The New
Revised Common Lectionary (NRCL) recommends as the gospel reading for today –
the first Sunday in Lent – The Temptation of Jesus story from Luke 4:1-13. The initial reasoning is obvious I think: the
passage talks of the forty days of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. This segues into the 40-day observance of
Lent into which the church has just entered.
At that level I suppose that the reading is appropriate.
But, in
another consideration, I don’t like this choice at all. The reason being that, if we equate our
experience with that of Jesus¸ then the purpose or emphasis of our Lenten
observance must also be with temptation.
You can use the word “testing” or “trial,” but the connotation is the same. The time of Lent becomes something grim in
our eyes.
Sure,
Jesus’ fast translates into our practice of “giving up something for Lent.” But what about the rest? There is no real corollary in human
experience to the call to transform stones into bread. We are not truly given an opportunity to rule
all the kingdoms of the earth. And while
I don’t want to deny the possibility of divine intervention, I can’t remember
any contemporary example of someone who jumped from a high place only to be
borne up by angels. The transference just
doesn’t hold up.
I do not
deny the value – or inspiration – of this or any other passage of
scripture. And, I don’t suppose that
there is any biblical passage that is truly inappropriate for any given Sunday
or time of worship. I do wonder, though,
about designating this passage or its synoptic counterparts as the
Lenten reference. The gospel readings
for the rest of the season of Lent have nothing to do with forty or
fasting. They call to mind other
legitimate seasonal themes.
Make no mistake, the
Temptation narrative is the gospel text at my church today. I call to question, though, the implicit
position that this is the great table-setter for the season, and that no other
passage can carry the freight. It is not
a season about temptation. It is not a
season about the miraculous. It is a
time when real human beings grapple with their own fallenness and the grace of
God that delivers them from that Fall.
That’s my
story and I’m sticking to it.
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