FIRST READING Genesis 3:1-21
1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
PSALM Psalm 32:1-7
1Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away! 2Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile! 3While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. 4For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. 6I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. 7Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
SECOND READING Romans 5:12-19
12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned — 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the man will be made righteous.
GOSPEL Matthew 4:1-11
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
DR JEKYLL MEET JESUS
We like think of everyday temptations as satan trying to get us to do something wrong. But is satan always the one who temps us, or are we at times the culprit? I read a cute story the other day about a pastor and his wife in the 1930s. Back then clergy pay wasn’t what it is today, and they lived on almost nothing. One day the pastor came home and there his wife stood in a gorgeous new dress. “Where’d you get that dress?”, asked the pastor. “Bought it today,” she says sheepishly. “How much did it cost?” “Ten dollars.” “Ten dollars!” the pastor repeats in shock. “We don’t have that kind of money.” The wife looks down and says quietly, “I know, but the devil made me to do it.” “When that happens,” the pastor shouts, “you’re supposed to say, ‘Get behind me, satan.'” “I did,” she says. “And he said, ‘Looks good from back here too.'”
That’s not quite the same temptation as Jesus endured. The devil isn’t struggling each time to get Jesus to do what’s completely wrong, so much as to do some things for the wrong reason. The word “temptation” in the New Testament also means a trial or a struggle. Matthew chapter 4 records a lot of spiritual struggle going on in this deserted spot of Palestine. And the thing we need to consider, in this account, is that because Jesus is our brother, He’s out in the wilderness struggling against satan on our behalf. Jesus didn’t just die for us. He was born for us, was baptized for us, and was tempted for us. Jesus is the person who lived for God and others. He did all that for us.
However, what’s important for us to remember is that the stories of Jesus’ struggle with satan aren’t recorded so we’ll admire Jesus, but so Jesus’ Spirit may become active in our lives and become for us the pattern for how we’re to live. “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered,” the book of Hebrews says, “he is able to help those who are being tested” (Hebrews 2:18). Because the risen Jesus lives in us, every temptation we endure, is a temptation Jesus also endured like us.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a story many of us have read or seen on TV; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll was esteemed in his community–a gentleman in every respect. But Dr. Jekyll had some secret vices which he kept carefully hidden from public view. Thus Dr. Jekyll had the same dilemma faced by some people today–he wanted to maintain his reputation in the community, but be free to practice the vices that he knew would be repulsive to his neighbors. So, Dr. Jekyll hatched a plan.
Late at night in his laboratory, the respected Dr. devised a potion that would allow him to transform his physical features at will, becoming a different person altogether. Thus, he could move around town and practice his unsavory vices without his neighbors knowing anything about it. During the day, he was the amiable Dr. Jekyll, a credit to his community. At night, however, he would transform himself into Mr. Hyde, a sociopathic monster that cared for no one and wreaking havoc everywhere he went.
Initially, Dr. Jekyll could control these transformations, but such unrestrained evil couldn’t be kept in check for long. One night in his sleep, without any intent on his part, he was transformed into Mr. Hyde. Even worse, the evil monster within began to dominate his life and eventually took over completely. Dr. Jekyll disappeared completely; only Mr. Hyde was left. Stevenson’s point was that there’s a battle going on within each of us; the age old battle of good verses evil.
Each of us carries around within us a little of Mr. Hyde and if we don’t pay constant attention to our character, we too, can be dominated by our lesser selves.
But the question is why? Why does this inner Mr. Hyde have so much influence? St. Paul tells us that it’s because we are descendants of Adam. Our Puritan forefathers were taught, “Through Adam’s fall we sinned all.” That too was St. Paul’s conclusion. Through one man, says St. Paul, sin came into the world. We’re all familiar with the first two people in the Garden of Eden. Adam defied the commandment of God and the consequences of his rebellion were not only tragic, but they extended far beyond Adam himself.
It’s interesting that the first thing the Bible says about Adam’s son Seth, is that he was made “in the image and the likeness” of his father (Gen. 5:3). And it’s been that way ever since. We’re all created in the image and likeness of the first man. There’s within each of us, a spirit of disobedience and rebelliousness. We want to go our own way and do our own thing, without any regard of our responsibilities to God or others. The proper name of this spirit of disobedience is sin.
St. Paul wants us to know that the primary problem in human life is sin. That truth is at the very heart of our understanding of the relationship between God and humanity. More than any religion, the Judeo-Christian faith is concerned with ethics and morality. Part of being in a right relationship with God is to seek always to do God’s will. Deep in our hearts we know this. That’s why we feel guilt when we do something we know is wrong.
