The First Sunday in Lent
‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened.’
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It is often said that the temptation of Eve in the Garden is a simple temptation, one of accusing God of being a liar, of His word as being a trick.
‘Did God really say?’ It is a temptation to ignore God’s revelation as being false, and to substitute for it our own reason and strength.
It is not entirely wrong to say this, for surely Satan is in fact accusing God of being deceptive; and it is very appealing to us who live today, for it seems so much of what we consider the trials and temptations of the world revolve around accusing the Scriptures of falsehood, immorality, barbaric ideas, and superstitious notions.
The temptation to ignore the Word of God and instead trust our own senses, to see with our eyes what is beautiful and good to eat, and what is desirable to make one wise, it is a very real one in this age, for it is an age in which we are taught constantly to despise the wisdom and lore we have inherited from our ancestors and instead find our own path, live our own life, and discover our own purpose, often with the liberally applied aid of the internet.
It is for this reason that the young often talk about ‘adulting,’ the seemingly slow and grueling process of learning how to do basic household functions for oneself, since one chose to ignore their parents when they were attempting to teach the same.
‘When you eat the fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.’ Surely this is the modern temptation. Forget the old religion. It’s just a system of lies invented by oppressors to solidify their control over stupid people. Instead, listen to this theory about the subjection of women, or that theory about the subjection of a people, or this idea about a new utopia, or that idea about a new political hell. Listen to these, and your eyes will be opened to just how bad the world is, but more importantly, to how you can transform this hell into paradise with just enough political and social agitating, and, of course, the right voting record.
Vote for the right person, protest in the right way, curse the right people on the internet, rid yourself of the wrong family members and the wrong friends who disagree with you. Do this, and you will be like God, knowing who is good and who is evil. Do this, and you will be like God, for you will create a new world; and in not too long either, perhaps no more than six days.
And yet, it is not at all so obvious that this is exactly what the temptation of the devil to Eve is.
‘Did God really say?’
Is that a temptation to question the truth of the Word of God? Perhaps not. Perhaps it is a question to affirm that God had indeed said it. Perhaps it is a question to show that God said it, and that what He said was evil.
How often then do we gossip, hearing some embellished story from a friend about what their spouse or in-law or parent did or said, and when our friend drops the quote from that person that is the linchpin of her diatribe, the line where we are supposed to gasp, and our eyes as supposed to widen, how often do we respond: ‘Wait, did he really say that?’ It is a way of saying, ‘I believe you that he said that. And I think what he said is terrible.’
So now, the devil is not questioning what God said. The devil is questioning God Himself, His motivation, His goodness.
Indeed, God did say ‘you shall not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden.’ But why? The tree in the garden ‘shall make you wise, and open your eyes, and you shall know good and evil.’
The serpent argues: ‘Indeed, just like God, you will understand the world as it truly is. You will be changed. And you shall indeed become more like God, or to put it differently, you shall become godly.
‘Is that not the point of life? Were you not made in the image of God, and formed with the purpose of following after His likeness? Surely, He did not create you as His beloved possession so that you would become less like Him, or live like the dumb animals. That would be ridiculous! You are as His beloved children! You take after Him, your old man! And any good father wants to see their kids grow up to be a chip off the old block.
‘But how does He expect you to do that? By just figuring it out yourself? Or just through blind obedience to His rules? He just tells you ‘do this, don’t do that.’ And if you obey, He thinks you’re good. But that is no way to raise a child, dear Eve. That is not in keeping with the best practices of modern parenting. You must give your children room to grow, keep them from being traumatized by suffering. You can’t crush their creativity and individuality with authoritarian household management. Rather, you need to let them become their own person.
‘Here He has put a tree in the middle of the garden, and it shall indeed make you more like Him, more like God, but for some reason, He won’t let you eat of it. You say He won’t even let you touch it! Why is that? Well perhaps you could just say that ‘Father knows best.’ But if you ask me, it seems like He is just being withholding, or arbitrary. He just wants to make your life harder than it needs to be.
‘They call God the ancient of days, and maybe He is just that kind of old-fashioned out-dated masculine sort of guy, who just expects you to shut up and obey. But as long as you turn out well, and as long as you are happy, surely He will be pleased with you. After all, what He really wants is just for you to turn out as successful as He is. He wants you to be like Him, godly, godlike, like God; He wants you to know good and evil.
