First Presbyterian Church
Remedying Spiritual Dryness
Part 3
Sermon for February 10, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Our unison scripture reading is Psalm 32. Psalm 32 points to the joy that follows true repentance and the pain that unrepented sin causes. 1 The psalmist speaks of those whose sin is forgiven as happy or the word could also be translated as blessed. And then we hear the voice of God in verses 8 and 9, and then we go back to the voice of the psalmist in verses 10 and 11. Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Psalm 32.

1 Of David. A Maskil. Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2 Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.

7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.

11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

This ends our reading of the psalm. Our gospel reading is Matthew's account of the devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness. You may follow along in your pew Bibles on page 3, but we will be reading from my translation, so some words will be different. This is a familiar story to many of us, so I hope hearing it with different words will help us listen to the story better.

In the book of Job in the old testament, the Hebrew Bible, the devil is a spy and a proctor; he administers calamities to test Job's faithfulness. He administers temptations here. The devil is not disputing whether or not Jesus is the Son of God, but testing Jesus to see what that means.

When the devil refers to Jesus as the son of God, Jesus answers with a scripture about what a human being needs. The gospel of Matthew emphasizes Jesus' own humanity. Our scripture reading begins just after Jesus is baptized by John. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Matthew 4:1-11.

1 Then Jesus was brought up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.

3 The tempter came and said to him, “Since you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4 But he responded, “It is written, ‘A human being does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God's mouth.”

5 Then the devil took him into the holy city and put him on the temple's edge, 6 saying to him, “Since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down below; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,' and ‘With their hands they will carry you, lest your foot hit a stone.'”

7 Jesus stated to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not subject the Lord your God to a test.'”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur; 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Go away Adversary! for it is written, ‘You will worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.'”

11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and provided for him.

This ends our reading of God's word.

Let us pray.

O gracious and holy God, give us diligence to seek you, wisdom to perceive you, and patience to wait for you. Grant us, O God, a mind to meditate on you; eyes to behold you; ears to listen for your word; a heart to love you; and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus has been fasting for forty days; mystics often fast before they receive visions; one theologian likened Jesus' experience of temptation with a vision quest.

Forty is an important number in the Bible; when it is used, it lets us know that something significant is happening: the rains of the flood happened for forty days; Moses was on the mountain forty days when he received the law; the city of Nineveh had forty days to repent.

The season of Lent lasts forty days. Lent is a time for reflection on our human existence, a time for penitence and contemplation of our mortality. During Lent, we recommit ourselves to discipleship, to the promises made at our baptisms: to reject evil and serve Christ. Lent began last Wednesday, when we observed Ash Wednesday, and lasts until March 22. The six Sundays in Lent are not included in the count.

Let's listen to the choir.

Jesus was baptized, then immediately taken by the spirit to be tested. Sometimes, once we commit to follow Christ, the temptations come suddenly. One theologian said, “Just because we call ourselves Christian does not mean that we are not tempted to follow the way of the world. In fact, we can easily fall away from discipleship if we do not have [Lent,] this annual reminder of our frailty.” 2

We are frail human beings, prone to mistakes and sins.

We don't always have the kind of faith we want. This sermon is part of a series on remedying spiritual dryness. Victor Parachin lists seven ways to jump-start your spiritual life. One of the ways is to forgive ourselves.

He writes, “Self hatred is one source of spiritual dryness. To experience greater spiritual power, pardon yourself more freely. By forgiving yourself you will redirect the energy you have been using to put yourself down into ways of serving others.

He quotes D. Patrick Miller: “To forgive yourself is to release trapped energy that could be doing good work in the world. Thus, to judge and condemn yourself is a form of selfishness. Self-prosecution is never noble; it does no one a service.” 3

But forgiveness is hard for us to accept sometimes. It's easier to keep punishing ourselves. The psalmist said that people who are happy and blessed are the ones who have confessed their sins and asked for forgiveness. If God can forgive us, we should be able to forgive ourselves.

Then the psalm says, “Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.”

I was reading this week about animal training at the Portland Zoo. Poppy is a 3,000 pound hippo. Her keeper Diane is teaching her to come to the bars of her enclosure. Her reward is some vegetables from Diane and a chin rub from the zoo vet. If the vet ever needs to draw Poppy's blood, it's easier on Poppy if she comes when she's called.

But Poppy is still being trained. She doesn't always do what she's told. Last week's article described a time when Poppy was supposed “to go back into her enclosure. "

‘Come!' Diane urges. No movement. ‘Come! Come!' Nothing.

‘That is a stubborn hippo,' [Diane] says. [She] never uses force. Instead, she gives Poppy a ‘time out' -- about 30 seconds without praise, treats or attention. Then she says ‘Target!' in her happy voice. Poppy touches her nose to the target stick, refocusing her attention and earning a click, praise and a treat. Then the big animal amiably rambles into her enclosure.” She wasn't always this docile.

“When the hippo arrived at the zoo, she was afraid of people. On Poppy's first day, a zookeeper inadvertently startled the young hippo. Poppy crashed through a solid door, and the zookeeper was lucky to escape unhurt.”

So the keepers “put her with Bubbles, another young hippo who'd just arrived and who was more relaxed around humans.” 4 I expect that by watching Bubbles, Poppy learned that human beings could be trusted, and Poppy was able to emulate Bubbles' behavior.

If the animals don't do what the trainers ask, they risk illness and death; their keepers can't take care of them if the animals don't know to come and stand still.

When we don't ask for God's forgiveness, we miss out on God's mercy.

When we don't accept God's forgiveness, and keep punishing ourselves for our mistakes, we miss out on God's loving kindness and steadfast love. The psalmist says, “Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.”

The devil offered Jesus lordship over the kingdoms of the world. But that would be just a continuation of the hierarchical structure of domination. There's not much steadfast love there. If you are a peasant under a king, what does it matter if you become a peasant under an emperor? Jesus was not about ruling the kingdoms of the worlds as they were, but transforming the kingdoms into a better alternative: the realm of God.

The devil tested Jesus with food and help from angels; Jesus didn't accept. Once the devil left, the angels came and provided for him. In all this time, Jesus hadn't eaten. He hadn't taken anything at the devil's suggestion; instead, when the devil abandons him, the angels come.

Since Jesus was the son of God, he trusted God; he wasn't looking for “miraculous exceptions to the limitations of an authentic human life.” 5 Instead, he showed us the value of human life and how to walk in the way of that steadfast love.

1 Gonzales, Catherine Gunsalus, “Preaching the Lenten Lectionary,” Journal for Preachers, Lent 2008, p.4.

2 Gonzales, Catherine Gunsalus, “Preaching the Lenten Lectionary,” Journal for Preachers, Lent 2008, p.4.

3 Parachin, Victor, “Seven Ways to Jump-start your spiritual life…and remedy cycles of dryness,” Presbyterians Today, October 2000, p. 22.

4 Wood, Deborah, “Sit. Stay. Good beast,” Oregonian, February 5, 2008, D1.

5The New Interpreter's Bible, VIII, p. 166.