The Space Between

When I was in Long Island I had a shut in named was Irene who lived about six houses down the street from the Church.

I would visit with her often.

She wasn't really in that bad of shape.

Mainly she complained about the arthritis in her hands.

And every time she would say, "You know pastor that is just the way it is".

She lived in the space that many of us find ourselves.

It is in the space that Jesus' finds himself in today's Gospel.

It is the space between assurance of faith and when trusting God is the hardest.

It is the space between knowing for sure that God is with us, and wondering where God went.

It is the space between having all the answers, and not knowing at all what is happening or what will happen.

When we read the temptation of Jesus it is easy for us to think of it as simply a test of Jesus being offered sin and Jesus rejecting it.

But the story is about more than that.

It is about identity.

"If you are the Son of God…"

Jesus is offered assurance of who he thinks he might be.

Jesus is offered easy answers in a more complex world.

Because many of us think this is the way faith works.

If I do this thing than God will give me this.

If I say the right prayer, or do the right deeds, then my life will all be fine.

And the truth is that it doesn't work that way.

Even the Son of God suffers for the world.

When I would visit Irene I would have loved to tell her that all she needed to do is have faith and her arthritis would be cured.

But it was like she said, "It is just the way it is".

There was no prayer for me to offer her.

There was no magic Bible passage to make it all better.

There was no magic potion.

And this is the hardest thing about our faith.

Is that there are no easy answers.

When we find ourselves in difficult times there is no way to get out of them that is fast and easy.

This week I talked to the husband of a woman who I did the funeral for a couple of weeks ago.

Bob's wife was only 34 and she died while giving birth to their son.

He called because he was upset.

It is natural to be upset after losing your wife.

I told him that I wish there was some easy solution for him.

But the truth was there is no easy answers.

There is only going through that painful process we go through when someone we love dies.

There is only the living day to day and feeling the full weight of that loss.

Jesus knows this.

He knows that the devil only offers easy answers to a faithful life.

You can't jump off a building to prove that God is mighty and powerful.

You can't just turn stones to bread.

You can't just claim power for yourself.

The only way to really be the son of God is to live a faithful life.

To trust God in all things.

To know that not everything has some easy answer.

Jesus will know this most of all on Good Friday.

And Jesus today gives us a great gift.

Jesus reminds us that there are no easy answers to our lives.

There is only the space that we live in between the assurance of faith and trusting God in really hard times.

That is the good news for us.

We too are children of God.

Our identity is not caught up in the idea that in order to be loved by God everything has to be great in life.

That God's love for us is not proved by how well our life is going.

This is an idea that is sometimes floated in the Bible.

That God's love is shown by your health or wealth.

If you are a good person than God rewards that goodness with health and wealth.

If you are bad person than God makes you suffer.

One thing I love about Jesus is that he does away with this simplistic view of our lives.

Because Irene hadn't done anything to deserve her painful arthritis.

Because Bob doesn't deserve for his wife to die in child birth.

These are just things that happen to people.

They are just part of being human.

And what we as Christians know is that God is with us in those times, as well as the good times.

Jesus taught us that faith is part of life.

It is the part that helps us get through the hard things that we suffer through in this life.

The real temptation that Jesus faces and the one that we face is offering up platitudes and easy answers.

Instead of acknowledging that indeed people do suffer and are suffering, we try to solve the problem with an easy theological idea.

The thing we have to remember is that we are human.

And no theological idea will solve the problem.

Jesus seems to know this.

And he knows that what will save us is his living our life.

That he has to go out and actually be with people.

He has to live among people that are suffering.

He has to go to the poor, the lame, the blind, the lost.

He has to be among them and let them touch him, hear him, be with him.

Because that is how real healing happens.

It doesn't happen in an instant.

It happens in time.

It happens when other human being acknowledge our pain and suffering.

It comes when we are able to name it for ourselves to other people, and feel heard.

There is no other path for Jesus.

Just as there is no other path for us.

It is as if the devil says to us on a daily basis, "If you are believer in Jesus Christ than you should be cured of your arthritis."

"If you are a believer in Jesus Christ than you should just be able to get over your wife's death."

"If you are a believer in Jesus Christ than nothing bad should ever happen to you."

"If you are a believer in Jesus Christ than you should have perfect health and lots of money."

Today is our day to resist the devil and all his empty promises.

We all have a story like Irene and Bob, a story of when the world was what it was.

A story of when trusting God seemed really hard.

We should know that there are no easy answers.

We should acknowledge that we live in that dessert space between assurance of faith and when trusting God is the hardest.

And we should live in faith.

Because we are children of God.

We know that it is when life is the hardest that God is at God's best.

It is there in the dessert when see that faith is what keeps us going through all of the hard things we face in this life.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ know today that there is no easy answers only trusting in God to send angels that will care for you.

Amen