"The Inward Journey...UNCOVERING "
- Rev. Bob Thomas
Senior Pastor

the Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 4: 1 - 11

I’d like to take you back a little…to the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. …before the miracles of healing and straight talking parables.  Jesus went to the Jordan River and was baptized by his cousin, John.  And the Bible records of that event are clear, something very unusual happened…the very heavens were opened and the voice of God was heard calling Jesus the Beloved son of God…there was a dove and the Holy Spirit.  Then Jesus still damp from the waters of the Jordan is driven by the spirit into the wilderness for 40 days and nights where he is tempted by the devil….and comes out victorious.   Adam and Eve don’t fare so well.  The creation story in the book of Genesis story God has created for six days and rests on the seventh and overwhelmingly the consensus was that everything God created was good. And then enters the snake and Adam and Eve betray the creator’s perfect plan by their disobedience. 

You see we all were intended to be in fellowship with God.  We destroyed that relationship by our sin.  But God did not abandon us even when we turn our backs on God…God sent his son Jesus into the world because God “so loved the world.”  And it’s that Jesus who the crowds stood in line to see that day when the four friends took their paralyzed friend to the roof top and Jesus healed him and announced that his sins were forgiven…healing, forgiving sins…Jesus comes to uncover the truth in remarkable ways.  

            This is Lent.  These 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter are among the most counter-cultural and subversive in the church year.  Think about it:  the church’s message is not easy—Confession of sin, focus on death, honesty about temptation—We live in a techno age in which our phones can do what our laptops did only a couple of years ago…our TV shows have taking gaming from flashing light quiz programs to glitzy dance studios, exotic wilderness locations, and state of the art weight-loss gyms—getting ahead, making the most money, beating our enemies, overcoming all obstacles by perseverance and the right gadgets…feeling good at all costs.   That’s what our culture emphasizes.  The church has a different message.  Lent moves us in an altogether different direction…Lent is the time for an inward journey…and we start today with a special Uncovering.

            It’s pretty easy to read the ancient story of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace and simply lay the burden of guilt for the fallen human condition on their shoulders.  If Adam and Eve had not caved in to the temptation of the Satan-serpent…Well… 

            It’s also pretty easy to read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ being tempted in the wilderness and diminish his triumph by reasoning: “After all, Jesus was God, and the tempter is no match for the “Source of all strength and goodness.”  But Lent is not about explaining away the struggle against evil that Jesus willingly accepted as his own for your sake and mine.  Lent is about rediscovering God and uncovering ourselves before God by setting aside all those excuses we’ve been hiding behind. 

            In today’s lesson from Genesis, Adam and Eve are busy fashioning makeshift garments with which to cover them selves because their “eyes were opened” and they discovered themselves “naked” before God and each other.  In the verses that follow today’s reading their predicament is clearly laid out.  God comes to the garden in search of them.  God, who called creation into being and then called humankind to be its stewards, calls out: “Where are you?”  The sinner’s answer indicts them: “I heard…I was afraid…I was naked…I hid—I ate…I ate too!”   Adam and Eve’s former attentiveness to God’s call and to God’s directives have been abandoned.  Now the preoccupation is “I.”  Now the central focus of life is not God but “me.”  The shift of Adam and Eve’s center from God to self thrusts them in to adult consciousness; they recognized their sinfulness and feared the otherness of the divine.  Trying to protect themselves from the reality of these truths, they hid behind fig leaves.  The experience of Adam and Eve has become the experience of each of us as well.  We are Adam; we are Eve; we have sinned and are responsible for our behaviors and our attitudes.  Lent offers us a choice…we can continue to hide and cover up our sins and sinfulness or we can take the first steps on the Inward Journey by uncovering and honestly and boldly confront those sins and behaviors that temp us most and separate us from a true and satisfying relationship with God…God who created us, and loves us, and calls us by name.  These 40 days of introspection, meditation and prayer allow us to consider the realities of the naked truth about who we are before God and all the things that separate us from God.

