Sunday 6th March 2022, Lent 1
At the beginning of Lent, we are reminded of Jesus sojourn into the wilderness and his three temptations – temptations of the flesh or bodily appetites, symbolised by the bread; the human lust for power, and the third temptation being the human longing for fame and success… ‘Come out from obscurity, Jesus, show yourself, and the world will fall at your feet.’ Or in today’s world, broadcast yourself on twitter, Instagram, tiktok…. Increase your followers, and the party invitations and money will roll in. It’s incredibly seductive to those using social media today.
These temptations were all framed in particular way, they are rationalised to appear to be the most sensible, right, course of action.
Jesus, if your message is going to get traction, you need fame, visibility, recognition. Don’t labour in obscurity. Think of the amount of followers you will get, for God’s kingdom, of course. It’s important to visible, applauded, admired. Your heavenly father wouldn’t want you to be considered insignificant.
Humanity has a remarkable ability to rationalise temptations and be very creative in the ability to deceive ourselves.
You see this in one of the first psychological novels of our age - Dostovesky’s Crime and Punishment. In it, the impoverished student Raskolnikov convinces himself that it’s okay to kill an old pawnbroker for a bit of money. Everyone hates this lady, she hoards money and is merciless to her patrons. Raskolnikov would be acting in the greater good by killing her. He convinces himself to transcend bourgeois morality. That’s what really great Napoleonic figures do in pursuit of a higher purpose or goal. So, in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov rationalises his decision and go through with committing this despicable crime, a crime that throws his life into turmoil.
Dostovesky was writing at the same time Nietzsche who was saying a similar thing. We need to transcend the slave morality of Christianity, we need Übermensch or ‘extraordinary man’, living above the standard conventions of morality.
For Nietzsche, masters know a different ethic entirely: “According to master morality it is precisely the ‘good’ who inspire fear and want to inspire it.”
On this Nietzsche agrees with Machiavelli, who said that in politics it’s better to be feared than to be loved. And here we arrive at the heart of the matter. Nietzsche’s supreme value was the ‘will to power’, the title of one of his most significant books.
We see this acted out in Nazi Germany, who loved Nietzsche.
And we see this acted out in the events of the last week. Political will and ambition is backed by the use of military power and might.
In a broadcast to the Russian people, Putin explained why their armed forces were crossing the frontier into Ukraine. And his explanation has political and theological roots. He believes in a mystical union in what used to be the land of Holy Rus, a union that holds together the sacred land, the sacred people who inhabit it, and the sacred Orthodox faith. The land itself is an icon, concealing and revealing the presence of God.
This goes back 1000 years to St Vladimir the Great, who ruled a realm which incorporated what is now Russia, together with modern Ukraine and Belarus.
The question is, who else in Russia really shares Putin’s mystical destiny to restore a new heaven on earth, ruled by him personally? Or might they perhaps wonder what in heaven and earth has the Christianity of the Gospels, especially Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, have to do with territorial aggression against a neighbour? Its sounds more like the rationalisation of Raskolnikov and the philosophy of Nietzsche, than the Gospel values we see in Jesus of Nazareth.
These are the temptations and powers that Jesus resists, first in the desert, and throughout his ministry.
Jesus’ obedience and faithfulness in the desert take the form of resistance: we discover the sort of Messiah he will not be, the means he will not take, the ends he will not pursue.
He was to be a Messiah that walked the path of humble service and eventually death. His power was one that would bring healing to people and between people, not a power that performed cheap publicity stunts. Or enforced the kingdom of God by the use of power and might.
And so we pray for the people of Ukraine…. You will be aware of practical ways to support them.
And what might Lent hold for us? And our tendency to rationalise sin?
Maybe it means it’s time to follow Jesus into the desert. Time to stay and look evil in the face. Time to be aware of evils rationalising voice within our lives too. And to be honest with ourselves in recognizing its allure and confess its appeal. This is not meant to crush us. Rather, to liberated us to be fully human, reflecting God’s image and likeness in our lives.
It’s important to remember that Lent isn’t a time to do penance for being human. It’s a time to embrace all that it means to be human. Fully human, made in the image and likeness of God. Human and hungry. Human and vulnerable. Human and beloved.
Revd Dr James Heard
Vicar, United Benefice of Holland Park