God ... tempts no one" (James 1:13), but God may use the temptations that come to us in the world as tests. (The Greek peirazo can have both senses.)
The idea of a God who "tests" us may seem rather naive and anthropomorphic: Doesn't God already know what we're capable of? Yes -- but do we? Often teachers give tests to students to enable the students themselves to know how well they understand material or can apply it.
But when we look at things under their aspect of "temptations" they are understood to be temptations to sin. Thus with the texts for this Sunday we really need to wrestle with the question of what we mean by sin. And the first thing to realize is that sin has to do with our relationship with God. That's obvious from both of our texts. Eve and Adam are tempted not to trust God and to disobey God. Any sin against others (Adam blaming Eve, e.g.) is a consequence of that sin. Similarly, Jesus is not directly tempted to injure another human being. Instead, the tempter suggests that he depend on something other than God, that he put God to the test, and worship something other than God. This prioritizing of sin is, of course, confirmed by the Law given to Israel: It's no accident that the First Commandment comes before the other nine!
At this point, Jews and Christians have often jumped to the conclusion that the basic sin is wanting to take the place of God: The promise of the serpent, "You will be like God," may suggest that. Ezekiel's blazing third oracle against Tyre (Ezekiel 28:1-11) is the most powerful condemnation of the boast "I am a god" (verses 2 and 9), and in the Christian tradition pride has been thought of as the chief of the seven deadly sins and the root of the others.
But this is only half of the story. Some years ago Valerie Saiving, in an essay titled "The Human Situation: A Feminine View," pointed out that the type of sin to which women are tempted may be just the opposite. (This essay can be found in Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow, eds., Womanspirit Rising [Harper & Row, 1979], pp. 25-42.)
The typical masculine sin may indeed by trying to be more than we are supposed to be, attempting to usurp the role of the creator instead of accepting the status of creatures. But it is also possible to fail to trust in God and do God's will by refusing to be as much as we are called to be. God's purpose for humanity -- "male and female" -- is set out in Genesis 1: To be God's representatives in caring for creation. It is a tremendous calling, and thinking ourselves unworthy of it is to fall short of God's purpose for us as is the idea that we are to take the place of God.
Saiving's point was that women are more inclined to the "falling short" type of sin than the "more than" type. That's a tendency that can be encouraged by patriarchal cultures that want to keep women in subjugation and thereby suggest that an inferior status is what God intends for them.
It would be misleading, though, to suggest that one type of sin correlates exclusively with men and the other with women. (This would then become just another "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" notion.) The point is that there are two ways in which we can sin and therefore two ways in which we can be tempted: by trying to be more than creatures of God or by acquiescing in a status less than that of the kind of creatures God calls us to be.
The temptation of Christ of course differs from any temptation that we experience in several ways, not least because he is not only fully human but also fully divine. How it is possible for one who truly is (in the tempter's phrase) "the Son of God" to be tempted is something that we really can't understand. The possibility that there could be any difference in will between the Father and the Son seems to threaten the very nature of God. But in a way that must remain a mystery to us, that may be a risk that God somehow takes: The Letter to the Hebrews (4:15) speaks of Christ as one "who in every respect has been tested [tempted] as we are, yet without sin," and without any possibility of yielding to temptation, there is no real temptation.
Philippians 2:5-11, which will be the Second Lesson for Passion Sunday, sets out the contrast between Eve and Adam on the one hand and Christ on the other. The former, who were creatures, fell for the idea that they could be God. The one who "was in the form of God," on the other hand, "did not regard equality with God" -- which he had by right -- "as something to be grasped." And yet this emptying of self was not from any sense of unworthiness or inferiority but for the good of creation. That is the reason why Paul quotes the Christ hymn in Philippians as an example for us: "Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4).
Carlos Wilton responds: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 "Bet you can't eat just one." For years, the manufacturers of a certain brand of potato chip used that slogan to hawk their wares. Surely just one couldn't hurt ... or could it? The tough thing about temptation is that it always sounds so reasonable. Eve finds that to be true in the Garden, and Jesus feels the pull of the devil's elegant reasoning as they contend in the wilderness. Sin is sneaky!
In a psychologically true-to-life way, we hear in Genesis 3:6 how the woman rationalizes her decision to sample the forbidden fruit. She does so by listing the good things that can come of her act of disobedience. The tree is "good for food." It is "a delight to the eyes." And it is "to be desired to make one wise." In other words, Eve seeks from the tree utility, beauty, and wisdom. These are good things, but they lead her into sin. Isn't that always the way, though? It's always the good things, it seems, that lead us into sin.
These three rationalizations could provide the outline for a three-part sermon. When something tempts us, we frequently give into that temptation because there's something about it that seems useful. Utilitarianism is a powerful philosophy, but it's also one that can be ethically blind. The Nazi horror, for example, could be described as a particularly rigorous application of John Stuart Mill's dictum, "the greatest good for the greatest possible number." One can justify all sorts of atrocities against a minority if one sees those actions as leading to a greater quality of life for the majority.
