Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent, St Magdalen College, Oxford

Lectionary Readings for the First Sunday of Lent

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.

Psalm 32

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Romans 5:12-19

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Matthew 4: 1-11

Then 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.

Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent

My two sons Sam and Michael, now 22 and 20-and-a-half, have heard me rant and rave many times about the sinister lure of screens. The distraction of screens seems everywhere to trump printed matter, the old and honored means of acquiring knowledge that may possibly lead to wisdom. But I think that there is something to this rage of mine: screens supremely distract us from the intentional and focused gaze of the mind. And when it is all we can do to keep ourselves open, and ready, to hear God’s voice and respond to God’s call, screens succeed in anaesthetizing us by such a never-ending flow of visual entertainment. The delight of distraction can come to be the default mode of our lives, especially of young lives in formation. Religion is not the opiate of the masses, but, rather, screens, I would say!

It seems to me that what is supremely at issue in our world today is the use and misuse of power. The reality of evil in our world—-and I think we have all experienced evil—-the reality of evil is most clearly manifested in the abuse of power, as Lord Acton so famously observed: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men..., a remark he made in a letter to an Anglican bishop.

Our reading from the Good News of Matthew this morning illuminates the way power works: it is a supreme, and successful, distraction.

The one supreme act of power —-a once-for-all act—-was God’s act of raising Jesus from the dead—-His supremely loving purpose being, to redeem and restore the human race. As a consequence, we have nothing to fear—above all, no longer, the fear of death. The reality of the Resurrection gives us a present full of meaning and a future full of hope. And a path that is clearly marked out. The power of the world distracts us from the path that always lies before us, in possibility—-the path that God intends for us, which is a passionate love for our fellow human beings, a path constructed of successive loving acts. Self-love has always caused us to veer off course!

Real power is not wealth, fame, and physical perfection, but the intense focussed gaze on the One who has gone before us, the Christ of God who was driven out into the wilderness. Who refused, there, to be distracted. We claim our own true power in imitation of Him, who in obedience and discipline used that wilderness experience to see more clearly the only source of real power, that is God.

It is a good thing to be driven out into the wilderness, even a necessary thing, I think, if it the Spirit of God that drives you. We see things more clearly.

The three temptations Jesus confronts in the wilderness are all temptations to misuse power. The first, to make bread out of stones, was a temptation to satisfy his immediate, and very real, hunger. But this was only a clever distraction. The whole point of spending time in the wilderness was to focus on discerning the word of God. Don’t be distracted by the need for a sandwich—-you’ll only be hungry again in an hour. Discipline yourself to have power over the desires of the body so that you can desire God even more.

The second temptation, to use magical powers to mock the powers of nature, was another clever distraction. What would that have signified? Fantasy and illusion—- power used in the service of the trick of a moment. Of no account in the training of the mind to remain focussed on the greater reality of God.

And the third temptation, to exercise power over all the governments of the world, was yet a third distraction, from the worship of the One true God—-the only one worthy of our love and adoration. All our service is only a shadow if not directed toward this greater end.

This experience of temptation in the wilderness—-what did it accomplish for Jesus? A clearer sight of the path ahead.

What can be the use of this kind of wilderness experience, for us?

Obedience and discipline are two of the least popular words in the English language! They imply shoulds and oughts; they hint that we do not have it within our own power to stay on the path we say we choose.

Lent can be a period for the training of our own desires, the practice of discipleship by means of the disciplines of praying often, consuming less, setting aside time for regular worship, giving money away in a sacrificial manner. These disciplines will shape us and form us so that when the large decisions of life need to be made, we are ready. They are no distraction from our unwavering focus on the God whom we adore, but rather the essence of who it is we shall become.

The use of time in the wilderness, for us, can be that we have disciplined ourselves, in obedience, and are able, therefore, to see more clearly and hear more exactly what it is God is calling us to be. So that when God calls us to the challenge of any task, any vocation, we are equipped and able to respond, with gladness.

The real and only power lies in the God who made us. It is God who empowers us to go forward on the path that lies ahead.

May we use this time in Lent, this time at university, this time we are given to live a life, may we use these times to embrace the power of God as it is given to us to know in the love of Christ.

And may nothing distract us!

Amen.

The Rev’d Dana English

Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford

March 1, 2020