First Sunday of Lent, February 26,2023: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11; Psalm 32
Last week we were up in the mountains, now we’re in the wilderness. It is only after Jesus has been there forty days and forty nights that the tempter comes to him. It took that long for the tempter to think Jesus was vulnerable to his blandishments. What the tempter offers is power: power to turn stones into bread, to have the angels catch him in mid-air, or power over all the kingdoms of the world “and their splendor”.
My guess is that few of us have been offered such enticing temptations. We think people in power have, though, and often that they have “sold their souls”. But what about us? Our job in Lent is to think about these things. What temptations do we face? What is it that chocolate, or dessert, or whatever we have given up for Lent, stand in for?
Here the story of the garden of Eden may be instructive. God did not want Adam and Eve to have knowledge of good and evil: that’s the one tree they are not supposed to eat. God knows that knowledge will cause trouble. But they *want* knowledge; and the serpent tells them they will not die, but their eyes will be opened. Adam and Eve fall for it. They want to know.
So do we: we seek knowledge. Knowledge gives us power. As individuals, we’re interested in gossip (let’s be honest!) or other people’s secrets. As a society, we want to know how things work. Innovation proceeds regardless of the impact. Decisions about everything from medical care to sentencing by the courts are driven by algorithms that few of us understand, but which use our age, race, gender, education and goodness knows what else about us. Our computers know what products we have looked at, and end up sending us creepy ads for similar things.
Knowledge of course, like any kind of power, can be used for good or evil. Our job in Lent is to ensure that we are using knowledge to advance God’s kingdom. To quote Jesus, to not just worship God, but “serve only him”.