A Space of Grace

Sermon Preached by Fr. Tony Noble on February 25, 2007

Luke: 4:7 "If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours."

Last Sunday I was on holiday, and I found myself worshiping at Mass in the Anglican church of All Saints in Cologne, where I was welcomed as the Rector of another All Saints church.

I went to Cologne because they have a great European celebration of Mardi Gras on the Monday which is called Rosenmontag. About half million people descend on Cologne for the weekend - which consists of a lot of drinking and partying, culminating with the big parade on Monday. The warden of All Saints’ Cologne, Mr Anthony Cooper, knew that I was coming to Cologne for this particular festival, and he and his wife very kindly arranged for me to have a seat at the grandstand in front of the town hall for the parade. Even the people in the hotel where I was staying were astounded that this stranger from America could get one of those seats!

Anthony met me at the hotel at 10:00 am and we walked to the stands to see the parade, which lasted four hours. It was very much like New Orleans: there were great floats organized by traditional groups dressed in traditional costumes going back several centuries, and bands. As the floats came along the people on the floats, who wore old German costumes, were throwing things into the crowd, and over the crowd. But unlike New Orleans, where they throw beads, they were throwing chocolates. Not just chocolate pieces, but bars and boxes. I was in heaven! Anthony saw my delight in collecting these chocolates and, waving his arms over the scene, said to me: "If you fall down and worship me, all these things will be yours!"

So on this first Sunday in Lent we hear again the story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. And that particular temptation from Satan: If Jesus worships him all those things would be his.

Could Jesus really be tempted? An interesting question. Would he really respond to the devil and fall down and worship him? We cannot imagine it, can we? He - the perfect man who was also perfect God, who never did any wrong, never committed any sin - would he have been tempted? Even his cry from the cross: "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Was not the abandonment of faith, but the recitation of psalm 22, much loved by Jewish people in times of anguish. No - what we have here is not the possibility of Jesus being tempted, but the necessary beginning of his ministry as the Messiah.

He went into the desert immediately after his baptism. At his baptism the Father said: "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased." And Jesus goes into the desert conscious of his call to be the beloved Son and messiah. To consider what this means. What sort of Messiah is he called to be? And so he goes into the solitude of the desert to be alone, but not lonely.

Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness are more than just a pattern for our 40 days of Lent. By holding up to us a mirror for our 40 days, Jesus' 40 days in the desert remind us that each of us has solitude, loneliness, a desert inside us. Even those who live in the most loving, committed and fulfilling relationship have a part inside that no one else can touch.

No one else……..except God.

Lent challenges us and calls us to acknowledge that spot deep within, and make it the solitude that is not lonely, but creative. That spot in which God dwells, is living with us. To unite that spot of solitude with Jesus' solitude in the desert.

Many people feel lonely. Loneliness is the real curse of our busy, high-tech, successful society. How wonderful that the church offers this season so that we can make our solitude a space of grace.

The well known spiritual writer, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, in her book Poustania says this: "Deserts, silence, solitude. For a soul that realizes the tremendous need of all three, opportunities present themselves in the midst of the congested trappings of all the world's immense cities. But how, really, can one achieve such solitude? By standing still! Stand still and allow the strange, deadly restlessness of our tragic age to fall away like the worn-out dusty cloak that it is."

Standing still. That is the challenge of Lent - of our 40 days in the desert.

So much for the desert - what about the temptations?

They are in a way a parable of Jesus' spiritual wrestling. And his rejection of the existing concepts for inaugurating a kingdom of God.

During his stay in the desert to contemplate his mission as Messiah, to inaugurate God's kingdom, Jesus has wonderful examples of how people have tried to inaugurate kingdoms in the past.

Firstly: Should Jesus use his power as Messiah to satisfy our creature comforts - thus fulfilling the hope of a good time coming? This was prophesied by Isaiah as the banquet of the Messiah. And it always appeals, it always attracts - and it always deceives.

Or secondly: Should he be like Caesar, establishing the throne of David and an earthly empire.

Or thirdly: Should he demonstrate his awesome power appearing above the temple borne by Angels so that doubt would be impossible?

Wouldn't it be wonderful not to doubt.

In Matthew's gospel Jesus makes it clear that when people are obedient to God's kingdom everyone will have sufficient food and clothing, and the authority of Christ does extend over all the world, and the angelic kingdom

But all of these only secure the outward obedience of men and women. They may control our behavior - but not our hearts. For to convince the world by promising all good things, by authority and coercion, by offering irresistible proof of his power - Jesus would only appeal to self interest, which leads to the great temptation: "If you then will worship me it will all be yours."

And make no mistake - we want it to be ours. The three temptations of Jesus are appeals to self interest. And the kingdom of God - the kingdom of love – can not be established in that way.

So Jesus rejected the temptations because they were material and not spiritual. Not for, and of, the heart.

The wonder of Lent is by material and practical endeavors on our part, by acts of discipline and penance, by fasting, prayer and almsgiving, and by confronting temptation - it is our hearts that are strengthened and renewed.

And we may even know that in worshipping Jesus everything we ever need will be ours. It starts inside……..in a space of grace.