The readings for 6 March, the First Sunday in Lent, are as follows (to read them, go HERE):
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
Some years ago, I was a member of a group of people who had a decision to make. It was an important and official decision, and the group was firmly divided between two different camps. One side wholeheartedly wanted to say yes to the decision; the other side just as firmly wanted to say no. I was on the no side, which was the minority.
As we wrangled over the decision, it became clear to me that the difference between us was that both sides saw the presence of evil in the circumstances that led to this particular situation, but we had a totally different view of evil. One side, the yes side, saw evil as societal: poverty, racism, discrimination, and so forth. The other side, the no side, saw evil in subtle machinations of human behavior: manipulation of other people, emotional blackmail, and arrogance, to name a few.
For the most part, people tend to think of evil in societal terms. But poverty, racism, inequality, and all the rest are manifestations on a societal scale of the influence and working of evil in human hearts.
As we all know, we currently are witnessing a massive example of evil: the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. War is a societal evil, but this one proceeds from the working of evil in one man’s mind and heart, and then the capitulation of others to his desires.
And there is the difficult part: not to capitulate, not to give in, to be able to stand up to evil in some fashion. In the past ten days we have seen some remarkable examples: governments, sports bodies, financial institutions, manufacturers and retailers, and especially individuals standing up to the evil that has been unleashed. Is it enough to stop Putin? Probably not. But these all are examples of people having the courage to begin to say “enough is enough” on some level and to take some initial steps to protest the evil.
So much comes down to the decisions we make. People and institutions are facing some very tough decisions. And the truth is, we face decisions and choices every single day to stand up to evil or to capitulate, to give in. Generally our everyday decisions are not so momentous as the ones we have witnessed in the past week. Except … they are, because the little decisions we make about how we spend our money and our time, the decisions we make about how we treat one another, the decisions about what and whom we watch and listen to and pay attention to — all these little decisions add up to the big ones, for they set us on a trajectory, on a path, as an individual and as a nation.
Today I am not going to address the choice of a nation going to war or an individual fighting evil with force. There are considerations, but for today I stay with our everyday little decisions.
And if we want help with those choices we must make (even when we do not realize the choices are there before us), if we want the courage to make the hard decisions, there is no better way than to adhere to the Christian faith and to follow the Christian path.
I have spoken before in sermons of what brought me to the Christian faith. I have said that when I received the Eucharist, I felt that God’s grace and strength were with me to live my life. And I have said that I took up reading the Bible every night and felt that I was reading truth. But what I have said less often is that behind it all and driving me forward to receive Communion and to read the Bible was the need to face evil. And what I found was that the Christian faith looks evil and sin in the face and does not flinch. The Christian faith responds to evil and sin with the Resurrection of Christ; it says that evil and sin will not triumph, that the light of Christ dispels the darkness of evil, that human beings united and guided by the power of the Holy Spirit can rise above evil. By following a Christian path, I came to know that God’s power is greater than mine, and that I would be helped and sustained.
We are in the season of Lent, a time of self-examination, self-denial, and repentance. (I always say that Lent happens to us whether we have planned for it or not — and hark! a war begins.) It is a time of examining those decisions and choices we make. So as we watch — and participate in — these tough choices being made around the world in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we might ask what we can do to help. And we also might ask what seemingly small but insidious choices we make every day and how we might brush them off as inconsequential. There are many ways that we justify ourselves in our sins — whether of thought, word, or deed — but these are just a few things we might say to ourselves:
This one time won’t hurt.
No one will know.
To do otherwise just is not practical.
I’m not responsible. It’s how I was brought up.
I’ve been put upon in life. I deserve to be able to do this.
I’m entitled. I’m better than other people.
And of course …
The devil made me do it.
You note that Jesus does not use the excuse, “The devil made me do it.” On the first Sunday in Lent, we always hear a Gospel passage about how Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days, immediately after he was baptized. And he was tempted by the devil. The devil tempted him with food (for Jesus was famished), with power over the nations of the world, and with pride in being God’s Chosen One.
What Jesus does in response is actually a good lesson for us in how to respond to evil. Jesus does not try to argue with the devil. He simply responds with Scripture. He responds with truth. Evil constantly lies: think of a certain world leader or two and what they say. Jesus responds to the temptations with lines from Scripture — and significantly, lines that reflect the dominion and power and authority of God — meaning, God is greater than anything else:
“One does not live by bread alone” (the rest of the phrase is “but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”).
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
How do we face evil? How do we keep our decisions and choices along the lines of what is right and true? Even more, how do we get on a path and then stay on a path that is right and true and godly?
You want the short path? You may not like it.
It is devotion. Devotion to the Lord God Almighty. That means love and gratitude. To love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul. To thank God for all the gifts you have, as Moses told the Israelites to do as they were about to enter the Promised Land, and to bring your gifts to the Lord, as Moses told the people to do. That means sacrificing something of what you have for God.
Devotion means acknowledging that God is greater than anything else and saying it out loud. Praying the Psalms is a great way to do this, like the one we had today:
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides under the shadow of the Almighty,
Shall say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my stronghold,
my God, in whom I put my trust.’”
And then really do put your trust in God.
Devotion means doing the things God has given you to do in a joyful way. Have a purpose that is right and true and godly that is higher than yourself and has been given to you by God. You cannot have devotion if you are focused on yourself.
Ultimately, the aim is to put your mind, your heart, and your entire being in the realm of God’s goodness and mercy and love. Will some choices be hard? You bet. But the alternatives, in the end, are worse.