The woman is also tempted by the tree's beauty. Our aesthetic sense is a wonderful gift, but it's a poor guide for ethical decision-making. Very soon we will be treated (or subjected, depending on one's point of view) to yet another televised Academy Awards ceremony. All the "beautiful people" of Hollywood will revel in their few seconds of fame, as they walk out of their limousines and down the red carpet, camera strobes flashing all the while. Cloying television commentators will focus on every aspect of the gowns, the make-up, the coiffures. Beauty will be celebrated ad nauseam -- or at least, a certain understanding of beauty. Many of these "beautiful people," with their marital infidelities and conspicuous substance abuse, are in fact anything but beautiful, when it comes to inner life.
Finally, Eve is led astray by a judgment that the fruit of the tree will make her wise. It's certainly true that there's a sort of wisdom that comes from bad decisions. The grizzled veterans of certain twelve-step groups come to mind in this regard. Yet this sort of wisdom is particularly hard-won, its cost so high that one could legitimately wonder whether it's worth it. That sort of wisdom may be a by-product of sin, but it by no means ought to be a goal for life. Far better to try to live righteously, by God's law.
Did you ever notice that the serpent never lies to Eve? No, every word out of his mouth is the truth. Yet always the serpent fails to tell the whole truth. He slices off a carefully selected segment, one that is calculated to impugn God's motives.
The same is true of our inner voices of temptation. Seldom are we tempted by the bad things of this world. We're drawn on by the little bits of good that are imbedded in the bad, flecks of gold at the bottom of a streambed. No one sets out to commit adultery; they're just "looking for someone who really loves them." Nobody sets out to cheat another person; they just "need the money, that's all." No one sets out to abuse a child; they're just "enforcing a little discipline."
Beware of doing the wrong thing, for all the right reasons.
Related Illustrations
From Carlos Wilton
It is no sin to feel tempted. Sometimes, though, we behave as though it is. We commend ourselves and feel virtuous when we aren't tempted. It feels good to say, "That doesn't tempt me a bit." Yet the person of greatest spiritual strength is not the one who never feels tempted, but the one who feels it all the time -- who struggles against temptation, and succeeds in resisting it. Martin Luther once said, "My temptations have been my masters in divinity." His temptations, in other words, were his greatest spiritual teachers. Shakespeare displays a similar insight as he writes, "It is one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall."
***
In the coal country of central Pennsylvania, an underground fire has been burning for over twenty years. No one knows how it started, but it was probably through some minor accident. Now, it is an ever-expanding, smoldering inferno, burning along whole seams of coal in tunnel after abandoned tunnel -- and there is no solution in sight. Whole towns have had to be evacuated, as smoke began to seep up into peoples' basements. And all this because of a simple fire that was ignored too long! Lead us not into temptation.
***
John Bunyan, author of the classic Pilgrim's Progress, says of temptations that "when we first meet them, [they] are as the lion that roared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them."
***
"It's no sin to be tempted. It isn't the fact of having temptations that should cause us shame, but what we do with them. Temptation is an opportunity to conquer. When we eventually reach the goal to which we are all striving, God will look us over -- not for diplomas, but for scars."
-- Peter Marshall, quoted by Catherine Marshall, A Man Called Peter (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951), p. 51
***
One of the gifts of the Inuit people of the arctic to the human race is the distinctively designed boat known as the kayak. Anyone who's ever tried to paddle a kayak knows how easy those boats are to tip. The marvelous advantage of kayaks, though, is that as easy as they are to tip, they're just as easy to right. An expert kayaker can tip completely over, hang for a moment head downward in the water -- and then, with a quick twist of the paddle, flip back upright again. That's not a bad image for Lent, as we face temptations of various kinds. Whatever spiritual disciplines we adopt, these forty days are a time of shedding baggage, of getting back to the basics of the spiritual life. Eventually, we're bound to fail at fulfilling those disciplines: it's a virtual certainty, the human heart being what it is.
If we capsize, though, it's no big deal. One of the lessons of Lent is that, as long as we're trusting God and traveling light, it only takes a quick twist of the paddle to right us. So, don't worry overmuch if your spiritual discipline fails. Just get yourself upright, and start over again.
Worship Resources
By George Reed
N.B. All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.
OPENING
Music
Hymns
"Maker, In Whom We Live." WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1747; MUSIC: George J. Elvey, 1868. Public domain. As found in UMH 88.
"Creating God, Your Fingers Trace." WORDS: Jeffery Rowthorn, 1874; MUSIC: attr. to Elkanah Kelsay Dare, 1799. Words (c) The Hymn Society of America. As found in UMH 109; Hymnal '82: 394, 395; TPH 134; TNCH 462; CH 335.
"If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee." WORDS: Georg Neumark, 1657; trans. Catherine Winkworth, 1863; MUSIC: Georg Neumark, 1657. Public domain. As found in UMH 142; Hymnal '82: 635; LBOW 453; TPH 282; TNCH 410; CH 565.
