In his book, For the Sake of the Bride: Restoring the Church to Her Intended Beauty, United Methodist scholar Steve Harper shares how his 2014 Lenten experience “included the clear call to become spiritually near-sighted for a season, so that a spirit of confession and repentance might take the place of condemnation and degradation.” It is in the spirit of such transformation that we enter another Lenten season; hopefully one that leads us away from “looking over the fence into the yards of others” so that we might more plainly “see the weeds in our own.”

Lent, after all, is a season for self-reflection, traditionally commemorating the forty days and forty nights Jesus spent in the wilderness. The Gospels tell us that while there, the devil tempted Jesus. Alone in that desolate space, writes W. Paul Jones, the devil offers Jesus “possessions, prestige, and power” (Matt 4; Luke 4)— turn stones into bread, jump off the temple, and rule the world. Possessions, prestige, and power. The opportunity to look over the fence into someone else’s yard for weeds while standing in our own.

While we may have grown up being told that discipleship can involve “bringing back a sinner from wandering” (James 5:20, NRSV) such a task is full of pitfalls and trapdoors. While we work for reconciliation, we are always to do so “with a spirit of gentleness” for the risk of being tempted ourselves is always near (Gal 6:1). Therefore any corrections must be offered in a spirit of charity and care in order to “Bear one another’s burdens” properly (Gal 6:2). Therefore we must ask ourselves as Paul asked the Romans, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? … why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

‘As I live, says the Lord, every

Knee shall bow to me,

and every tongue shall give

praise to God.’

So then, each of us will be accountable to God” (Rom 14:10b-12)

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As we can see, the devil had no authority to demand Jesus bow down to him, or offer any of the things he promised. Only God could name Jesus “ruler of kings on earth” because Jesus did bow. Not to the devil, but to God, as “the faithful witness” and “firstborn of the dead” (Rev 1:5).

Neither Satan, nor sin possess the power to do anything eternally good in this world, and that includes our individual lives. While possession, prestige, and power may provide the fleeting opportunity to look over the fence into the yard of others, we have no authority over our neighbor, save that which God has given - the authority to love them as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31), to care for them as we care for ourselves (James 2:14-17). Something to consider deeply as we move through this election year.

This is a time to turn inward, “to become spiritually near-sighted for a season so that a spirit of confession and repentance might take the place of condemnation and degradation.” May we resist the temptations of possessions, prestige, and power, the desire to peek over the fence, so that we can commit to searching out the weeds in our own yards. If we commit to this, at the end of the season, we are sure to find the one Mary thought was the gardener, the One who was tempted just as we are, working alongside us.

See you in church,

Pastor Zach