Fork in the Road? Take it!

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 4^th Chapter

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.

A very smart teacher once told me that when you read about what Jesus did in the Bible you should remember that “The Body of Christ” is called to do the same thing in the world today.  The Church, of course, is the Body of Christ…so you and I and all Christians everywhere... we are the Body of Christ.  That means that together we are called to do the things that Jesus did... feed the hungry, heal people, include the outcast and turn the world up side down.  OK so far, but that’s not the whole story is it?  If the Body of Christ is going to do everything Jesus did, that means we should also expect ridicule, hatred, pain and even death.  Those things don’t sound quite as good and then to top that off, based on today's lesson, it also looks like we should probably expect to be tested.  But what is the test?  It might not be the test you expect it to be! 

When Jesus was tested, the devil had no doubt that Jesus was God’s son.  In fact, when you look at all the times Jesus ran into demons of one kind or another, they all knew exactly who Jesus was.  The real test was not whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.  He was!  Even the demons knew that.  The test... the REAL test was what KIND of Messiah was Jesus going to be.  Would he be the kind of Messiah that fixed the whole world with tricks and slight of hand?  Would he be the kind of Messiah that grabs headlines and fame to get his message out?  Would he be the kind of Messiah that brought in God’s Kingdom by any means neccasary?  

That was the real test.  What KIND of Messiah would he be?  Now, you would think with the devil there, pitchfork in hand, it shouldn’t really be a hard test.  You just don’t do what the red guy with horns says to do.  Right?  But you and I know that when we face these kinds of life tests in our lives there is never a literal pitch fork carrying, horned, red guy with a goatee standing there.  It’s always more subtle than that and I suspect it was more subtle for Jesus as well.

Jesus’s first test was to feed the hungry…feeding the hungry doesn’t sound like a bad thing, and it’s not.  The test was if he was going to just do it, or was he going to do it God’s way by transforming the hearts and minds of the world, so all of creation made sure no one was ever hungry?  His second test was to draw attention to himself so the message of the Kingdom of God would get out better.  You have to admit there is nothing like a huge stunt in the middle of the capital city to draw people’s attention and Jesus’s message isn’t at all a bad message.  But the real test was if he would soak up the spotlight himself OR would he turn the spotlight to God so the world sees the true source of light and life?  Then came the test to rule the world.  Jesus ruling the world.  God’s Son ruling the world.  That can’t be bad, can it?  All the war, suffering, pain and injustice wiped away forever under Jesus’ rule.  Not bad, Right?  But the real test was HOW Jesus would bring God’s Kingdom to the world.  Would he choose might-makes-right or would he bring in the Kingdom of God through love, compassion and completely giving of himself?

That is what makes these tests so hard.  Jesus isn’t asked to do evil things.  Instead, Jesus is asked to do wonderful things, BUT in the world’s way... NOT in God’s way.  For God, the means to the end DO matter and God means to have his Son and the Body of Christ (that means you and me together) work not in the ways of the world but in God’s very different ways of unlimited love, radical inclusion, compassion, honesty, openness, generosity and grace.  

As the Body of Christ we too are constantly tempted to lean on the methods and instincts we’ve learned in the world.  If it’s for the best, the world says to just force it through no matter what it takes.  It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission and it’s better to be effective than to be loved.  As the Body of Christ we are constantly tested to do what we do as the Church, not with God’s methods, but in the way we have gotten used to things working in our every day lives.  God’s ways of being open and honest and vulnerable with one another is scary, because we’ve all learned out there in the world that those qualities are seen and often exploited as weakness, so we’re tempted every day to choose to do it the world’s way instead of God's way.  

Our experience in the world has shown us that living by love, vulnerability and trust can lead to pain.  It’s no wonder that we often seek to avoid those struggles, conflicts or pain and instead just do things in those seemingly safer, more familiar, worldly ways.  It’s no wonder that the Body of Christ often decides to just be careful, go along to get along, to not say anything that might rub someone the wrong way, not make waves and hope and pray that things will just be “OK” in the end.  That's why the world's way is so very tempting!  

The trouble with that is the Body of Christ… the Church... has not been called to live just an “OK” life.  God didn’t create us for just an “OK” kind of life!  God doesn’t think “OK” is good enough for us!  God thinks you deserve better than just OK... God wants all of Creation to live not just an OK life but an ABUNDANT life!  So the real test... the real temptation is not to do something awful, but to simply decide out of fear to live a life less than the one God created us to live.  Knowing that SHOULD make the choice easy, right?  But it doesn't.  It’s not easy because it means walking a path like Jesus did and we know the path he walked did not lead him into a comfortable, untroubled or conflict free life.  The path he chose was not easy... it was faithful... but not easy. 

We are the Body of Christ; we are the Church.  We have been led into the wilderness not to try to get us to fail, but to give us the chance to choose the Abundant life God created us to live!  God wants us to succeed!  We are led by the Holy Spirit, we have each other and the promise of angels to care for us when we are exhausted.  We are the Body of Christ... the Church...  no one doubts that... not even the demons.  The test for us for is what kind of Church will we choose to be?  Amen.