Sermon 2/10/08
Lion King: Tempted - Matthew 4:1-11, Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Today, our selection from the Lion King is about someone who is seeking power. The lion Scar is trying to get power away from his brother, Mufasa. The lion Mufasa, if you’re not already familiar with the story, is a good strong leader, who cares for his family and the community he leads. Mufasa is certainly powerful – but his power is what it is because of how he uses it – to care for the good of the whole group. Scar, on the other hand, is seeking that same leadership role – not so he can lead others for their own good, but because Scar wants to be in charge, make all the decisions, and have all the good things for himself and a select few other. In this song, “Be Prepared,” Scar is singing about what he’s willing to do to get the power he thinks he deserves. Ultimately, Scar makes sure Mufasa dies and that Mufasa’s son and heir Simba is run out of town, so to speak. Scar has all the power.
What would you be willing to do to get power? I’ve been watching the primary campaigns for the presidency with great interest. What would you do to get power? Candidates in this increasingly interesting race have to balance many power questions. Is it more important for a candidate to win the nomination, or for the candidate to step down if it means his or her party will ultimately win the presidency? This week, for example, we saw Mitt Romney suspend his race so that ultimately a Republican candidate, probably John McCain, might win the presidency, while the extremely close race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has raised questions about dividing and weakening the power of the Democratic Party in the long run. What kind of power is important here? The power of an individual candidate? The power of a party of government? The power of the nation, or its people?
What are you willing to do to get power? We all have power, whether we want or not, believe we have it or not. I certainly have power as a pastor. I can determine how I use my power, but I can’t get rid of it all together. It’s a part of my job, my position, part of being a leader. I can tell you that I do struggle sometimes – I can’t say I love having power, but I do like being in control of my own situation. I was the kind of child who always hated group projects in school because I didn’t think my peers would do as good a job as I wanted them to, so I’d usually end up doing most of the work myself. In ministry, we call pastors who try to do everything themselves “lone-ranger” pastors. What is better for me and for you is when we share the work of the church, the ministry. But that can sometimes be a challenge for me. Like it or not, I have this power, and I have to figure out what I’ll do with it if I’m serious about being a disciple and making disciples.
What kind of power do you have? What did you do to get it? Our two scripture lessons today are about power, how much we want it, and what we’ll do to get it. First, we read a familiar story from Genesis. The man and woman, Adam and Eve, are in the Garden of Eden. God has given every thing in to their hands, except one tree, which God calls “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” For a while they listen to God. But eventually the serpent, “more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made,” convinces the woman to eat the fruit. He tells the woman that she won’t die if she eats the fruit, but instead, she’ll become like God, with eyes opened, knowing good and evil. She does eat the fruit, which she shares also with Adam, and indeed, they don’t die, and their eyes are opened. They have more power than they had before. But there are consequences to their having power, consequences for how they took their power. They’re banished from the garden, and never again, in the Bible, I think, do we see people enjoy such closeness to God their creator.
Our gospel lesson is about power too. Jesus has just been baptized by John, his cousin. This is in the beginning of the gospel of Matthew. Jesus has not yet taught and preached or called his disciples. It’s a retreat time, a preparation time for him. He takes this journey into the wilderness as a last time apart before a three year period of ministry that will bring him relentlessly closer to the cross, to his death. Jesus follows the Spirit of God to the wilderness, “to be tempted by the devil” we’re told. He fasts for 40 days and nights, and is weak and famished. With Jesus in this vulnerable state, we read that the tempter comes to him and says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Jesus responds with scripture: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” So the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, and tells him to throw himself down, quoting scriptures right back at Jesus: “if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, their hands will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus responds that the scripture says we’re not to put God to the test. Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a mountain peak, and offers Jesus all the kingdoms he can see if only Jesus will worship the devil.” But Jesus sends him away, saying, “it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only [God.]’” Finally, the devil departs, unsuccessful in his quest to lead Jesus off God’s path. The devil tempts Jesus with power. Jesus has power, of course. But what kind of power does Jesus have, and how does Jesus use it? That’s what’s at stake in this passage.
What kind of power do we have as people of faith, as disciples of Jesus Christ? What do we do to get our power? How will we use it? I think many of us probably dislike the word power – we resist thinking of ourselves as powerful. We don’t like to see ourselves that way – that’s not our image of ourselves. But we’re only deceiving ourselves and those around us if we think we don’t have any power. If we don’t think we have any power, most likely, we’re just not using the power we have or we’re pretending that what we’re doing isn’t using our power. Either way, I don’t think it’s what God intends for us. One of my favorite short readings is by author Marianne Williamson. She writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” We’re created in God’s image, born to “make manifest the glory of God that is within us.” That’s a powerful task we have in our hands. The question isn’t whether or not we have power, but what we’ll do with it.
