Superficial, Spectacular, Superior, Sublime
Sermon Based on Matthew 4:1-11
March 9, 2014
David M. Hindman
There are many ways to read scripture. In a seminary course I read the Bible in 10 weeks from
Genesis to Revelation. The opposite of that rapid reading is an ancient practice called lectio
divina. In lectio you read only a small portion of scripture: a story, a psalm, a paragraph of a
New Testament letter. You read the passage slowly, stopping when a word or a phrase catches
your attention. Then you read the text again and notice what God is saying to you through that
word or phrase. Then you read the passage a third time to offer a prayer that grows out of your
time with the Word and the Holy One: it might be a prayer of gratitude, praise, confession, an
intention to be or do or say something in response. And then you simply rest for a time in God's
presence, like good friends who don't always need words to be in communion.
I often begin sermon preparation with lectio as I chew on and am fed by the week's text.
This week I was stopped early by the phrase “was led up by the Spirit into the Wilderness.”
Part of what stopped me so soon is how differently Matthew and Mark describe the
Spirit's action: Matthew says Jesus was led up by the Spirit. He goes to where the wild things
as a response to the Spirit moving in his life; it's not an idea he came up with on his own.
Sometimes we are indeed led by the Spirit if we pay attention. We seek God's guidance
about some aspect of our life and trust that God does answer prayer and so we listen intently for
that still small voice speaking to us through scripture or silence or someone's words or actions,
and we realize that God's leading us somewhere we might never have chosen on our own.
I believe the Spirit led me to walk the Camino last fall; it was a gift to experience God's
presence in a profound way, and I might've missed it if the Spirit hadn't spoken through Steve
Jones' invitation or I ignored that stirring within to connect in a deeper way with the Holy One.
Last Thursday we hosted Leigh Anne Taylor, the co-author of Our Family Outing. The
book is about ex-husband Joe coming out to her as a gay man and how they came through that
experience as people of faith. The book was born at an Annual Conference worship service.
The preacher asked the gathered folks how they had shared their good news stories and in that
moment the Holy Spirit moved in Leigh Anne's life and led her to the conviction that she had to
write about God bringing Joe and her through with healing, grace, and forgiveness.
When Leigh Anne told Joe she needed to write about her experience he affirmed that
movement of the Spirit in her. And then he surprised her by suggesting that they write the book
together. She thought that was the right thing but it also made her physically ill because that
meant working through the pain with him in a closeness they hadn't shared since their divorce.
Remember how I said Matthew and Mark are different in their description of the work of
the Spirit here? Matthew says Jesus was led up by the Spirit; but Mark says the Spirit threw
him into the Wilderness. Sometimes that's true, too. When Leigh Anne learned that Joe was
gay she felt thrown into a Wilderness where she lived for five years learning to lean in new and
fresh ways on the God who stayed with her there. And she felt thrown when Joe suggested that
they tell their story together; but in the end together they gave a powerful witness to God seeing
them through to a new life beyond death they could not have imagined on their own.
Every year, the Spirit gives us Wilderness time during Lent, to listen and learn and
wrestle in fresh ways what it means to live and die as Christ's follower. In the end, whether we
are led, thrown or given the Wilderness, in the end it's all gift.
Matthew tells us the Spirit led Jesus up into the Wilderness. That's the other reason I was
stopped in my reading so soon. You see geographically the Wilderness leads down to the Dead
Sea. But Matthew isn't describing physical geography but a spiritual landscape; he hints that
the Spirit leads us into the Wilderness to draw us up closer to God and to the sons and daughters
of God we are created to be.
Each of Jesus' tests is to put himself and his needs first, to satisfy a physical need and
miss a deeper hunger; to demand proof of God's reliability instead of trusting God; to
compromise with evil and make his life easier; to gain power on the world's terms instead
receiving the power that comes by living God's foolish ways. Each time he passes the tests and
in the end he is stronger and more able to face the challenges that lay ahead; after all the
Tempter won't give up without a fight to the death. In the same way, these 40 days are a gift for
us to be tested and tried and to become stronger as we rely even more on God's grace, as Jesus
did, as Leigh Anne did in her Wilderness, as I think I did on the Camino. The Wilderness is an
opportunity to go up, to go into a solitude most will not travel, to ask: will my life ultimately
focus on the superficial or the latest greatest spectacular thing? Will I make myself great by
thinking I'm superior to others and so use power over them? Or will I aim for the sublime life
that has such grandeur and beauty and excellence that it draws others to imitate it and find its
true source? I love that Jesus went into the Wilderness, whether led or thrown into it. That
means even he had to be tested; he's like us and no stranger to being tested. He also had to ask
if he was going to let anything in his life be more important that God and choose to turn away
from the world's goods to gain God's greatness.
The good news is that by his grace we can faithful and true in our testing and choosing.
The power of Leigh Anne's witness was her humble admission that she only made it to the other
side by grace and the promise there that God can see us through. She told her dad moving from
clenched fists of anger to open hands of acceptance and forgiveness; and when she asked how
that miracle was happened he said it was by watching the miracle God was doing in her.
Those good gifts can also come to us. Together on the journey we can learn grace and
forgiveness and generosity and what feeds our deepest hungers and to trust God more and more
each day; together we can learn the power of humble service and suffering love and obedience
to God that in the end will rule the world and conquer its heart. We can be set free of the
tempting allure of saving ourselves through our stuff and our money, and learn to give who we
are and all we have over to healing God's beloved and broken world.
Lectio divina is an ancient way to read scripture the daily examen is an ancient way to
pray that I shared with students last week at our coffee house. If you're interested, copies of
how to do the simple practice are in the narthex. It's simply prayerful review at the end of a
day, done in God's company; you give thanks for good things that happened; review emotions
felt during the day, focus on one thing that was a part of the day and pray specifically from it,
and listen and look in hope beyond today to tomorrow and what God might have in store. The
Examen is a mindful and intentional and attentiveness to life in God's presence so life can be
lived more holy and true and well. Lent is a season to be mindful and attentive whether led to
it, thrown into it or received for the gift it is. In the end, what is the Spirit whispering to me as
Christ's disciple? What needs to die in me so Christ can live more fully? What's standing
between me and the true life God wants? What is seducing me with easy promises that I need
to leave behind? How will I use Wilderness time to be led up toward God and say no to
whatever in the end would draw me down dead ends to nowhere good? God is speaking; the
Spirit promises grace and power to turn and live. The good news is that we do not walk alone
for Christ travels with us, thanks be to God.
-2014, David M. Hindman, soli Deo gloria.