"You Can't Unscramble an Egg!"
A sermon preached on The First Sunday of Lent, February 10, 2008, at Edgemont Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp. The sermon is based on Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 and Matthew 4:1-11.
Probably one of the first nursery rhymes you remember learning as a child was Humpty Dumpty. In fact, say that nursery rhyme with me:
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again."
I think it is interesting that Humpty Dumpty actually began, not as a nursery rhyme but as a riddle, asking the question: "What, when broken, can never be repaired not even by strong or wise persons?" Regardless of how hard we try, a broken egg can never be put together again; a scrambled egg can never be unscrambled. And so the same is true for our lives. We are, by nature, sinners and no matter how hard we try, no matter how desperately we strive we cannot keep from sinning. We are broken, however, unlike Humpty Dumpty, you and I can be repaired and made whole.
Someone once wrote;
Someone once wrote;
"Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’"
The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’"
These words take an added significance when we consider life as God originally intended it. And for a picture of this life all we have to do is look to Genesis chapter 2, which provides the basis for understanding who we were meant to be in relation to God, and to nature and to each other. This narrative is different from the one found in the first chapter in both content and style. It quickly moves from the world at large to the narrow stage of "a garden in the east." The literary style also changes significantly with its more colorful and detailed descriptions. The creation story of Genesis chapter 2 was actually written first and was meant to, as I said, to show humanity’s relationship to God and creation.
In the old New England catechism we are taught; "In Adam's sin, we have all sinned." And that is the thrust of this brief excerpt from the story of the Garden of Eden, albeit greatly elaborated by the Gospel Lesson this morning. Bret Philips Waters once wrote: "Wherever we step we hear the crunch of fragile [egg] shells beneath our feet." All around us is the reality of this broken relationship between God and humanity – the reality of sin in our lives and in our world. But unlike Humpty Dumpty, we believe in healing and restoration. In fact, John gives us a vision of such a world in Revelation 21, and certainly, this is the world in which we all seek after and, as Christians, it is such a world that we must strive to build and Lent reminds us that it begins with our own lives.
In our First Reading from Genesis, this garden is no simple paradise, but a place created by God in which humans live, and eat and work. It thus functions as a symbol of the unbroken relationships between God and humanity, and between humanity and nature. This story describes how these relationships were broken by the deliberate disobedience of the humans to whom God had given exclusive but limited oversight of the garden.
And certainly, through the season of Lent we have the opportunity to acknowledge our failures, to turn back to God, to receive God’s forgiveness and to begin to walk anew God’s way.
In our Gospel Lesson this morning, we see that it is sort of Jesus’ first day on the job, if you will, and immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. This is, without a doubt, a passage that a lot of Christians find both challenging and difficult to understand. First of all, we are told that it was "the Spirit" which drove Jesus into the wilderness. Prior to this, we have Jesus’ baptism and confirmation, where we are told that the Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove along with God’s confirmation; "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But then, we are told that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness - that barren, desolate and lonely place, where he is tempted - the Spirit led him there!
Now some claim that perhaps the gospel writers were speaking of another spirit, and not referring to the Spirit of God. But we must remember that the Greek word for "tempted" here is peirazo, which literally means; " to try" or "to make proof of." Usually, when we come across the word "tempted" in the scripures, it is used in a negative sense and means "to entice" or "to solicit" or even "to provoke to sin." Thus, Satan is referred to as "the Tempter." But the Spirit, we are told in the gospels, leads Jesus into the wilderness to try and prove his faith, if you will. To further, affirm that he is the Son of God – God’s Messiah.
All of the gospels, with the exception of John’s, tell the story of Jesus’ temptation. Mark’s is the shortest account - consisting of only 2 verses. Matthew and Luke begin with the same temptation, turning stones into bread, but they have a different order for the last two temptations. One writer suggests that Luke’s order has a more natural and geographical sequence, while Matthew’s order is more of a logical sequence, moving from the lowest level of temptation to the highest level of temptation. John does not mention this account because his perspective of Jesus’ life focuses more on divine nature, and not as much on his human nature and struggle. But nonetheless, we find that Jesus was tempted with wealth, and fame and power, trying to deviate him from his true mission and responsibility as the Christ - the Messiah, God’s Son who would bring reconciliation to the world.