            So, what fig leaves are you hiding behind in your life, what am I hiding behind?  What are those things that we must change or surrender in order to be clothed again with the white garment of renewed baptismal grace at Easter?  Perhaps it is an inordinate pride that keeps us hiding from God or a fundamental unwillingness to throw ourselves into the waiting arms of God’s mercy and begin depending on God in all things.  Perhaps is a failure to set aside time for authentic prayer and conversation with God.  Maybe it’s a failure to think before we speak or to just leave unsaid those words that hurt more than help…words that can sting like a sharp slap across the mouth.  And there are those secret desires and passions that tempt us to violate the covenants and vows that we have made.  There are so many things that tempt us and cause us to want to remain hidden and covered from the truth…like: “the words of love we couldn’t bring ourselves to say, the friendships left to whither because of neglect…our personal, primary relationships unattended, children neglected as we pursued the better life, (for them of course), the moral lapses, the little lies, the face-saving untruths, the off-color or ethnic jokes to let everyone know how regular a gal or guy we are…Temptation to sin is real and powerful. 

            In our Lesson from Matthew, Jesus is tempted by Satan himself in the wilderness where Jesus had been praying and fasting for 40 days and nights as a preparation for his life in ministry.  The tempter offers Jesus three possibilities—“turn stones into bread, take political power, perform spectacular spiritual feats.  And these are all good and worthy ends sought by most of us.  Isn’t it a good thing to feed hungry people?  Isn’t it a worthy vocation to attempt to do good for others through political action?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to perform miracles so great that every skeptic or agnostic would come to faith?

             Yet Jesus sees through to the tempter’s motives and rejects all of these otherwise good offers. Jesus says, “NO.”  As we examine this text we learn a little something of the stuff of which Jesus is made…we see what kind of person Jesus really is.  At his baptism, he was called “beloved Son;” and with each assault by the tempter, we are given a fuller picture of Jesus character, what his “Son-ship” really means, his sense of calling and what his vocation will actually entail.  Will Jesus use his power to satisfy his own needs or will he rely on the presence and support of divine grace?  Will Jesus dare to trust that God’s word has actual power in these current times?  Does Jesus give in to his inner need to prove to himself and to the tempter that God does care for him, or is he willing simply to rely quietly on his relationship with God?  How intent is Jesus upon fulfilling his vocation?  Will Jesus compromise a bit to enjoy the headiness of unlimited power and the rush of controlling one’s own destiny, or will Jesus bend his will to the Father’s will?

             As the saga of Jesus’ life unfolds, all these questions are answered, and Jesus is shown to be of pristine character, true to his calling and full of trusting confidence in God.  And in this, Jesus remains our most trusted guide and best teacher as each of us tries daily to hone our character and live our out baptism in humble service as a response to God’s extreme love. 

             We get tempted every day…not only by those sinful behaviors that make us fall but also through our gifts left unrestrained.  The person gifted with charm will be tempted to use that charm to get away with murder…and some do.  People with the power to use words may be tempted to use that power to advance their own agendas or to confuse and manipulate the truth. 

            When you think about it, the only way we know of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness is that he willingly shared his inward journey with his followers and the record has been preserved for us.  Jesus lay bear his inmost heart and uncovered his struggle to help us understand the personal cost of his obedience to the Father’s plan.  Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness is a most sacred story in which Jesus draws back the veil and uncovers his own struggle so that we may be strengthened in our own struggles with temptation.  Jesus did not, nor should we hide behind the fig leaves.  Rather we must stand, uncovered before God and ourselves. 

            I invite you to use these days of Lent to make the Inward Journey…Examine your heart and soul.  Today the Word of the Lord calls us to confront our own temptations and seek grace from the hand of God and follow Jesus lead and tell the tempter to go away…” We will worship God and serve him only.”  The miracle worker Jesus not only was able to heal physical ailments…but he also has the power to forgive sins…Jesus invites each of us to start the inward Journey and trust his Grace in the miracle of uncovering and spiritual growth. 

Let us pray: Almighty God, who’s Son our Lord was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, there to be tempted by Satan, we pray for your grace to resist the temptations that come our way.  We pray for the honesty to truthfully confront our sin and falsehood and, having told the truth about ourselves, be embraced by your LOVE.  In our weakness, you come to us in strength.  Be with us on our Inward Journey during these days of Lent.  Help us to learn to trust you enough to uncover our inner thoughts and fears to you so we can receive the grace of forgiveness and the strength of new life. 
We pray in the strong name of Jesus.  Amen and Amen!