Sermon - 2018-02-18
Sermon - 2018-02-18 - First Sunday in Lent
After being Baptized, Jesus goes into the Wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Why does the Holy Spirit send Jesus there? Why doesn’t Jesus simply powerfully save us all from evil in the world? Just like in our own life, after we are Baptized, we are also sent right back into this world. The world around us is not transformed. We are the ones who are transformed. Now we have the promise, we know what it means but now we are called to face evil and do something about it.
Last week, when we were together, we talked about the importance of a mountain top experience. That in the wilderness we can bear witness to God’s Work. To be in awe and amazed at God’s Love for the world. These moments are so very important but if we stay in those moments for too long then we find ourselves unaware of the reality, the dangers and the evil of this world.
For many of us, as we turned on the news, we are reminded of the wilderness and the evil that is still present in the world. It may come as a shock to us because we have been focused on the beauty and awesome moments that God has blessed us with that the Evil is now a surprise!! Now this evil comes in many forms. It has an impact on people at great distance, people that we never hear about on the news. It has impact upon people in our own community. It has an impact upon the elderly, worried for the future of themselves, of their children, their grandchildren and the future of everything that they hold dear. It has an impact upon parents, wondering what they can do and how can they help their children navigate and stay safe to survive this disaster, to cope with all that is present in their life. Both of these groups long for the simpler times of their childhood.
However it the children, the ones who are young enough to not know any other world than suffering, anger, and evil that we should truly be thinking of. For while Jesus was in wilderness being tempted by Satan for 40 days, we have children that are bearing witness to an evil that is impacting them because the decisions and hands of those who are suppose to protect them. It is these children that shall be the future and what gift is it that we are giving them and preparing for them? For those of us that are gathered here today, we will say that we will do anything for the sake of our children. We will protect them and provide for them a life that is far better than our own. Yet then why, as we are raising these children, are we longing for a time in the past when things were better. When was it that we went astray?
Now again, this is a question about the past. It may help us find who to blame or how we got here but it does not give us the answer that we are longing for of how can we make things better? Please understand that this is not a political notion, I am not advocating that the right is correct or the left is correct. I am saying that this is a human notion that needs to be addressed and talked about. This is our wilderness, our temptation and the evil that we are wrestling with.
Instead, let us take some time to understand how Jesus truly resisted and overcame evil. Jesus did some very important things, 1. He learned about His Heavenly Father. 2. He put those lessons into practice.
Until this time of Baptism, Jesus has been living his life. Learning from the scriptures of the Hebrew people. Listening to his mother and father. Jesus learned about the love, grace, mercy and hope that God had continued to give to people. Now being the Son of God, Jesus was able to make connections and understanding that for many of us, it would take years for us to truly understand. Yet now, Jesus is ready to live life on his own. He is ready to begin not only learning but now applying that knowledge into practice. When did he know that he was ready? Could he have stayed at home until he was 40? Probably not, but in many regards, Jesus was also probably already a little late bloomer in coming into his profession in life.
At this time in history, children were viewed very different than we view them today. Yet Jewish boys became men, at the age of 13. Then they were expected to begin learning a trade, to contribute to the community and society as a whole, and begin establishing a home so that they could get married to have a family of their own. Yet Jesus does not begin his ministry until he is about 27 years old.
However in three years time, Jesus goes from beginning his ministry to the end of his ministry. Jesus makes a difference in the lives of the 12 men that he calls as disciples and from those 12, they begin to transform this world. They begin taking this message of grace, hope, love and peace into places where people needed it, where people rejected it, and to a people that questioned it. These continued to work until they themselves were killed by the evil of this world. However, not even the evil of this world would destroy the message that they were sharing. It was too strong and too powerful.
We need to understand and realize that we are striving to continue to carry this message of comfort, of grace, hope, love and peace to a people who are in need of it. Now more than ever. Amen.
After being Baptized, Jesus goes into the Wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Why does the Holy Spirit send Jesus there? Why doesn’t Jesus simply powerfully save us all from evil in the world? Just like in our own life, after we are Baptized, we are also sent right back into this world. The world around us is not transformed. We are the ones who are transformed. Now we have the promise, we know what it means but now we are called to face evil and do something about it.
Last week, when we were together, we talked about the importance of a mountain top experience. That in the wilderness we can bear witness to God’s Work. To be in awe and amazed at God’s Love for the world. These moments are so very important but if we stay in those moments for too long then we find ourselves unaware of the reality, the dangers and the evil of this world.
For many of us, as we turned on the news, we are reminded of the wilderness and the evil that is still present in the world. It may come as a shock to us because we have been focused on the beauty and awesome moments that God has blessed us with that the Evil is now a surprise!! Now this evil comes in many forms. It has an impact on people at great distance, people that we never hear about on the news. It has impact upon people in our own community. It has an impact upon the elderly, worried for the future of themselves, of their children, their grandchildren and the future of everything that they hold dear. It has an impact upon parents, wondering what they can do and how can they help their children navigate and stay safe to survive this disaster, to cope with all that is present in their life. Both of these groups long for the simpler times of their childhood.
However it the children, the ones who are young enough to not know any other world than suffering, anger, and evil that we should truly be thinking of. For while Jesus was in wilderness being tempted by Satan for 40 days, we have children that are bearing witness to an evil that is impacting them because the decisions and hands of those who are suppose to protect them. It is these children that shall be the future and what gift is it that we are giving them and preparing for them? For those of us that are gathered here today, we will say that we will do anything for the sake of our children. We will protect them and provide for them a life that is far better than our own. Yet then why, as we are raising these children, are we longing for a time in the past when things were better. When was it that we went astray?
Now again, this is a question about the past. It may help us find who to blame or how we got here but it does not give us the answer that we are longing for of how can we make things better? Please understand that this is not a political notion, I am not advocating that the right is correct or the left is correct. I am saying that this is a human notion that needs to be addressed and talked about. This is our wilderness, our temptation and the evil that we are wrestling with.
Instead, let us take some time to understand how Jesus truly resisted and overcame evil. Jesus did some very important things, 1. He learned about His Heavenly Father. 2. He put those lessons into practice.
Until this time of Baptism, Jesus has been living his life. Learning from the scriptures of the Hebrew people. Listening to his mother and father. Jesus learned about the love, grace, mercy and hope that God had continued to give to people. Now being the Son of God, Jesus was able to make connections and understanding that for many of us, it would take years for us to truly understand. Yet now, Jesus is ready to live life on his own. He is ready to begin not only learning but now applying that knowledge into practice. When did he know that he was ready? Could he have stayed at home until he was 40? Probably not, but in many regards, Jesus was also probably already a little late bloomer in coming into his profession in life.
At this time in history, children were viewed very different than we view them today. Yet Jewish boys became men, at the age of 13. Then they were expected to begin learning a trade, to contribute to the community and society as a whole, and begin establishing a home so that they could get married to have a family of their own. Yet Jesus does not begin his ministry until he is about 27 years old.
However in three years time, Jesus goes from beginning his ministry to the end of his ministry. Jesus makes a difference in the lives of the 12 men that he calls as disciples and from those 12, they begin to transform this world. They begin taking this message of grace, hope, love and peace into places where people needed it, where people rejected it, and to a people that questioned it. These continued to work until they themselves were killed by the evil of this world. However, not even the evil of this world would destroy the message that they were sharing. It was too strong and too powerful.
We need to understand and realize that we are striving to continue to carry this message of comfort, of grace, hope, love and peace to a people who are in need of it. Now more than ever. Amen.
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