There’s an interesting comparison between our two readings this morning. And I think it was vital for the gospel writers to make that connection. Certainly, Paul wanted to. In fact, in Romans chapter 5, we read these words; "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned – sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come… For if the many died through the one’s man trespass, much more surely have the grave of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many…. Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all" (Romans 5:12-15, and 18).
What Adam could not do, Jesus, the Second Adam, did. In the 2nd chapter, verse 16 of John’s first epistle he points out the three temptations that both Adam and Jesus faced: the first was the temptation of the flesh, Adam gave in to the fact that the tree was good for food, whereas Christ remained strong in Satan’s temptation to turn the stones into bread; the second was the temptation of the eyes, Adam failed receive the pleasing and enticing fruit, whereas Jesus overcame Satan’s lure to gain the kingdoms of the world without the cross; and the third was the temptation of pride, where Adam fell to the temptation that the tree would make him wise and like God, Jesus stood strong in the face of Satan’s temptation to throw himself down from the high pinnacle and allow the angels to rescue him.
The commentator, John Shearman wrote: "The mountain to which Satan took him symbolized Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Decalogue - the Ten Commandments. The vista provided Jesus with an option to use his authority, to be the typical warrior-messiah of Jewish tradition – you see, that was after all, the kind of messiah the people were looking for.
I find it interesting that there is a site on the edge of the Judean wilderness overlooking the Dead Sea near Jericho where Greek Orthodox monks still practice an isolated life of religious devotion. If this site is the site of the third temptation as tradition contends, the bare rock and burning sun do nothing to commend it as a desirable kingdom. But, it make an interesting point, Satan was offering Jesus a glory that he could not produce.
I want to close with something that I read sometime back. In Death Valley there is a place known as "Dante’s View." There, you can look down to the lowest spot in the United States, a depression in the earth 200 feet below sea level called "Bad Water." But from that same spot, you can also look up to the highest peak in the United States, "Mount Whitney," rising to a height of 14,500 feet. How ironic! One way leads to the lowest valley and the other way to the highest mountain. From that point, called Dante’s View, any movement must be in one or the other direction. And, you know, there are many times in life when we stand where the ways part and where choices must be made. Our Lord faced the same choices. He chose first to go downhill, to descend into the Hebron valley toward Jerusalem where he would inevitably face betrayal, persecution and death. And he decided to walk uphill which led to a cross where he would die for the sins of the world. And, my friends, thankfully the one who died upon that cross lives and walks with us through all of life - especially in the wilderness of temptation.
At the heart of these stories is that life is about making choices – good or bad. And certainly, we are reminded that like Adam and Eve, like Jesus we too are confronted with choices, with our own moral and spiritual decisions. And we must ask ourselves, how are we going to choose. What would Jesus do? May we, through this season of Lent, think about the choices we make every day and the results of those choices, and may we look to God for guidance and direction in making choices that we will be both a blessing to us, to those around us and to our world! Although, "all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put Humpty together again," God can and does put us together and can and does put us back together again. Amen.
In the old New England catechism we are taught; "In Adam's sin, we have all sinned." And that is the thrust of this brief excerpt from the story of the Garden of Eden, albeit greatly elaborated by the Gospel Lesson this morning. Bret Philips Waters once wrote: "Wherever we step we hear the crunch of fragile [egg] shells beneath our feet." All around us is the reality of this broken relationship between God and humanity – the reality of sin in our lives and in our world. But unlike Humpty Dumpty, we believe in healing and restoration. In fact, John gives us a vision of such a world in Revelation 21, and certainly, this is the world in which we all seek after and, as Christians, it is such a world that we must strive to build and Lent reminds us that it begins with our own lives.
In our First Reading from Genesis, this garden is no simple paradise, but a place created by God in which humans live, and eat and work. It thus functions as a symbol of the unbroken relationships between God and humanity, and between humanity and nature. This story describes how these relationships were broken by the deliberate disobedience of the humans to whom God had given exclusive but limited oversight of the garden.
And certainly, through the season of Lent we have the opportunity to acknowledge our failures, to turn back to God, to receive God’s forgiveness and to begin to walk anew God’s way.
In our Gospel Lesson this morning, we see that it is sort of Jesus’ first day on the job, if you will, and immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. This is, without a doubt, a passage that a lot of Christians find both challenging and difficult to understand. First of all, we are told that it was "the Spirit" which drove Jesus into the wilderness. Prior to this, we have Jesus’ baptism and confirmation, where we are told that the Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove along with God’s confirmation; "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But then, we are told that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness - that barren, desolate and lonely place, where he is tempted - the Spirit led him there!
