Collect
God of mercy, Jesus found a sure defence in your word: strengthen us to persevere faithfully as we confront the temptations of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
Readings:
First Reading: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’…
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ 2 The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.”’ 4 But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Psalm 32
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned— 13 sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. 14 Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. 19 For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ 4 But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, ‘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.”’
7 Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; 9 and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ 10 Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Doesn’t life sometimes feel like you’re on a little boat in a big storm, being tossed about fearing for your loved ones, others and yourself too as you face the challenges thrown at you?
I personally find it appropriate and comforting that our Liturgical calendar replicates this: only last Sunday, we enjoyed the heights of the TRANSFIGURATION. Then, on Wednesday, we had the solemnity of ASH WEDNESDAY, and the beginning of LENT…
And today, I’d like to welcome you to the first sermon in our series on “death and the Christian”.
In support of the services, there are also resources the Godsell’s have developed for groups to draw on to shape conversations, which will include: Holy Scripture; Atul Gawande’s book “Mere Mortality”; our Church Tradition; what group members have learnt from family and friends; other faiths and their traditions; as well as Literature.
Atul Gawande is an American surgeon, writer, public health researcher and professor at Harvard Medical School. He is chairman of a nonprofit that works on reducing deaths in surgery globally and is the author of the books Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal, which is apparently a good read…
In our gospel reading, we heard about the temptation of Jesus after he fasted the 40 days in the dessert, and how he refutes each of the three temptations.
Isn’t Temptation 1 to put our EARTHLY NEED FOR FOOD AHEAD of our SPIRITUAL NEED FOR MUTUAL LOVE OF GOD? Is it not about satisfying the LUST OF THE FLESH to live forever in this form, for example, rather than trusting in God’s plan for us, which includes dying?
Isn’t Temptation 2 to INTERPRET SCRIPTURE TO JUSTIFY SINFUL SELF INTEREST? Surely this include seeking for our present earthly individual lives to be sustained indefinitely, at whatever cost?
Isn’t Temptation 3 about WORSHIPPING EARTHLY POWER, NOT GOD? Surely this would include our vanity in seeking eternal youth and life in this form?
If we think about our society’s tendency to seek first the maximisation of the duration and comfort of our own earthly lives, don’t you think that we are really succumbing to these three temptations?
God’s process and plan for us includes death - death is an important, even an essential part of our journey as Christians.
I’ve personally learnt this lesson, and I’m going to tell the story of two deaths to illustrate it…
On 12 August, 1983, the day after my 15th birthday, my grandfather died of cancer, despite my absolute faith that God would save him... He fought to the end, doing all he could to not disappoint me, and the rest of the family, and he had repeatedly been asking about my birthday, and did all he did to last till then… I was devastated, and I was very angry with God for years…
On 29 March 2009, my father died of cancer, but this time, I understood that dying was part of our journey… It was truly beautiful: we spent time together, as a family, giving my dad permission to die, asking him what he was feeling and seeing… His last words were of wonder, as he felt water falling on him, which I know was the living water of the Holy Spirit, and he died peacefully that night…
I now believe that God gave my grandfather a much better gift that earthly life, God gave him eternal life!
I have personally had a glimmer of what eternal life is like – on Sunday 24 September 2006, while opening the Eucharist, I suffered a stroke…
I was blind for 3 days, and was so confused, I could not find my way around or remember properly for days. BUT, during this time, I felt God and God’s love so overwhelmingly, I was seldom afraid…
In fact, in my “healing” (which I prayed for, as I knew I had responsibilities including my wife and little children) feels like a cloud of “unknowing” has hidden what I saw and felt in those amazing days….
In conclusion, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds us: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies… So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body… When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’”
AMEN!
Rev Gavin Smith
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