But how do we please the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? We do so by obeying His laws. Jesus said in John 14, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (23) God is a holy God who desires holiness, righteousness and, most importantly, love on the part of His children. Doing what’s right, at all times and in all places, is how we will live well in this world and the world to come. But our first reaction may be to ask, how is this possible? After all we’re only human. And yes, our humanness can be a problem.
There’s an old story that tells about a man who was visiting a strange town. He stopped at a telephone booth to call his motel. In the booth, the man saw a sticker that said, “If you are tired of sin, read John 3:16.” Some wayward scribe had written in below the sticker, “If you’re not tired of sin call Klondike 3-3344.” Sure, we chuckle at the joke, but the truth is, the more we know about life and people, the more acutely we become aware of how great a price is often paid because of moral and ethical weaknesses.
Many years ago, a large fishing boat developed a leak. The owner, bringing it in for repairs, discovered a hammer that had been left in the bottom of the boat by the builders. The constant motion of the ship had caused the hammer to beat against the insides of the boat until it had worn away the wood and the metal and caused the leak that nearly sank the ship. One small mistake, seemingly hidden from view, had major consequences years later. Seem isolated?
You may be surprised to hear that a similar incident occurred in September 1978 on board a nuclear submarine. A worker accidentally dropped a 50¢ paint scraper into a torpedo launcher of the U.S. nuclear submarine Swordfish, which jammed the loading piston. Since the submarine was still at sea, divers worked for a week attempting to free the piston, without success. Ultimately, the submarine had to be put in dry dock, where repairs ended up costing more than $171,000. Both of these could be seen as minor incidents.
A hammer accidently dropped into a wooden hull. A paint scraper accidently dropped into a torpedo launcher. Yet both led to serious unanticipated complications. Unresolved sin and guilt are often like that. My father liked to remind us boys that the “law of the harvest is absolute.” This law is based on Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” We reap what we sow. Even a small act unconfessed, can lead to serious heartache and pain later in life. It may not seem fair, but we can spend a lifetime paying for a single foolish mistake.
There’s a story told about a farm boy who was angry at a neighbor who hurt his feelings. He wanted to somehow get even. Then an idea came to him. Early one morning he rode twenty miles on horseback to purchase a bag of Johnson grass seed. That evening, he sowed his neighbor’s richest bottom land with Johnson grass. For those of you who have ever dealt with this monstrous nuisance, you know that it’s nearly indestructible and almost impossible to get rid of. As expected, the Johnson grass came up, and the neighboring farmer fought Johnson grass until the day he died. The young man it seems had his revenge. Or, did he?
Before long, the young fellow grew up and fell in love with the farmer’s daughter. They were married, and when the farmer died he left the farm to his daughter. The young fellow who went to such great trouble to hurt his neighbor years before, spent the rest of his life fighting Johnson grass too. Usually the penalty for our sins isn’t that obvious. Still, the moral is valid. You reap what you sew. We can pay a lifetime for a foolish and sometimes petty act of moral impropriety. Every decision we make or act we do, has consequences and these consequences can be either good or bad.
By our very nature, you and I are sinners. In Psalm 24 we read, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” The answer of the Psalmist is, of course, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart . . .” and we must confess, that we have neither. So how can there be any hope for those born in the likeness of Adam?
St. Paul’s answer is that our hope is in Christ.
St. Paul writes, there is a second Adam, and that second Adam is Jesus Christ. The first Adam brought death and destruction through his disobedience. In stunning contrast, the second Adam humbled himself, submitted to the will of his Father and provided for us the means of salvation. Matthew gives us that unforgettable picture of satan taking Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem. There satan tempted Jesus to use earthly fame and glory to establish His kingdom.
Later satan took Jesus to a high mountain where He could behold all the kingdoms of the world. All of this would be His, satan declares, if He bowed down him. The greatest temptation of all, however, came later in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” (Matt. 26:39b) Each time Jesus was tempted, He submitted His own will to the will of the Father. And the impact was this: Just as each of us share in the consequences of Adam’s sin, so each of us share in the benefits of Christ’s obedience. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners,” St. Paul writes, “so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19) That one man, of course, is Jesus Christ. It’s Christ alone who can free us from the power of sin and the devil.
