The Rev. Joseph Farnes
All Saints, Boise
Lent 1C
“Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.”
Over the past few weeks, this hymn of Harry Emerson Fosdick has been rolling around in my mind. It’s a rousing call to hope and action – in the midst of turmoil, we ask God to give us wisdom and courage to face what lies before us instead of asking God to pluck us out of it all and rescue us from temptation and the time of trial. This hymn reminds us that the work of Christianity, the Christian journey, is not a solo enterprise; it is more akin to a group project, with all the frustration and agony that inspires.
Harry Emerson Fosdick was an American pastor in the early twentieth century. He rose to prominence for a sermon entitled “Shall the fundamentalists win?” in 1922 wherein he challenged mainline Christians to recognize the threat that fundamentalism posed to the Church. Fundamentalism in the 1920s had its sights set on taking over denominations to purge them of anything modern. Fundamentalists demanded that science must be rejected in favor of their interpretation of the Bible, and that only their narrow theology was “true” Christianity. Anything else had to go, and Fundamentalists believed that anyone who wasn’t of their theology could not be considered Christian. And so Harry Emerson Fosdick took to the pulpit for his explosive sermon. Explosive, but not so much in its content; he was not condescending or mocking in his tone; it was explosive because of how people responded. He pleaded for both liberal and conservative Christians to be united together for an expansive sense of Christianity – one that made room for many to ask questions as we try to follow Jesus, rather than joining the Fundamentalists in entombing the faith in unchangeable, dead stone.
And following Jesus is a risky endeavor. Contrary to some of the preaching of some of our siblings in Christ, believing in Jesus does not make all of life’s problems disappear. Some of them preach a gospel of wealth, where God doles out blessings of wealth to people who follow him the right way. Some of them preach a gospel of power, wherein God wants Christians to seize power in order to impose their will on everyone to build a “godly” nation. Some of them preach a gospel that denies this world, where everything must be #blessed and the power of positive thinking. All of these false gospels, too, entomb the living faith – but, even worse, they have given birth to a false gospel wherein empathy is a sin, mercy is a heresy, and love is denied and derided.
Look at the temptations the Devil gives Jesus in our Gospel reading: You could have bread and anything you want, you could have power over all the nations, you could make everyone stare in awe as the angels rescue you. Interesting that those temptations seem to have ensnared so many throughout the centuries!
Believing in Jesus means trusting in God alone. Believing in Jesus means worshipping God alone. Believing in Jesus means keeping God at center stage instead of taking the spotlight for ourselves. Believing in Jesus means more than believing ideas about Jesus – that remains part of the flaw of Fundamentalism. Believing in Jesus, in this and every age, is about following Jesus wherever he goes – to the home of the leper, to the table of the tax collector, to the woman caught in adultery who is about to be stoned to death, and even to the cross! – and in today’s reading, that means following Jesus into the wilderness.
The wilderness is a scary place, full of temptations. But the temptations are there just as they are in the city. In the city, these temptations are “business as usual”, they don’t need to hide. No wonder that little piece at the end of the Gospel – the Devil departs until an opportune time. The Devil has temptations set aside for later.
But in the wilderness, we start to see these temptations more clearly. We see how these and all the temptations lurk in our hearts. These temptations have always been there, too. We go into the wilderness with Jesus not to be tempted but to notice temptation. Jesus isn’t leading us into temptation – we’re already tempted! – but we do ask him to save us from the time of trial – help us to do the right thing!
Because the temptations are already present. They bubble up. Self-righteousness. Cold-heartedness. An emotion of anger at a perceived snub. Simmering resentment that begins in passive-aggressiveness and ends with an explosion. A refusal to acknowledge our own failures and a hastiness to point out others mistakes.
They bubble up – just like all our thoughts, just like all our emotions. But what do we do with them?
Do we react – “I’m famished, I’m angry, I deserve it” – or do we respond – “One does not live by bread alone”. Do we react – “Gotta know the rules of the game to win, and even better if I can break the rules to make sure I win big!” – or do we respond – “Worship God alone – not wealth, not power”.
Jesus calls us into the wilderness to see more clearly our temptations, and it is not just for our sake. This isn’t an individualistic idea of wilderness. It’s not just about choosing correctly when tempted so I get the prize. It’s choosing to follow Jesus and bring others to follow him in their own temptations.
So many people are tempted by false gospels of wealth, power, world-denial, and hate. Why do they succumb to such temptations?
Are they afraid, like the Fundamentalists in the 1920s were? Are they afraid of losing what they thought was familiar, are they afraid of a faith that seeks understanding instead of certainty? Are they scared of their own feelings?
Are they addicted to contempt and anger? Does the rush of feeling superior to someone, of watching someone else suffer – does that rush feed a dopamine circuit in their brain, does it make them feel powerful?
Are they lonely? Are they so disconnected from their hearts, minds, and bodies that they cannot authentically connect to anyone else? Are they stuck in their own personal hell?
Because we too could have fallen into those temptations. Perhaps we did succumb to them once – maybe we fought hard to return to Jesus or maybe Jesus himself brought us to the wilderness to face our temptations without the distractions that kept us imprisoned.
It took courage to do so. It takes courage to look at our temptations square on. It takes courage to acknowledge that our gut reaction may not be what we are called to do. It takes courage to choose instead the way that draws us closer to Jesus. It takes courage to follow Jesus into the wilderness, or onto a storm-tossed boat, or to the cross. We’re always tempted to stay home, stay on the shore, or stay in safety. It’s human. But wherever we are called to go, we don’t go alone. We are following Jesus. And we’re joined by all those saints in heaven and on earth who follow Jesus, too. We can be afraid, we can be scared, but we can also be courageous. “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour.” Amen.