‘So eat of the tree, even though God said not to. You have no obligation to suffer and wait unnecessarily, even if it is God who asks you to do so. Eat of the tree, and you’ll see that I am right. Eat of the tree, and you’ll see, for your eyes will be opened.’
The temptation of the serpent in the Garden is not to disobey God because He is a liar. It is to disobey God because God is not worth obeying; because God is not good; because God wants you to suffer when you do not need to, when He could just let you live an easy life, one full of pleasure and success and victory. The serpent offers to Adam and Eve a simpler way. A shorter way. Just eat the fruit. A way that does not require one to suffer; a way that leads over the desert entirely, and simply drops one into the Promised Land.
Now, this temptation doesn’t seem quite so modern, but it does seem very familiar. I wish I could be charitable and say that the reason most people do not believe in the Gospel is because they have rational and well considered reasons why they find this or that doctrine difficult to logically defend. But in reality, most every atheist or agnostic I have ever met has refused to believe because they think that the Faith would make their life more difficult, less fun, less pleasurable. And much like the serpent, they are not wrong.
Now the Lord goes into the wilderness, and as the Second Adam, He is tempted by the serpent.
“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
The temptation is not in Satan insinuating that Christ is not the Son of God. Far from it. It is insinuating that though He is the Son, His Father surely isn’t treating Him as one. Should the Son go hungry, when food is ever at His disposal? For what father, when his son asks him for a fish, gives him a serpent, or when his son asks for an egg, gives him scorpion?
For surely the Son of God is not merely hungry for Himself, but for all mankind, who even in their ignorance, hungers and thirsts after righteousness. A meal of righteousness, and a feast of holiness He must institute for His people. Yet why must He suffer for it? Why doesn’t His Father, who is in heaven, just give it to Him? Even the man with a prodigal son in the parable slaughters the fatted calf for his wayward child, who was a sinner. Should not God the Father prepare the feast to celebrate the Advent of His sinless Son?
Yet Christ will not have it; for it is not with bread alone, that His people will be fed, but with bread, together with the word; with flesh, united with the Son. And that flesh must be drained of its blood, for it is a Sacrifice, wholly pleasing to the Father. For you see, the father in the parable indeed invites his sinful child to his feast; but the fatted calf to be slaughtered is the Son.
Again, the devil speaks: ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the temple, and fear not death, for God will send His angels concerning you.’
‘Leave this temple, this place of blood, this violent slaughterhouse, O Christ. For this house is the manifestation of your Father’s bloodlust, for He commands the death of thousands of helpless animals day upon day. Leave it, for it has nothing to do with you, O sinless one.’
But Christ responds: ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God. For you are wrong. My Father does not desire to kill so many animals. Indeed, he delights not in the blood of bulls or goats, nor does he desire the death of anyone. What, then, is it that He desires? A broken a contrite heart.
‘Indeed, all He asks is the death of His Holy One, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of Jerusalem. I shall not depart from this temple. Not until the will of My Father is completed. Not until the mouth of this temple, which drinks the blood of offerings is sated. Not until it is sated with the bread I shall bring, which is My flesh, united to the word of peace I shall speak through My blood.’
Now the devil leads the Lord up, and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world. ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ He says little else but: ‘Just listen to me, Jesus, and I will make your life easy. You have come to gather to yourself all tribes and nations, all kingdoms and tongues. Just listen to me already, and I will give them to you, with not need of blood or cross or sacrifice.’
But the Lord answers: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’
It is a fine offer that the devil makes. Much finer than that of St. Peter. All the kingdoms of the world. Why should He not take it? Is that not why He came? To make the nations His footstool?
But He refuses it, and for the only reason a good child needs: ‘My father told me no.’
It is with this that the devil leaves Him. And it is with this that He completes what Adam could not. For now, Christ has said ‘yes’ to the Father; the very Father who first told Him ‘no.’ He has said yes to the way of suffering that the Father has destined Him for, even when all that the Son has come for was offered Him apart from any anguish. He did this, for He loves the Father; even the Father who now gives Him a scorpion, when the devil offered an egg; the Father who gives Him a serpent, though the devil offered a fish.
Now His labors on behalf of mankind, on behalf of you and me shall begin, and now we shall bear witness to them, dear Church, for it is the season of Lent.
Watch, therefore, as Christ bears our curse to the cross; watch as He prepares for us the Holy Eucharist through the destruction of His body. Watch now, for,
‘By the blood sweat of His brow, we shall eat bread.’
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Preached by Pastor Fields
Sermon Texts: Genesis 3:1-21; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11.