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A sermon preached by the Rev’d Dr Daniel Dries Lent 1 – Matthew 4.1-11 Christ Church St Laurence – 5 March 2017 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight: O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

From the fourth Chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

At this point, I suggest that you familiarise with your closest exit. In the unlikely event of an evacuation, please make your way to the nearest exit, leaving your personal belongings behind. It is not the liturgical tradition of this parish to include these sorts of announcements in the sacred liturgy. However, I have attended large and significant occasions (at our very own cathedral) at which instructions about evacuation were the very first words to be spoken. We still go for the rather more traditional, ‘Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit’. However, there is no doubt that we are out of step, or perhaps delightfully quaint. It has become something of a convention in our society to tell people how they can exit, should it be necessary, or perhaps even desirable.

The Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent always focusses on the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness, though not always from Matthew’s account. The wilderness is a place of loneliness and isolation; it is a place of extreme weather conditions; and it is a place where great hunger may be experienced.

Perhaps even more significant than all of this, the wilderness could easy be a place of entrapment— there is no easy way out of the wilderness; no obvious place to exit in the event of an emergency. It is in this place of isolation, darkness, discomfort, hunger and entrapment, that Christ experiences his most intense temptation. While our natural human instinct would be to get out of there as soon as possible, this was simply not an option.  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Like any good drama, the Gospel according to Matthew introduces tension and conflict very early in the plot. By Chapter 4, Matthew has provided us with a Jewish family tree, boasting the finest pedigree that a Messiah could hope for. This Jewish pedigree is broadened as wise men from the east come to worship the Christ child. There is an adult baptism, during which a mysterious heavenly voice affirms the divinity of this young man. And then, with the social niceties out of the way, this same young man is led out into the wilderness for an encounter with evil; a location with no easy means of escape. Every drama needs tension and conflict, just as every good piece of music needs dissonance and resolution. But, with its relentless coercion, compulsion and struggle, this scene serves as a dramatic contrast to the chapters that precede it.

The dramatic impact of the Temptation in the Wilderness is perhaps softened slightly in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew tells us that the spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, almost as we might be led to embark on a pleasant overseas trip. In contrast, Mark tells us that, following Christ’s baptism, the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. This image of being driven out suggests a greater sense of urgency; perhaps even violence and resistance. But the fact remains, that this vulnerable human being suddenly finds himself in an unfamiliar and frightening place; a place where no one would choose to exist.

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Like many temptations that we face in our lives, there is a degree of appeal and logic in the things that are being offered. Matthew tells us that the devil offers bread to a starving man; the devil offers safety and security to a person in mortal danger; the devil offers power to a man who suddenly finds himself exposed and powerless.

These were all very attractive commodities in the circumstances. With the inability to find a convenient exit from this situation, the things on offer would be virtually impossible to refuse. As we see in the fall of Adam and Eve, easy and very tempting solutions often come at a great cost. The devil offers Christ physical comfort, security and power. He has been stripped of all of these in his wilderness experience. Any human being would be forgiven for reaching out and taking them. But, even in a weakened state, Christ is able to see that the cost is too great.  I find it impossible to reflect on the Temptation of Christ without seeing frightening parallels to the Right-Wing Populism emerging throughout our world at the present time. Frightened and disillusioned people are allowing themselves to be convinced that they are in the wilderness; that they are in danger and at risk of losing even the limited safety and security that they treasure. Loud and aggressive voices across the globe are also promising physical comfort, material wealth, security and power. Not necessarily bad things, but as we reach out to pluck even more of this fruit from the tree, we have to ask, ‘what is the cost?’ What is the cost to us as individuals; and what is the cost to humankind?

Part of the frightening political rhetoric of our time is a growing suggestion that there is only one exit; only one way out of the troubles that plague our world. Christ eventually made it out of the wilderness, but he rejected the most convenient exits. He did not allow his fear to cloud his judgment; he did allow his weakness to give in to temptation. There are undoubtedly very serious problems plaguing our world. However, we must never allow ourselves to be convinced that humankind is experiencing problems and challenges that have not been faced before. Writing in the first century, Clement of Rome could be writing to our own generation as he says: If we survey the various ages of history, we would see that in every generation the Lord has offered the chance of repentance to all who were willing to turn to him.

There are certainly many opportunities for repentance at this time. How do we respond to the millions of people fleeing warzones every day? There is a convenient exit: we can pretend it’s not happening. How do the wealthiest nations respond to those in our world who live in the midst of famine and disease? There is a convenient exit: we can jealously guard what we have and pretend that this isn’t happening either.

There are people who live in the wilderness through no fault of their own. No matter what others would have us believe, you and I do not live in the wilderness. We have freedom; we have wealth; we have material comfort; and we have the support of a community. There are countless people who live in the wildernesses of famine, poverty and violence. These are the people who look around in vain for an emergency exit. We are the people that God looks to to provide an exit for them.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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