The text for the sermon is taken from the Lent I Collect:
“Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness.”
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Just a few weeks ago, Fr. Mark explained to us that in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, he is admonishing their theology of the body. The parish in Corinth had lots of spiritual gifts—so much so that they thought they did not have to care about what they did with the body.
So Paul implored them to fight hard, take care of the body and train it like an athlete does. Remember, if athletes train so hard and get wilted celery crowns, how much more should you train?! Again, this week he is calling them to not give up, giving offense in anything, so that his work there as the priest should not be blamed! And then Paul this time gives himself as the example to be followed as their shepherd. And it is here that Paul truly unpacks the mystery of the Christian life, in that it is a life seemingly full of paradox. Paul writes that “Christians live as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:8-10).
We have seen this type of language before from Paul when he wrote that he is abased and yet abounds, and now he is continuing this line of thought to the Corinthians who were having a hard time navigating their faith amidst a very complicated and pagan society.
It is with this teaching in mind that the lectionary placed us back in Corinth during the Sunday focused on temptation and fasting. The Corinthians understood the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. St. Paul had no need to describe those to them—they struggled to see how fasting with their bodies mattered anything if they could spiritually prove their faith through prophecies, speaking in tongues, etc.
A lot has changed from Corinth, and yet, it seems that in some ways we have returned to a Corinthian culture. Today in our place of time, fasting could be the most important ascetic practice for us.
Our Collect for this Sunday puts it so well—first, we ask for God’s grace to use our fasting in the right way. There are fasts, as we learned from the Ash Wednesday Gospel that could be harmful, opening ourselves up to an arrogant self-confidence. The purpose, the Collect continues, is for our flesh to be subdued to the Spirit. Notice that it does not say that our flesh may die or be used up, but that it might finally be in the right place which is subdued to the Spirit. The result of fasting, then, is opening ourselves up to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, the godly motions in righteousness and holiness.
At first, this seems a bit paradoxical, doesn’t it? We are depriving the body so that it might accomplish something greater? And here we must understand that the Christian view of fasting does not deprecate the body. The Orthodox bishop, Kallistos Ware puts it so well: ““Ascetic self discipline, then, signifies a rejection of the world, only in so far as it is corrupted by the fall; of the body, only in so fat as it is dominated by sinful passions. Lust exludes love: so long as we lust after other persons or other things, we cannot truly love them. By delivering us from lust, the fast renders us capable of genuine love. No longer ruled by the selfish desire to grasp and to exploit, we begin to see the world with the eyes of Adam in paradise. Our self-denial is the path that leads to our self affirmation; it is our means of entry into that cosmic liturgy whereby all things visible and invisible ascribe glory to their Creator” (Ware, Introduction to Triodion, 27-28).
Fasting actually helps us back into a right relationship with our bodies, other people, and God. Our supreme example of this comes from the Gospel account where Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. Matthew’s account of the temptation draws upon several OT themes and events. Moses fasted for 40 days as he wrote the ten commandments in the presence of God. Elijah fasted after having been fed by the angel with bread during his flight from Jezebel. After he had fasted, the Lord God met and spoke with Elijah. These prophets fast in order to accomplish the work of God, and Jesus’ fast presents him in his prophetic role, the great advocate for his people.
Matthew is also calling to mind Jesus’ connection with Israel as a nation. Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and failed to follow the commands of God, Jesus now is presented as the conqueror in the wilderness. He is the perfect model, following the will of His Father despite the temptations of Satan.
The connections to the OT go beyond the prophets or Israel, to the very beginning. Jesus should be seen as the New Adam, the model of a re-created humanity, healed from the wounds of the fall. Adam was in the garden with every need provided and with the companionship of Eve. Jesus is now alone, hungry, and in a desert wilderness. As Adam had every advantage to not sin, now Jesus is tempted with everything in favor of the tempter himself–and yet Jesus prevails where Adam failed. Gregory the Great points out how Jesus is now answering the sins of Adam, reversing the destruction that Adam wrought.
“The old enemy tempted the first man through his belly, when he persuaded him to eat of the forbidden fruit; through ambition when he said, “Ye shall be as gods;” through covetousness when he said, “Knowing good and evil;” By the same method in which he had overcome the first Adam, in that same was he overcome when he tempted the second Adam. He tempted through the belly when he said, “Command that these stones become loaves;” through ambition when he said, “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence;” through covetousness of lofty condition in the words, “All these things will I give thee.””
Here we see a true reversal of Adam’s sin by Jesus, the true Son of God. Adam gave up his special relationship as a child of God in order to be a God. Satan tempts Jesus in the same way, attempting to make him deny his Sonship. In each of the temptations, Satan challenges the declaration of God at Jesus’ baptism. “If thou be the Son of God”–that is the title God the Father gave Jesus just prior to the temptation! Satan is challenging Jesus’ sonship, but in each challenge, Jesus puts his Father’s will before his. Instead of instantly making food for himself, Jesus allows His Father to give it to him as He did for Israel in the wilderness. He refuses to expect, as a false prophet would, that God supports those who put him to the test. Instead, he obeys as a perfect son. Finally, he denies the temptation for worldly power as the Pharisees and others (including Peter at some points) expected from him. Instead, he humbly serves in the kingdom of His Father. Jesus reverses Adam’s sins, faces the devil and conquers as the New Adam, the true Son of God.
The devil is not amused and leaves him, perhaps furious that the age-old and dependable temptations he put before Adam have not conquered the New Adam. What joy, what hope! The fall has been recast, the devil’s lies seen through, and his head under the foot of Christ.
To summarize, the disobedience of Adam is matched by the radical and free obedience of Christ. Again we come to the paradoxical nature of the Christian life–that our freedom comes from obedience.
We are incorporated into Christ and enjoy this same freedom, but we are still chained to our sins that we refuse to give up. In our own lives, obedience to God often requires force, and it requires force against ourselves, to work against ourselves so that we may give ourselves to God.
What stands in our way? How can we break those chains? The Lord told us himself: fasting and prayer! When we fast and pray we teach our bodies that we live on much more than bread alone, that our bodies need to be ruled.
But we also during a fast join with Christ in a small way. When we give up our sensual desires for the sake of a higher desire, our self-denial is joined to Christ’s. As we begin to imitate him, we become like him, and we can join his true freedom.
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“Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness.”