I’ve always struggled with the story of Jesus’ temptation because what the devil offers Jesus doesn’t seem very tempting for Jesus. Jesus already has the power to do what the devil offers. We see Jesus multiply loaves and make water into wine. We see at the end of this passage that angels attend to him. We know that Jesus could be an earthly king if he chose – he talks about this in the gospels. What’s so tempting for him in this passage, since the devil doesn’t ask Jesus to do anything that it is outside of his power to do already?
I think they are tempting to Jesus because they are easy for him, and they would directly benefit Jesus, no one else, and they wouldn’t cost Jesus in the way that the path Jesus is on will cost him. What the devil offers is what Jesus already has and already can do, but in a short-cut way that corrupts and twists. What the devil asks Jesus to do is to forget who he is, what he is called to do, whose child he is, what his purpose is. Jesus knows what he’s come for – but the devil is trying to convince him that he can get essentially the same things in a supposedly easier way. And that, I think, is the true temptation, the temptation that shows Jesus to be one of us, the temptation that Jesus withstands and calls us to withstand too.
I think that the biggest temptations we face are not temptations that would lead us to lie, or steal, or eat too much, or abuse substances, or cheat – though of course these things can all be tough temptations. I think the biggest temptation is the temptation to forget – to forget who we are, and what “who we are” means. It is easy to think more of what benefits us than what will help others. It is easier to be comfortable than to be challenged. It is easier to just glide along in life without really making an attempt to follow Jesus and live as he lived. To be “basically nice people” instead of being disciples – I think this is the biggest temptation we face. We’re tempted to forget that we’re beloved children of God, created uniquely, and created with a purpose, to love and to serve God and one another.
In the end, what God has in store for Jesus and what the devil seems to offer to Jesus aren’t that different from one another, just as what Satan disguised as the serpent tells Eve and what God tells Eve are deceptively similar. The devil offers Jesus power and rule of kingdoms, but this is already what Jesus has as God’s child, even if it is not in the way that the devil imagines. The serpent offers to Adam and Eve knowledge and open eyes – this is what God gives them, even though what they see is much different than what the serpent led them to believe. So how are we to tell the difference? If both God and Satan are making the same promises to us – how can we tell whose voice is whose? I think of two stones: diamonds, and cubic zirconium. They look pretty similar, if you’re not looking carefully enough. But one stone is highly valuable, while another is thought of as a cheap imitation. That’s what we have to do with our temptations: remember that one path is worthwhile, and the other will only offer a cheap imitation of the life that we can have with God. Telling them apart – that’s probably easier than we think, even if we don’t like the answer. I’ve generally found in my own life, that God’s voice, God’s promises, God’s path – these things usually involve doing something that I don’t want to do, don’t feel prepared to do, don’t like doing, am afraid to do, am reluctant to do, something that is harder, requires me to give, to risk, to go against the flow, to work with people I don’t like – but ultimately fills my life in a way nothing else can. Following the alternative path – the imitation path - is usually easier – requires less thought. Has more immediate rewards. Let’s you shut others out. And ultimately, leaves that empty feeling in the pit of your stomach. That feeling that your life is missing something essential. That feeling that despite having money, or possessions, or security, or whatever else you bargained for – you’re still coming up short – still unsatisfied.
We might wish for a way to solve the world's problems, to actually turn stones into bread, to cure problems like hunger and disease. Instead, God calls us to work to feed our neighbor, clothe the naked, visit the sick: not by magic powers, but with our own two hands, our own time, our own resources. We might wish that we could control the nations of this world, so that everything could be done our way, even a good way. Instead, God call us to work for peace, to build relationships, to go through long and difficult dialogues across racial, ethnic, and global boundaries, to see our neighbors near and far. We might wish that God would give us a sign, proof of existence, proof of care for us, a map of our future blessings. Instead, God reminds us evidence of God's existence is all around us - it is our discipleship that needs to be tested more often than not!
Today, we are offered tempting promises and a huge amount of power. Both God and the forces of evil promise to give us more than we can imagine. Both will give us and expect us to use power. Both promise us a full, abundant life. But only one deal can live up to our expectations. Only one path can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart. Which path will you choose? What kind of power do you have, and how will you use it?
Jesus calls us to resist the temptation to underestimate ourselves, to think that we can't make change without taking the easy path offered by the devil. The forty days of Lent we take as a journey with Jesus in the wilderness. God has blessed us so greatly that when we journey with Jesus we can do amazing things. We can change the world. We can change lives. We can bring joy. We can end pain. We can share God. We can challenge the status quo. We can tear down walls of oppression. We can change ourselves. That's a lot of power that God has given into such faulty creatures. So much potential to do what is wrong, what is evil, what is easy, what is tempting. Yet so much potential to do what is challenging, what is difficult, what is right, what is good, what is demanded and required of us by our Creator. The power is already yours. How will you use it?
Amen.