Personal discipline is helpful, but there are many disciplined persons who are still captive to their sins. Good intentions are a great starting point, but there’s much time-proven truth in the adage that good intentions are the paving material for the road that leads to hell. There’s a flaw in the fabric of human character that only God can mend. There’s only one way we’ll ever be free from the sin that so easily beset us, and that’s to open ourselves to God’s grace, His forgiveness, His love. Only by looking to the new Adam can we escape the curse of the old one.
There was a story in Reader’s Digest sometime back about a man named Walter Wyatt, Jr. who was flying from Nassau to Miami. Normally this flight took sixty-five minutes. But thieves had looted the navigational equipment in Wyatt’s Beechcraft plane. For this flight, he had only a compass and a hand-held radio. Dark storm clouds threatened a fierce storm. Soon his compass began to gyrate. No longer trusting his instruments Wyatt flew below the clouds, hoping to spot something that would tell him where he was. He put out a mayday call. A nearby search plane answered his call and led him to an emergency landing strip six miles away. But before he could get there, his right engine coughed its last and died. He was out of fuel. There was nothing left to do but glide the plane into the water. He survived the crash, but his plane sank quickly. Soon he was bobbing on the water in a leaky life vest.
Suddenly he felt a hard bump against his body. It was a shark. Wyatt kicked the shark away. Somehow, he stayed afloat for the next ten hours. When the morning broke, he felt another shark brush against him and he saw two more sharks headed his way. Again, he kicked the sharks away. Wondering how much longer could he survive, he heard an aircraft headed his way. The pilot radioed a cutter, the Cape York, which was twelve minutes away: “Get moving, cutter! There’s a shark targeting this guy!” Soon a ladder was dropped over the side from the cutter and Walter Wyatt climbed out of the water and onto the ship. He fell to his knees and kissed the deck. He’d been saved.
St. Paul is telling us that our situation is like Walter Wyatt’s. There’s nothing any of us can do, on our own, to free ourselves from the power of sin at work in our lives. Positive thinking won’t do it. Personal discipline won’t do it either. Christ is our only hope. The only way to be free from the power of sin is to accept God’s gift of grace which comes to us through Jesus Christ. Many of us are wracked with guilt. Some of us are entangled by destructive habits, practices and addictions. Some of us may be endangering our health and our relations with our families. We’ve tried self-help programs, we’ve read magazine testimonies from people who’ve wrestled with the same demons, but we haven’t been able to create a strategy for coping with these self-destructive forces that have us in their grip. Our only hope is to turn to Christ. Only His grace will give us what we need to make a new start.
Maybe a simple story will help us understand our situation: A French writer was in a trench during World War I. While in that trench, he overheard a conversation. One man in the trench was dying and knew it. He only had minutes to live. He turned to another man and said, “Listen, Dominic, you’ve led a very bad life. Everywhere you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, here, take my wallet, my papers, my identity, my good name, my life and quickly, hand me your papers that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death.”
This wounded man wanted his friend who had made many mistakes to be able to make a new start. So, he gave him his identity–his papers, his wallet, his good name. Is there any better example of what Christ seeks to do for us? All we have to do is turn to Him and accept His amazing grace. This then brings us to the final way we’re set free from the power of sin: We’re to humble ourselves following the example of Christ and seek to live a new life by His grace. This doesn’t mean that we arrive at a state of perfection. In this life, we never escape completely the nature of Adam. But we do seek, by His grace, to be conformed to the image of the new Adam, Christ himself–to have the same mind of Jesus who humbled Himself and became obedient unto God.
The writer of a familiar Gospel hymn stated this principle well: “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.” That’s the simplest formula imaginable. That’s the secret to being set free from the power of sin–trust and obey. Look to Jesus and, by His power, live as fully as you are able according to the will of God.
There’s an ancient legend that the cross of Christ stood on the same spot where the forbidden tree stood in the Garden of Eden. It’s just a legend, but poet John Donne used that idea for one last poem, written on his deathbed. It goes like this: “We think that Paradise and Calvary, Christ’s cross and Adam’s tree stood in one place; look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me; As the first Adam’s sweat surrounds my face, May the last Adam’s blood my soul embrace.” This was John Dunne’s way of affirming that there are two natures within each of us, the first Adam, and the second, Jesus Christ. We are both dust and divinity.
The central tragedy of our lives is our inability to save ourselves from our lesser nature. But the good news is this: There is one who transcended the limits of humanity, and He has made it possible for us to be free from the power of sin as well. Dr. Jekyll, meet Jesus. He can set us free from the demons that torment us. All we have to do is look to Jesus, trust Him and obey Him, and we will be saved.
Amen