Meditation for the First Sunday in Lent

The Collect

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Lessons

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11

The Meditation

There is a TV show popular among young adults called Catfish.  The show documents the first meeting of a couple who have communicated online for an extended period without any video or in-person meetings.  In almost every case, a deception has taken place. The photos provided are of another person. One person has pretended to be someone else altogether. The information shared about job, or family, or education is not true. The details are different, but the narrative is basically the same: One person assumed they were not 'good enough' or 'likable' as they were, and so created a new reality where they could live as someone they were not.  And just as often, the response from the deceived party is: Why didn't you trust me to like the real you?

Up on the pinnacle with Satan, Jesus claims victory not so much because of some teflon-like resistance to temptation, but because he continues to do the will of his Father. Not even twisted pieces of scripture dangled as bait can pull Jesus from what he knows to be true, and real.

Jesus sees through the deception and knows that Satan is trying to turn what should be gifts from God into obstacles to turn him away from God. Jesus did not need to turn stones to bread--Jesus becomes bread. Jesus does not fear being thrown down from the temple spire--Jesus becomes the temple. Jesus does not desire to be given kingdoms--Jesus came to serve. (1) 

During Lent, we endeavor to pull off all those masks we use to try to cover up our weaknesses. We peel off the layers of untruth, of fear, of sin. Scripture tells us that somewhere behind all of that is the very image of God. "We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table," we mutter in the words of the old Prayer of Humble Access. And there, waiting for us, is Jesus' saving work, reminding us of the rest of the prayer: "But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy."

(1) This paragraph is a paraphrase of Chapter 5, Section V, "Excursus on the Devil", from James Alison's The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin Through Easter Eyes (New York: Crossroads, 1998), p. 158.

JMW Turner, The Temptation on the Mountain, 1834 Vignette sketch for Milton's 'Poetical Works' Graphite and watercolour on paper

 

With that (such power was given him then), he took
The Son of God up to a mountain high.
It was a mountain at whose verdant feet
A spacious plain outstretched in circuit wide
Lay pleasant; from his side two rivers flowed,
The one winding, the other straight, and left between
Fair champaign, with less rivers interveined,
Then meeting joined their tribute to the sea.
Fertil of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine;
With herds the pasture thronged, with flocks the hills;
Huge cities and high-towered, that well might seem
The seats of mightiest monarchs; and so large
The prospect was that here and there was room
For barren desert, fountainless and dry. 

Solemn Prayer (may replace the Trinitarian Blessing in Lent)