Two
Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday February 22 – 1st Sunday in Lent
Scripture Reading: Matthew 4:1-11
What do you long for? What does the
deepest part of you yearn for? What is
it that your spirit craves? I know that
our theme in this season of Lent is “Hungering for God” but I want you to set
aside what you learned in Sunday School where “Jesus” is the answer to every
question that is asked. What does your
spirit hunger for?
In our bible story this morning, the one that ______ just read for us, we could
answer this question in a very literal way.
Before the devil shows up, Jesus has been fasting in the desert for 40
days. He has been out there in a barren
rocky landscape with no water, no food, exposed to the heat of day and the
frigid desert temperatures when the sun goes down. And then the tempter shows up and says to
him, “Why don’t you just turn all of those stone that are around you into
bread? You don’t need to suffer out
here. Turn the stones into bread and
satisfy your hunger.” And Jesus probably
was pretty hungry at this point in time.
And pretty thirsty. And pretty
sunburnt. In addition to bread, his body was probably also craving
shelter. He was likely also craving the
sight of even a single tree, or a spring bubbling up from the dry land.
Now this is probably a pretty extreme example, because, from a 21st
Century understanding of physiology, he needed all of these things. Well, maybe not the sight of a tree, but the
food and water part of the equation his body needed and was likely craving at
that point in time.
Sometimes our bodies crave things that they need. We feel hunger and thirst because we need
food and water to survive. I don’t think
that’s the point of this story. But
sometimes our bodies crave things that they don’t need. Sometimes I feel as though I need a cup of
tea right now… but do I truly need it?
If I am thirsty, surely a glass of water will suffice?
We can take it one step further. If you
have ever experienced an addiction, or have ever talked to an addict, a person
with an addiction doesn’t seek out the thing that they are addicted to, whether
that be alcohol or a specific drug or food, they don’t seek out the thing
because the thing makes them feel good.
Instead, an addict seeks it out because their body craves it. When you
have an addiction, you don’t feel whole without the thing that you are addicted
to.
And I wonder if that’s maybe the key to unlocking this story about Jesus. The tempter is tempting him with things that
might make him feel whole. “Oh, you’re
feeling hungry? Here, these rocks will
become bread, you can eat and feel full, feel complete.”
I find the second and third temptations of Jesus to be even more interesting
than the first one, because I read them as being all about power. Why would you throw yourself off the highest
building anyone has ever seen, let alone imagined, and call in God’s angels to
catch you as you fall? Maybe so that
people could see you jump, could see your supernatural rescue, could see your
closeness to God. If you were to pull a
stunt like this, people would hail your goodness and your bravery, and there is
power in the adulation of a crowd.
I tried to think of a contemporary example of this. One that came to mind is to look at the
number of people who attempt to climb Mount Everest every year. In 2025, 850 reached the top of Mount
Everest, which is especially remarkable when you consider that prior to 1953
nobody had reached the summit. For some
of these 850 people, this is the culmination of a lifetime of training and
preparation, and the last of the “Seven Summits” that they want to climb. But for others, it is done in a quest for
social media fame. They climb with their own camera crew, and model expensive…
and sponsored… clothing as they climb.
And it doesn’t come without risk – on average, 7 people per year die
trying to ascend, and the narrow trail to the summit is paved by 200 bodies of
climbers who died in the attempt but it is too dangerous to bring the bodies
down.
For the social media mountaineers, would you do it if nobody would ever know
that you made the climb, or are you doing it for the likes and follows? There is power in spectacle.
And then there is the offer that the devil makes to Jesus of literal
power. You can rule over all of the
kingdoms of the world, and have access to all of the splendours of the world.
This one is much easier to find a contemporary example of. I’m not going to say that all politicians are
in politics for the power, but you don’t have to look too hard to find
politicians who are in it only for the power.
And then there is the power that comes with fame, the power that comes
with wealth, the power that comes with a platform. And then those with political, financial, or
social power choose who to share that power with – look at the young men being
given $50,000 signing bonuses and firearms and a license to harass, detain,
abuse, and even kill with no accountability right now. And those with political, financial, or
social power choose who they have power over, to which all that I say is
release the files.
Power gets us in to so many problems in the world.
So we have three temptations that Jesus faced in the desert wilderness. But how do these connect with the question I
started with – what does your soul hunger for?
What does your spirit long for?
What does your being crave?
It is sometimes said that we each carry a God-shaped hole within us, and if we
don’t fill it with God, we will seek other things that can make us whole. Substances.
Praise and acclaim. Power.
My favourite variation on this saying comes from St. Augustine, who wrote in
his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts
are restless until they find their rest in thee.”
There is nothing wrong with the hole.
There is nothing wrong with the restlessness. But the choice is ours for how we fill the
hole or how we satisfy the restlessness.
The list of how we, as humans, try to make ourselves whole is
endless. I can only know myself, and
while power and spectacle aren’t tempting to me, I have to resist the temptation
to make myself whole through busyness.
But as we long for wholeness, as we long for rest… well, maybe that Sunday
School answer is the right one here.
Maybe Jesus is the answer.
I actually wonder if Jesus found the strength to resist the temptations because
the God-shaped hole within him was already filled by God. I believe that Jesus was both fully human and
fully God, and so he didn’t need to seek wholeness through power or
spectacle. He was already whole.
But the good news is that we too can be whole.
The Holy Spirit is working in you.
And my prayer is that you might find wholeness by allowing God to fill
the God-shaped hole in you; and that you might find rest and deep peace by
resting in God. Amen, and amen.
“A Choice”
Lauren Wright
Pittman
Used with Permission
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