Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Mathew  4.1-11

 

Matthew 16.21-24

 

 

The internet recently

had a list of horror stories

of what some people do

at a job interview.

 

These included

a candidate

who performed magic tricks,

another gave the impression

that she had murdered

her husband

and someone else

told the interviewer

that he would wrestle clients

to the ground

rather than trying

to diffuse difficult situations.

 

It sounds then

that these hopefuls

made the wrong choices.

 

But right or wrong choices

are the very stuff

of our lessons today.  

 

For we have heard that

Jesus had to make choices

during his trials in the wilderness.

 

Since he was tempted

by the wrong options

and had to make

the right decisions.

 

The result was he forged

a unique relationship

with his divine father.

 

Therefore we also

need to consider

what we choose

as our next step

on our Lenten journey to God.  

 

Yet on the face of it

Christ’s options

seem rather bizarre

in today’s culture.

 

But Kenneth Bailey

saw that they had

a universal meaning

for every age.

 

For he said

they were choices

about having and doing

and being.

 

 

One story I heard

in my youth

sticks in the memory.

 

It is of the best mask maker

in the world.

 

One day

the door of his back street shop

tinged open

and there stood

a young politician

who was a rising star

in the government.

 

He asked for a mask

to hide his lies

with a look of honesty.

 

This mask must also

hide his back stabbing

with a smile

and his duplicity

with serenity.

 

But it is all in a good cause

he said.

 

Of course – replied

the mask maker –

it will be ready in 7 days.

 

Well, that politician rose

until he ruled his country.

 

It was with some surprise then

that the mask maker

greeted this man’s wife.

 

She asked for a mask

to cover her loathing

of her utterly corrupt husband

, her derision

when he lied to her

and her revulsion

when his blood stained hands

touched her.

 

Of course said

the mask maker –

I will fit it in 7 days –

it’s a good cause.

 

Now that takes us

neatly to Christ’s temptations.  

 

And the one

that comes

most strongly to mind

is the ‘doing temptation’

of turning stones to bread.

 

For, if Jesus had fallen for it,

he would have found

a quick way to riches,

a lazy way to fame

and an easy way

to reduce world hunger.

 

For this option

of the Devil

was all about short cuts.

 

In other words –

the end justifying the means.

 

We too similarly tempt ourselves

to short circuits

with the words –

it’s in a good cause.

 

It is then we forget

the words

that we usually preface

that phrase with.

 

Because don’t we say –

what the hell,

it’s in a good cause!

 

Because the world

often lures

into the short cut –

to quick riches,

to easy success

maybe even

to trouble free solutions

to a good causes.

 

And any advert on TV

will illustrate my point.

 

Yet God’s way is rarely

so easy or quick.

 

Nevertheless, it is invariably sure

and right and lasting.

 

Therefore, we need to acknowledge

there are few short cut

to our Christian achievement

and there is no quick way out

of spiritual malaise.

 

In fact, we must also reject

any magic bullet solution

to any faith problem

of the moment.  

 

Instead, these will only

come from the willing acceptance

and the wholehearted adoption

of God’s plan for us.

 

As only a return

to the relentless work

of building our relationship

with God

will turn those stony weights

in our hearts

into the very bread of eternal life.

 

There is a wonderful scene

in Robert Bolt’s play,

A Man for all Seasons

which is about

the life of Sir Thomas More

and his struggle

with Henry VIII.  

In it, More is confronted

by Sir Richard Rich

who has just perjured himself.

 

Now Rich had recently

been appointed

as Attorney General for Wales

and was wearing

the appropriate chain of office –

embossed with a red dragon.

 

Sir Thomas More asks Rich

what the chain is for

and, on being told says,

“For Wales?

Why Richard, it profits a man nothing

to give his soul

for the whole world,

but for Wales?”

 

 

Yet Rich was a young man

in a hurry.

 

As a result, the end

did indeed justify means.

 

 Since he would do anything

to get what he wanted most.

 

A reminder then perhaps

also of the ‘having temptations’

that Jesus suffered.

 

For this alluring world

can offer

almost unlimited power,

prestige and wealth –

all that matters

is what people

are willing to do for it.

 

Yet we too

on a much smaller scale

are tempted by desires

to have this or that.

 

However, some of these things

may not be valuable or safe

or what God wants us to have

at this moment.

 

So this lent

let us not just beware

of the easy and the rapid.

 

Let us also take careful stock

of our wants and wishes,

our aims and ambitions,

our staging posts

and our destinations.

 

Then let’s submit each of them

to Christ’s measure.

 

And his yardstick

will always be –

how long will these detain us

in the wilderness

or how close do these take us

to his Father’s Kingdom!  

 

 

The Northumbrian Community’s

Daily Prayer entry

for 2 March says this.  

 

The monk is defined

not by his task

or his usefulness

but being a man of God.

 

Well as the descendents

of those who tried

to follow Christ’s way

in the solitude of the desert,

we too

must have the same aim.

 

Since this observation

takes us to the final aspect

of Jesus’ temptations.

 

The ones that ask ultimately

who do you want to be?  

 

Because our Lenten quest

for God

is not really about

having or doing.

 

Instead we must focus on being;

being a woman

or man of God.

 

Since in the pursuit

of that desire alone

is the foundation

to prevent the hunger

for the easy

and rapid way of doing.

 

In that choice alone

is the antidote

the demand

for what

we should not have.

 

For, in that sense of being alone

is the sense

in losing ones life

in order to regain it!   

 

Or as Christoph Probst,

who was executed

by the Nazis

in 1943,

wrote:

 

I thank you

for having given me life.

 

When I think really think it through,

it has all been

a single journey to God

 

 

 

In a naval trial

there was a point

when the defendant

can choose between the judgement

of his commanding officer

or of a court martial.

 

After the options are outlined,

a formula question is asked.

 

And it is –

all these avenues

are open to you

what do you want to do?  

 

Well as we continue

to journey back to God

this lent,

may we be aware

we have choices to make.

 

To choose between

the world and Christ.

 

For do we can have

as the world

or God gives.

 

We can do

as the world does

or as God plans.

 

Indeed we can be

as the world would tempt us

or as God would give us.

 

All these options are then open –

what do we want to do?

 

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

 

HYMN…………….

 

 

Your Choice!