The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
March 10, 2019
Year C: The First
Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
No Shortcuts
One
of the advantages to living and working where I have spent much of my life is
that I usually know the fastest ways to get around.
For
the most part, I know these streets and neighborhoods pretty well.
I
remember a couple of years ago I gave my father a ride somewhere here in town
and at one point as I was cutting down side streets he turned to me and said,
“You’re like a cab driver.”
I
don’t want to brag, but it’s kind of true!
But,
it wasn’t always so.
Almost
twelve years ago when I first started working at Grace Church in Madison I
literally (and maybe figuratively too!) had no idea where I was going.
It
was a totally unfamiliar place and so, especially during the early days,
whenever I needed to drive anywhere I would look up the address on Mapquest and
print out the directions and place them on the passenger seat next to me.
Sometimes
if the route was particularly tricky I would summarize the directions on a
post-it and stick it on the steering wheel.
So
there I would be driving around the suburbs, glancing down at the seat next to
me or at my little post-it (which would sometimes fall off) – it’s amazing that
I didn’t get into accident, though I made more wrong turns than I care to
admit.
At
some point Sue suggested I get a GPS and, as usual, I was reluctant to have yet
another gadget, some new piece of technology, in my life. But, I was also tired
of getting lost so I went along with it.
Having
this little screen and its disembodied voice in the car with me took some
getting used to and especially in those early days the technology was
imperfect, sometimes taking me on roundabout routes or even in circles and also
sometimes the GPS would be a second or two late, causing me to miss a turn –
and I’d hear the robotic voice say with what sounded like just a hint of
annoyance,
RECALCULATING.
RECALCULATING.
But,
over time the technology has improved so much and now I don’t even use a GPS
device. I just open an app on my phone, and away we go – and now it even tells
me which lane to be in – and, what’s my favorite feature, it even suggests
shortcuts.
SAVE
FOUR MINUTES BY TAKING THE NEXT EXIT.
Yes!
Save four minutes! That feels like hitting the jackpot – what a joy to avoid some
traffic and arrive at my destination a whole four minutes early!
Seriously,
shortcuts really are great when we are driving from point A to point B.
But…when
it comes to our spiritual life – when it comes to the Way of Jesus – shortcuts
are in fact very dangerous temptations.
As
we do every year on the First Sunday in Lent, today we heard the story of
Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness – forty days of temptation by the devil.
We’re
told three of the temptations that the devil offered to Jesus:
“If
you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
“Worship
me and I will give you all the glory and the authority in the world.”
“If
you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the Temple and
let the angels save you, revealing to everyone your true identity.”
You
know, it’s kind of surprising, but when you stop and really look at these
temptations you notice that there’s nothing bad about the ultimate outcomes.
Bread
is good, especially for someone starving in the wilderness.
The
world really would be a much better place if Jesus were given all glory and
authority.
And,
wouldn’t it really be something to see Jesus caught by angels, proving that he
is the beloved Son of God?
There’s
nothing bad about any of these temptations except that they are shortcuts – and
when it comes to our spiritual life – when it comes to the Way of Christ –
shortcuts don’t ever really work – shortcuts are dangerous - they wouldn’t get
Jesus to his ultimate destination - and they won’t get us to where God wants us
to be, either.
The
shortcut would be Jesus magically turning stones into bread, but the way of
life is all of us giving away our bread and fish – sharing what we have – and
Jesus taking those gifts, blessing those gifts, and making more than enough for
everybody – making more than we could have ever imagined.
The
shortcut would be doing the wrong thing in order to achieve worldly power but
the way of life is Jesus showing that true kingship, true leadership, isn’t selling
your soul, isn’t lording it over other people, but is instead giving away your
life in loving service.
The
shortcut would be some dramatic display of divine power – like jumping off the
temple and being saved by angels, but the way of life is Jesus nailed to a
tree, showing us more clearly than we could have ever imagined how much God
loves us – showing us most clearly that even when we do the worst thing
imaginable – even when we kill the Blameless One - God still doesn’t give up on
us and, in the end, love defeats even death itself.
If
Jesus had taken these shortcuts we would have never made it back to the garden,
never made it to the empty tomb, never made it to where the Risen Christ
reveals himself to Mary Magdalene, and to us.
Unfortunately,
the temptation to take shortcuts is still very real for us Christians today.
And
that’s especially true during this holy season of Lent.
There’s
the always popular shortcut of living pretty much like so many people out in
the world – looking out for our selves and our own and turning away from those
who are suffering.
There’s the
shortcut of loving and being kind to the people we love and like, but being
mean and unwelcoming to those who are different or who we don’t like or who we
don’t know.
There’s the
shortcut of showing up here for communion and community just from time to time
or just when we feel like it or just when it’s convenient.
There’s the
shortcut of giving away a little bit but never really giving so much of
ourselves and our resources that it hurts – that it causes us to sacrifice
something we really like or want.
Taking care of our
selves and our families - and saving our time and our resources - are all good
things, right?
And, the truth is nobody
would blame us for taking these shortcuts – look at all the time and energy and
money and even love we would save!
But, for us these
shortcuts are dangerous temptations because they won’t get us to our ultimate
destination – won’t get us to where God wants us to be.
So, this Lent, I
challenge myself and I invite you to take the long way.
Let’s walk
together the Way of the Cross – let’s walk together the Way of Life – let’s
pray and let’s sacrifice and let’s give.
It wasn’t easy for
Jesus and it won’t be easy for us, but together we’ll reach our beautiful
destination – an Easter that’s not just pretty flowers and tasty chocolate and
fancy hats – but an Easter that is truly new life.
No shortcuts.
Amen.
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