March 1, 2020

First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
​Matthew 4:1-11

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the great story teller. Amen
 
This Lent
our theme is Stories of Faith,
 we’re exploring how the stories we tell
 affect our faith,
 
 we’re listening to a variety of faith stories
from congregation members during our Wednesday services
 (if you can make it I really encourage you to come, Ramona Witte is sharing this week)
 and on Sundays our lectionary this season
is giving us at least two stories a week,
stories of faith and doubt.
 
This week our stories show us how what story we listen to
 shapes our understanding of our identity. 
we have two stories where identity is both declared and questioned,
but the outcome is very different
based on what story is listened to.
 
First we have Adam and Eve,
God finishes up creation by making these two earth creatures
and gives them responsibility for the other creatures in the garden,
‘this is who you are’ God tells them
‘you are the care takers of the garden,
 you are to till it and keep it and eat the fruit from any of the trees,
with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
 if you eat that fruit you will die.’
 
 These seem like pretty clear instructions
 a clear story and picture of who the humans are
and what they are to do. 
 
And things are going well,
until the serpent comes along
and questions that story,
provides an alternate narrative
 and it’s amazing how simple it is
 for the serpent to get the humans off track.
 
 All he does is ask a clarifying question,
“Did God say ‘you shall not eat from any three in the garden?’”
 
and the woman responds with the original narrative from God,
 ‘no God said we can eat of any tree,
 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
 if we eat from that tree we will die.’ 
 She’s got the story from God down,
 
but in asking the question
 the serpent has put it into her mind
 that she might have heard the story wrong,
and into that questioning space
the serpent places another option, a different story,
saying “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
 
And that’s the story the humans end up listening to,
they eat the fruit,
their eyes are opened,
and the mark that something has changed
 is that they are suddenly ashamed of their bodies
and take measures to cover up,
 
despite the fact that God made them,
 called them good
 and gave them everything they needed,
presumably they didn’t need clothes,
 
 but now that they have listen to a story other than God’s
they are calling bad what God has called good.
 And though that’s where our lesson ends
 the story goes on with the humans hiding from God,
 trying to place the blame for their predicament
on anyone but themselves
and being cast out from the garden.
 
Now this story has been interpreted in many ways,
and we could spend a lot of time sifting through all those interpretations
but for our purposes today here is what I want you to notice:
 
The humans are presented the story of their identity from God
and provided with everything they need,
and when the serpent comes in,
 questions that identity and offers them a slightly different story,
one where they have more power,
 they listen to that story and turn from God
and it changes how they see themselves for the worse.
 
And we’ve been doing that even since,
 but it doesn’t have to be that way
 
That’s where our other story comes in,
it parallels our first story but with very different results.
 
Right before the gospel lesson starts
Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan river
 and as he comes up out of the water
the heavens open, the holy spirit descends in the form of a dove
 and God’s voice is heard from heaven
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
 
This is God’s story of Jesus’ identity,
definitively declared from heaven.
 
And then the spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil.
 
This may seem odd
 but it is true that hardships help to define our identity,
 we often don’t know how strong we can be
 until we are tested,
 
so Jesus goes and fasts for a long time,
 he is weak,
 and that’s when the tempter comes to him
and questions his identity,
 provides an alternate story.
 
The tempter says “If you are the son of God”
the challenge under these words says ‘prove to me that you are’
“If you are the son of god, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’
 
the devil starts by playing off our human need
to prove to others that we are who we say we are,
 
it’s not enough to believe it ourselves,
others have to believe it as well,
 
 ‘prove it’ the devil says.
 And Jesus doesn’t fall for it.
 He quotes scripture back saying
“it is written one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
 
And then the devil tries again,
 adjusting his tactics,
Jesus used scripture to refute that temptation
so the devil decides to use scripture to tempt Jesus.
 
 Again he questions Jesus’ identity,
challenging him to prove it
according to what the scriptures say:
 “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.’”
 
and again Jesus resists,
refusing to question, to test,
 the story God has told him.
 
Questioning identity hasn’t worked
 so the devil tries one last play,
appealing to the human desire for power,
for a price of course,
 
and of course Jesus doesn’t fall for that either
 and the devil finally leaves him.
 
 
Jesus was able to resist temptation
because he held onto the story of his identity
 that came from God,
even in the face of other plausible stories.
 
We too have a story from God,
God created us and called us good
 and since we tend to doubt that
 God gave us a sign for us to point to, baptism,
when we are washed in the waters of baptism
 God definitively declares our identity,
God claims us as children of God
 and promises that this will never change,
 that this is an identity that cannot be taken from us
even when the world tells us otherwise,
 
and the world has all sorts of other stories
about who we are
the dangerous thing is that they all sound plausible,
 
 the story that says you are defined by where you were born,
what language you speak
 or even the color of your skin or shape of your body,
 
the stories that whisper that you are not enough
 but that you can become enough
by treating people in a certain way,
by only looking out for yourself,
that you are better or worse than others,
 
sooner or later one of the stories grabs our attention
and we listen to it rather than the story God is telling,
when we do our eyes are opened
and we become ashamed of what God has called good and beloved
and we try to hide,
from ourselves and from God.
 
But God doesn’t give up that easily,
 God made a promise,
so God sent Jesus,
who firm in his own identity and story
reached out to those who had been hiding from God for so long
that they had begun to believe that they would never be part of God’s story,
 
 and Jesus offered them another story to hold on to,
 to the sick he told the story of health
 and then he healed them,
 
to the outcast he told the story of inclusion
 and then he welcomed them,
 
 
 to the hungry he told the story of being full
and then he fed them,
 
to the sinners he told the story of forgiveness
 and then he forgave them
 
that’s what Jesus does for us too,
he gives us other stories to hold on to,
to tell again and again and again,
 stories that define us as God’s beloved children
washed with water,
 
stories of meals where Jesus comes to us in bread and wine body and blood
 offering forgiveness and new life,
 stories of death and resurrection.
 
These are the stories that define us,
and when the other stories start sounding plausible,
Jesus brings us back to the font and table,
 the places where the true stories are told,
 
and washed, fed and forgiven,
we are reminded of the only story that matters,
 the story where we are beloved children of God
 
 and then
we are sent out to tell others this story
 in the same way Jesus told it
by living it out
offering healing, welcome, food and forgiveness
 treating all we encounter as the beloved children of God that they are,
because that’s who we are.
God told us so. Amen