Reflections on the Lent readings - March 13th, 2011

Preamble
- creation happened before the fall
- God had said about every creature he had made ‘it is good’
- after creating man and woman, God said ‘it is very good’
- even now, God says over each of us born into this world: ‘it is very good’
- regardless of who our parents are, regardless of whether they wanted us or not, God rejoiced with our being born into this world, He is happy we are here
- he rejoiced whether we were born with two legs or just one, with a mind like Einstein or a mind that barely worked at all, he rejoiced.

from Genesis 3

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

- the first reading reminds us that something happened, something broke and because something broke the world is beautiful but not paradise, and God is here but we can’t see him, and the things we do aren’t always good, and more often than not, harmful to our neighbour
- God gave Adam and Eve a commandment and they broke it and everything changed
- God still loved them but now there was distance, like there is distance in a marriage when the husband commits adultery; and distance in a family when parents start abusing their kids
- life is filled with all sorts of ‘do nots’ which can be catastrophic - do not do crack cocaine, don’t steal from the company safe, don’t be abusive to the one you love, and don’t swallow anything that has you thinking you are God
- God is happy we are here, He loves us to the core, but He isn’t always happy with what we are doing, especially when what we do harms others

Romans 5:12-20

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

- the 2nd reading tells us how God has fixed what was broken
- the first man, Adam sinned and because he did, violence and greed and death took over, nobody was exempt, everyone was condemned
- but thankfully a second man appeared, Jesus who came to fix what we had broken
- the proof that he has fixed what we had broken is his resurrection from the dead.
- so through Adam came death and condemnation, but through Jesus comes grace and life and right standing with God
- notice that what comes to us in Jesus isn’t perfection, it’s this amazing gift called ‘grace’, which works in us even though we’re miles from being perfect
- grace not only means God loves us, but that he isn’t distant anymore, God isn’t just the Holy One, He is our Father, devoted to our welfare, helping us to overcome the things we can’t overcome on our own
- he hears us when we pray and he hears us as though we are Jesus Christ himself, most especially when we pray for those around us

Matthew 4

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do 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, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order his angels to protect you.
 And they will hold you up with their hands
 so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’
Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’
Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,
   ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’

- the 3rd reading begins the story of how Jesus starts to fix things...it starts in the wilderness
- God has already told Jesus how much he loves him. After being baptized by John the Baptist, it says the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove and God said:
‘This is my dearly loved son, who brings me great joy.’
- Just like Adam and Eve hear God say of the day they were made ‘it is very good’, Jesus hears the words of God’s blessing over him.
- And just like Adam and Eve he goes from God’s blessing to being tempted
- to begin to fix what Adam and Eve broke he must resist the devil better than they did.
- and like Adam and Eve he is confronted with doubt - ‘did God really say?’ ‘if you really are the Son of God’...
- but unlike Adam and Eve he resists the devil by relying on God’s word
- he knew if he was going to do God’s will, he had to do it God’s way and God’s way meant he couldn’t take any shortcuts by turning stones into bread, or make a spectacle of himself by doing a high dive off the roof of the temple and let angels save him.
- it meant he couldn’t do what other people in power do to become powerful; he couldn’t compromise with evil; he had to do God’s will without money, without armies, without political influence, without spin doctors and media consultants

- so what does this mean for us?
- regardless of who we are, what we’ve done, God is glad we are here
- he wants us to be governed by things that don’t destroy us, nor destroy those around us
- he wants us to be governed by grace and life and justice and right standing with God
- and he wants us to follow Jesus, not take any shortcuts even if at times it means going hungry and without shelter
- it means he wants us to serve him without thinking we have to make a spectacle of ourselves
- to love Him and to love our neighbour is all he asks us to do
- and he asks that we not compromise with evil, that if we have money we will share it, if we have power and influence we will use it to serve others and that the last thing any of us should be looking for is fame, or promotion or anything that makes us think or feel or believe that we are superior to others.