"I Want A Principle Within." WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1749; MUSIC: Louis Spohr, 1834; adapt. J. Stimpson. Public domain. As found in UMH 410.
"Make Me A Captive, Lord." WORDS: George Matheson, 1890; MUSIC: George J. Elvey, 1868. Public domain. As found in UMH 421.
TPH: 378
"O God Who Shaped Creation." WORDS: William W. Reid, Jr., 1987; MUSIC: Dale Wood, 1968, 1988. Words (c) The United Methodist Publishing House; music (c) 1969, 1988 Contemporary Worship 1: Hymns; harm. (c) 1988 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. As found in UMH 443.
Songs
"Jesu, Jesu." WORDS: Tom Colvin; MUSIC: Ghana folk song; arr. Tom Colvin; harm. Charles H. Webb. Words and music (c) 1969 and harm. (c) 1989 Hope Publishing Co. As found in CCB 66.
"Seek Ye First." WORDS & MUSIC: Karen Lafferty. (c) 1972 Maranatha! Music. As found in CCB.
"Open Our Eyes, Lord." WORDS: St. 1 by Bob Cull; st. 2, anon.; MUSIC: Bob Cull. (c) 1976 Maranatha! Music. As found in CCB 77.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Come into the presence of the One who created us.
People: We come with joy to greet our Maker.
Leader: God has made us in the image of the divine.
People: We are in awe of what God has created in us.
Leader: God has filled us with the very breath of God.
People: We use that breath to praise our maker.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God who created us to be your presence in the midst of creation: Grant us the grace to allow your Spirit to flow in us, through us and out into your world as we choose your path in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
We come to praise you, O God, and to be renewed by your Spirit. There are many choices we need to make each day. There are many temptations to make choices that make us something other than you created us to be. We are your creatures, your children. Help us to live in the joy of that good news. Amen.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: Let us draw near with faith and confess the state of our lives to the One who created us, loves us, and redeems us eternally.
People: We confess, O God, that we make many choices that do not allow us to live as you created us. We chide under the thought that we are your creatures, your children, and we seek to make ourselves bigger than we are. Sometimes we do that by trying to make others seem smaller than they are. We choose poorly for ourselves and try to make choices for others instead of allowing them to respond to your presence in their lives.
Forgive us and by the power of your Holy Spirit call us back again to our rightful place by your side. Help us to live with joy and meaning as your presence for all creation. Amen.
Leader: God has created you. God loves you and seeks your salvation with the salvation of all creation. Know that you are forgiven and commissioned to live God's love for all.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
We are in awe of your grandeur and your grace. You are the creator of all that was, and is, and ever shall be. Yet in your loving kindness you have not forsaken us but given us of your own life and Spirit.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We confess to you, our God and Creator, that we do not live as you intended. We make poor choices for ourselves and try to force our choices on others. Afraid of what it means to be your spirit-filled children we try to be less than we are. Afraid that we are not good enough we try to usurp your place. Forgive us and renew us as your image and presence.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from you. You are the very foundation of all that is and you are the basis of our lives. It is in our relationship with you that we find meaning, joy and purpose.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We offer up to you the sorrows and cares of your creation. As you weep with those who weep may our spirits and love join you in reaching out and caring for this world and all who dwell there.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship
A Children's Sermon
What a temptation
Object: a candy bar and a piece of fruit
Based on Matthew 4:1-11
Good morning, boys and girls. Does anyone know what a temptation is? (let them answer) Here's a temptation. Imagine that you're finished eating dinner. But you haven't had dessert. Your parents offer you some fruit for dessert. Instead, you want a piece of candy. (hold up the candy and the fruit) You are tempted to have the candy, but you know that the fruit is better for you. The candy is a real temptation, isn't it? Have any of you ever had that temptation? (let them answer) This candy temptation reminds me of today's Bible story about Jesus. Jesus went into the wilderness. There he faced many temptations. He was able to make the right decision in each temptation. He was tempted to turn away from God and worship Satan but he did not do it.
We all face temptations just like Jesus. Some of them are very difficult temptations. Here are some temptations that each of you might face. Have you ever broken anything at home and you were tempted not to admit that you broke it? Have you ever wanted to interrupt someone from talking even though you knew you should wait until the person finished? Have you ever been tempted not to share your toys with a friend? Have you ever been tempted to watch television longer than you said that you would? These are all things that we are tempted with. Temptations will always be with us. When you are tempted to do something that you don't feel right about, think about Jesus. Think about doing what you think is the right thing. It may be difficult to do. It may be sharing a toy when you don't want to. It may be telling the truth when it is difficult. It may be helping pick up your toys when you would rather play.
Remember, Jesus was tempted by Satan to stop worshiping God. It was a difficult temptation. Our temptations are difficult, too. This week, and during Lent, think about things that tempt you. Try to remember Jesus' temptation. Try to make the correct decision.
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