Sermon preached by Rev. Emily Tanis-Likkel, Eagle Harbor Church, UCC
August 23, 2009
Luke 22:39-46 and Ephesians 6:10-20
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”
“A tabloid newspaper carried the story, stating simply that a small-town emergency squad was summoned to a house where smoke was pouring from an upstairs window. The crew broke in and found a man in a smoldering bed. After the man was rescued and the mattress doused with water, the obvious question was asked: 'How did this happen?' The man replied, 'I don't know. It was on fire when I lay down on it.'”1 This story retold by Robert Fulghum, although from a tabloid, actually sounds quite believable. I can imagine that there would be a person so foolish as to lay down on a burning bed, can't you? How many of us, knowing we were about to do something unwise, even destructive, to ourselves or others, did it anyway? All of us.
Today we are wrapping up our exploration of the Lord's Prayer. Addressing God as our loving parent, we have committed ourselves to joining with God in establishing God's Kingdom of love and grace. We have sought to align our will with God's will. We have prayed for provision of our daily needs. We have asked for forgiveness as we have forgiven others. Today we are exploring the petition of the Lord's Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In this prayer we pray for the completion of what God has begun. It is already true that God does not lead us into temptation. James 1:13-14 as a commentary on the Lord's Prayer, reads, “No one, when tempted, should say, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one's own desire, being lured and enticed by it.” The spirit of the prayer is for God to keep us strong that we may resist temptation. Temptation is unavoidable, and so we must pray always. In the Lord's Prayer, after we are taught to pray for strength, we are instructed to pray for rescue. For we all get mired in evil somehow. We fall, but God rescues us over and over again, delivering us from what threatens to swallow us up. God's grace is always reaching out to us, when we grab hold, we are pulled in to God's loving embrace.
In this prayer we recognize that many things in life promise to be daily bread. Adam and Eve believed they just had to have that fruit. We too, believe that we are not strong enough to resist temptation. Yet in this prayer, we ask for the strength. Ephesians 6 teaches us to clothe ourselves with God's armor to give us strength in the fight against evil. Far from advocating violence, this metaphor challenges us to guard ourselves with truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith, knowledge of our salvation and discernment of the word that God would have us speak to the world.
Like the rest of the Lord's Prayer, it is no mistake that the word us is used, and not me. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Although we sin individually, we sin corporately as well. This prayer is not for me to pray by myself for myself, but for all of us to pray for all of us. It is whole communities, whole societies, nations, and the world who need to be lead away from that which does not satisfy, and to the God who does.
Following his baptism by John in the Jordan River, Jesus retreated to the wilderness for 40 days. He prayed, fasted, and was tempted by Satan. This personification of evil first tempted him to put aside his vow of fasting in order to eat and be satisfied. It was a temptation to seek to be filled in ways that seem so innocent, yet leave a spiritual deficit. The desire for material things, of trying to fill the void in our lives by bread that does not last – the clutter in our drawers, the over-packed schedules, the credit cards and mortgages and car loans, it is the stuff that promises so much happiness and gives anxiety in return. Jesus remembered the teaching from Scripture that we do not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from God. After Jesus resisted the temptation to eat, Satan tempted him to flaunt his special status, suggesting that he throw himself over a cliff to be rescued by angels. Many of us have status anxiety. Our business cards, membership cards, degrees and certificates try to tell us that we are what we do. We size up one another, thinking we have someone figured out if we know occupation, religious affiliation, race and approximate age. Even parents at the park forget to ask each other their names when they get to talking; only introducing their children. The temptation is to compare parenting styles, to use their children’s' successes and failures to gauge the other's worth. Jesus was tempted to use his relationship with the Father for his own personal gain, in order to show his status, but remembered the teaching, do not put the Lord your God to the test. When he resisted this temptation, Satan offered him the world for his soul. The temptation was to give up on God. We are living in an anxious, fearful time. We know so many who are without jobs, so many who struggle. The temptation is felt to drop down into despair, to lose hope, to stop fighting for justice, to run from grace and mercy. At times we are tempted to compromise our values and our faith, to give up prayer, to forget the Good News. Jesus refused. He knew the text, 'worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' We are offered buy-one, get-one-for 50% off, plenty of space in the blogosphere to show how great we are, and the world for our souls. When we remember that we are God's beloved, we are given strength to resist the temptation to be led to ourselves, and instead to accept God's offer of deliverance, of transformation.
Jesus teaches us to watch and pray, to take a stand against all that separates us from God. He told the disciples to keep awake, to watch – we are to pay attention to our lives, to be mindful, that we may be attentive to the Spirit moving in our lives. He told them to pray that they may not be led into the time of trial, that they would stand firm in faith no matter what. What gave Jesus strength in the wilderness was remembering what he had been taught about God. He remembered Scripture. We are given the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit. This armor of God is offered through the Word of God spoken in Scripture, in prayer, and through wise men and women through the ages.
Jesus in Luke 21 teaches, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life . . . Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and stand before the Son of Man.” Watch and pray. Watch that you are alert to God's ways and will. Stand firm in faith like Daniel in the Lion's Den, trusting that God will keep us strong in the midst of crisis. In praying for the ability to resist evil, we ask for spiritual nourishment to keep close to God. For sin is the turning away from God. It is anything that threatens to separate us from God, such as fear, greed, addiction, and hatred. In a story of the Desert Fathers from the 3rd century, a monk asked one of these third century mystics, 'Why do the demons fight against me?' The Abba answered, 'the demons do not fight against us as long as we are doing our own will. When we seek to change, then our own wills become the demons, and it is these which attack us.'” And so when we feel an internal struggle, it is in that crisis that transformation may be born. In this prayer we are asking God to lead us away from ourselves, and toward God.
I found a chilling inversion of the Lord's Prayer. I think that it sheds some light on the temptations of humanity, and on how important it is to have Jesus' teaching on prayer. This Lord's Prayer flipped reads: “Master of earth, exalt my name above all others. Give me a kingdom where my will is never thwarted. Let me take whatever I wish, and grant me vengeance over all who oppose me. Let me satisfy my every desire, and give me the power to crush anyone who stands in my way.”2 The temptation is to be oriented only to our own desires. The Lord's Prayer seeks to open us up and orient our gaze to God and the world.
Psalm 121 is a blessing that we can use as a prayer for strength and rescue: “I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and you’re coming in from this time on and forevermore.
God is with us, giving us strength through all of life's challenges, crises, and temptations. We struggle, and at times feel helpless, that the call to live like Christ is too difficult. But we pray to accept the deliverance God offers us. It may have been on fire when we laid down on it, but when our rescuer comes, we need to accept the outstretched hand. God rescues us from ourselves, from our desires for that which leaves us empty. God fills us, nourishes us, sustains us.
Our father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. -- and notice that the Lord's Prayer closes with praise--For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Not our names, not our stuff, not our will, not our praise. The Lord's Prayer culminates in the recognition that God's kingdom is the most-real realm, that God is in charge, that God is deserving of all our praise. May it not be on fire when we lay down on it, may we strive to live as God calls us. May we watch and pray. And the final word has the last word -- Amen – so be it. Like the 'I do' of a marriage vow, it is not the end, but the beginning. Amen?
1 Robert Fulghum. It was on fire when I lay down on it. New York: Villard Books, 1989, p. 5.
2 Lorraine Kisly. The Prayer of Fire: Experiencing the Lord's Prayer. Brewster, Mass: Paraclete Press, 2004, p. 91.