The First Sunday in Lent, Feb. 10, 2008
BCP: Gen. 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25–3:7; Psalm 51 or 51:1-13 ; Rom. 5:12-19 (20-21); Matt. 4:1-11
RCL: Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Rom. 5:12-19; Matt. 4:1-11
These passages give us two temptations, a lament, and an interpretation. None of these makes for light reading. The interpretation by Paul at least gives us a slight advantage since its allusions go in both directions — to the temptation and defeat of Adam and Eve, and to the temptation and dominion of Jesus.
In fact Paul seems to realize how we can be overwhelmed by the events. He hands us several comparisons. By these we can make sense of the heavy theological content of the temptation accounts. The pairs are: Adam and Jesus, the voice of Satan and the voice of God, death and life, sin and righteousness, weakness and dominion, condemnation and justification. Just seeing the comparisons moves us closer to grasping the import.
The first comparison is Adam and Christ. Adam, Paul reminds us, is a type of the one to come. Jesus came just like Adam…but not quite. Human, yes, just like Adam. Able to be tempted? Of course. If not, he would not be just like Adam, and us. But if he is to save us, he has to be like us — except without sin.
The temptations present the divergence. Would Adam trust God? Would Jesus trust the voice he heard at his baptism a few days earlier? Adam and Eve heard, “Did God really say…” Jesus heard a similar line: “If you are the Son of God…”
Adam’s disobedience brought consequences to us all. Milton expresses the results poignantly in Paradise Lost. “Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat/sighing through all her works gave signs of woe/that all was lost.”
Through the obedience of Jesus comes the hope of reversal. As there was a stain from Adam’s fall that has colored all of us in inclination and in spiritual death, something else spreads from Christ’s obedience. From Christ’s obedience we find a fountain of forgiveness and strength in our weakness.
Where is the bridge over which we can pass from one to the other? When Nathan confronted David on his adultery, David sought such a bridge. In his lamentation over his sin and his humble honesty about his sinfulness, he found the way to the Father. “Have mercy, purge me, create in me, cast me not away, sustain me. . . ”
Look It Up
Dust off your collection of John Milton and read Book IX of Paradise Lost. He’s almost as good as Paul in his interpretation.
Think About It
In the light of Christ’s temptations, what are the opportunities and what are the limitations of the Millennium Development Goals?
Next Sunday
The Second Sunday in Lent (Year A), Feb. 17, 2008
BCP: Genesis 12:1-8; Psalm 33:12-22; Romans 4:1-5 (6-12), 13-17; John 3:1-17
RCL: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
