This is the first Sunday of Lent. The traditional text for the day is the temptation in the wilderness, a story of Jesus’ withdraw to the desert for forty days of fasting and prayer at the outset of his ministry. There, Jesus encounters Satan (in the ancient world it was widely believed that demons lived in the desert), who tempts him three times.
On March 8, 2020, I preached on this text at The Riverside Church in New York City. Donald Trump was still president. New York had just declared a pandemic emergency. It was the final Sunday of public in-person preaching in most mainline churches for the next eighteen months. It was also the last public speaking engagement I had until September 2021.
Today’s musing is a video of that sermon — “The Real Temptation” — from Riverside’s YouTube channel (posted below the photograph). In it, the story is explored in its Jewish context and brought to some surprising and emotional conclusions about the nature of our contemporary wilderness. In some ways, it foreshadows the work we’re doing on empty altars this Lent.
Please listen. If you prefer reading to listening, YouTube has visual assist in the form of closed captioning available in the settings — so you can read along with the video presentation. Two poems and a Henri Nouwen quote complete today’s offering.
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
“The Real Temptation,” a sermon from the beginning of Lent 2020. It runs about 25 minutes. You’ll notice the scattered attendance in Riverside’s huge sanctuary — many people had already withdrawn into a pandemic “wilderness” of their own homes. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear — and a bit of low-key panic — in New York that weekend. None of us knew what was coming.
We had quite a journey ahead of us.
Just double click on the picture to watch. The video takes a couple of seconds to pop up.
I’d love to know what you think — about the three temptations and the “real temptation” at the end of the sermon.
What surprised you in this sermon? Did you learn something you didn’t know? Do you remember where you were on March 8, 2020? How has your spiritual life changed since that Lenten Sunday? Are we coming out the wilderness now?
INSPIRATION
I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
where I left them, asleep like cattle.
Then what is afraid of me comes
and lives a while in my sight.
What it fears in me leaves me,
and the fear of me leaves it.
It sings, and I hear its song.
Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
and the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.
After days of labor,
mute in my consternations,
I hear my song at last,
and I sing it. As we sing,
the day turns, the trees move.
— Wendell Berry
Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody."
. . . I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.
― Henri J.M. Nouwen
Creature comforts
And why not?
All you have to do is
Give up a few rocks
These sun-baked stones
That burn your hands and cut your feet
Could soon become a desert treat!
Stop being so hard on yourself!
Fame
All yours for the taking
All you have to do is
Leave this lonely wilderness
Head right to the center of the noisy crowd
Drop in your branding clear and loud
Start showing what you've got!
Power
Not as easy, but well within your reach
All you have to do is
Want it more than anything
Make it your top priority
Your one and only deity
Instead of your strange, silly God
Of Suffering
Solitude
And Silence
— Brother Eckhart (Chip Camden), “Temptations”
This Lent, The Cottage explores the EMPTY ALTARS of our days.
We are living in a time of iconoclasm. We've stripped the altars of both state and church. America's spiritual landscape is now marked by empty altars everywhere.
What does it mean to live in such an age? And what comes next? Will we put up new icons? Who are saints and heroes who speak beyond our cynicism? Who can inspire us to move ahead with joy, hope, and courage? Can we reimagine the sacred spaces in which we live?
We’ll explore EMPTY ALTARS in TWO WAYS:
1. WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL REFLECTIONS and conversation threads for paid subscribers at The Cottage. “Empty Altars” is the theme of my next book project — so you’ll be getting a preview of what I’m working in the form of inspirational material for your Lenten journey.
If you aren’t already a paid subscriber and want to receive the Empty Altars devotional reflections, please upgrade here:
2. An EMPTY ALTARS online class with me and Tripp Fuller. The Cottage and Homebrewed Christianity are teaming up once again for a mind-blowing, heart-expanding class this Lent — and our focus this year is history, spirituality, and social change. The course will begin on Monday, February 27. THE CLASS REQUIRES A SEPARATE SIGN-UP HERE — and is offered for free. Voluntary donations are welcome.
Like the reference to Moses in Deuteronomy instead of the Genesis story.
Excellent sermon! As others have written, this could have been preached yesterday!
In March of 2020 I was spending my last days with my dad. He turned 87 in March and two weeks later was dead from COVID.
I have been a wary Christian most of my life (50 years in the Catholic Church, 11 in the Episcopal Church). I have done a lot of research to understand the origins of religion and have realized religion is the problem. Once the pandemic started I tried to stay connected, but it gave me time to really listen to the Wise Woman within me and my spiritual life now is lived outside the walls of church and quite frankly has grown, matured, and I am more spiritually fulfilled than ever before. Sadly, I do not think we are coming out of the wilderness now. The structures of religion have taken hold of the message of Jesus and until that changes, I do not believe we will be out of the wilderness.
Your insight/revelation that Jesus is the new Moses, not the new Adam is really intriguing and very helpful — and healthy! Religion has for years been so punitive (I don’t even know what to say about some forms of Christianity today). It has been so much about sin and punishment and humans are bad/bad/bad. If churches and religions had spent more time showing us our inherent goodness and sacredness we might be a healthier people. I’m including a post from Barb Morris about Lent and how to view it and live it in a more healthy way for anyone who is interested. Thanks for your good work, Diana!
https://www.barbmorris.com/a-letter-from-god-to-her-daughters-who-observe-lent-2/