Now some claim that perhaps the gospel writers were speaking of another spirit, and not referring to the Spirit of God. But we must remember that the Greek word for "tempted" here is peirazo, which literally means; " to try" or "to make proof of." Usually, when we come across the word "tempted" in the scripures, it is used in a negative sense and means "to entice" or "to solicit" or even "to provoke to sin." Thus, Satan is referred to as "the Tempter." But the Spirit, we are told in the gospels, leads Jesus into the wilderness to try and prove his faith, if you will. To further, affirm that he is the Son of God – God’s Messiah.
All of the gospels, with the exception of John’s, tell the story of Jesus’ temptation. Mark’s is the shortest account - consisting of only 2 verses. Matthew and Luke begin with the same temptation, turning stones into bread, but they have a different order for the last two temptations. One writer suggests that Luke’s order has a more natural and geographical sequence, while Matthew’s order is more of a logical sequence, moving from the lowest level of temptation to the highest level of temptation. John does not mention this account because his perspective of Jesus’ life focuses more on divine nature, and not as much on his human nature and struggle. But nonetheless, we find that Jesus was tempted with wealth, and fame and power, trying to deviate him from his true mission and responsibility as the Christ - the Messiah, God’s Son who would bring reconciliation to the world.
There’s an interesting comparison between our two readings this morning. And I think it was vital for the gospel writers to make that connection. Certainly, Paul wanted to. In fact, in Romans chapter 5, we read these words; "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned – sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come… For if the many died through the one’s man trespass, much more surely have the grave of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many…. Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all" (Romans 5:12-15, and 18).
What Adam could not do, Jesus, the Second Adam, did. In the 2nd chapter, verse 16 of John’s first epistle he points out the three temptations that both Adam and Jesus faced: the first was the temptation of the flesh, Adam gave in to the fact that the tree was good for food, whereas Christ remained strong in Satan’s temptation to turn the stones into bread; the second was the temptation of the eyes, Adam failed receive the pleasing and enticing fruit, whereas Jesus overcame Satan’s lure to gain the kingdoms of the world without the cross; and the third was the temptation of pride, where Adam fell to the temptation that the tree would make him wise and like God, Jesus stood strong in the face of Satan’s temptation to throw himself down from the high pinnacle and allow the angels to rescue him.
The commentator, John Shearman wrote: "The mountain to which Satan took him symbolized Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Decalogue - the Ten Commandments. The vista provided Jesus with an option to use his authority, to be the typical warrior-messiah of Jewish tradition – you see, that was after all, the kind of messiah the people were looking for.
I find it interesting that there is a site on the edge of the Judean wilderness overlooking the Dead Sea near Jericho where Greek Orthodox monks still practice an isolated life of religious devotion. If this site is the site of the third temptation as tradition contends, the bare rock and burning sun do nothing to commend it as a desirable kingdom. But, it make an interesting point, Satan was offering Jesus a glory that he could not produce.
I want to close with something that I read sometime back. In Death Valley there is a place known as "Dante’s View." There, you can look down to the lowest spot in the United States, a depression in the earth 200 feet below sea level called "Bad Water." But from that same spot, you can also look up to the highest peak in the United States, "Mount Whitney," rising to a height of 14,500 feet. How ironic! One way leads to the lowest valley and the other way to the highest mountain. From that point, called Dante’s View, any movement must be in one or the other direction. And, you know, there are many times in life when we stand where the ways part and where choices must be made. Our Lord faced the same choices. He chose first to go downhill, to descend into the Hebron valley toward Jerusalem where he would inevitably face betrayal, persecution and death. And he decided to walk uphill which led to a cross where he would die for the sins of the world. And, my friends, thankfully the one who died upon that cross lives and walks with us through all of life - especially in the wilderness of temptation.
At the heart of these stories is that life is about making choices – good or bad. And certainly, we are reminded that like Adam and Eve, like Jesus we too are confronted with choices, with our own moral and spiritual decisions. And we must ask ourselves, how are we going to choose. What would Jesus do? May we, through this season of Lent, think about the choices we make every day and the results of those choices, and may we look to God for guidance and direction in making choices that we will be both a blessing to us, to those around us and to our world! Although, "all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put Humpty together again," God can and does put us together and can and does put us back together again. Amen.
posted by Pastor Christopher @ 1:26 AM
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