Kahu's Manao
Keawala‘i Congregational Church
United Church of Christ (USA)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika
“The Choices We Make”
Genesis2:15-17, 3:1-7 & Matthew
4:1-11
I don’t remember all of the lyrics to the hymn. I don’t even remember the melody. All I remember is the one line that I was told by a classmate while I was a seminary student many, many years ago: “Sometimes I wish my eyes hadn’t been opened.” That was the title of the hymn and that was the refrain as well.
We were engaged in what we perceived to be a deep theological and philosophical conversation about the meaning and purpose of life. We talked about the changes that were occurring in our own way of thinking and the ways in which we found our lives being transformed by a growing awareness of the world all around us. We looked at our own lives and our own families. We looked at our communities and our nation.
We knew that there were those who argued that “Ignorance is bliss.” It is best not to know about the history of slavery in our own country. It is best not to know about the history of the suppression of women. All of that is best left to the past.
But we could no longer claim ignorance and therein lay our dilemma. We were convinced if our eyes had not been opened; if we did not have to face the injustices that seem to plague the human family; if we did not have to deal with war and poverty, hunger and despair; if we did not have to confront the hurt and pain in our families; if we could only remain in the garden away from the all the mess in the world, all would be well.
In all of our growing up years in the church we were taught that the reason we are in such a dilemma is because of what Adam and Eve did at the beginning of creation. Our reading from The Book of Genesis today tells the story of a man and a woman who find themselves in the garden of Eden.
They were instructed to eat freely of every tree but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they were not to eat for in the day that they ate of that tree they would die. We know the story well – of how the serpent tempted the woman, Eve; of how the woman gave it to the man, Adam; of how they disobeyed God by eating the fruit; and of how their eyes were opened to the existence of good and evil.
In all of our growing up years in the church we were taught that we inherited the consequences of the decisions made by Adam and Eve. In other words, because of their sin of disobedience the physical life we know as human beings will come to an end. We all will die.
Their eyes and our eyes have been opened to the knowledge of good and evil. And so no matter how much we may wish to remain in the garden, it is no longer our home. Instead the wilderness has become our home.
In our reading from The Gospel According to Matthew we are reminded that while the wilderness may now be our home, we are not – if you will excuse the pun – “home alone.” Because in the same way that the Spirit “leads” Jesus into the wilderness so it is that the Spirit is present to lead us. In the same way that God directs the course of action throughout Jesus’ journey and not the tempter, so it is that God is present to direct the course of action throughout our own journey. And in the same way that the angels “wait on” Jesus by providing their care, so it is that we are surrounded by such care.
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. We begin this season with stories of testing – not only of Adam and Eve and Jesus – but of ourselves. We also begin with stories of trusting – of being aware of the presence of the Spirit to lead, of God to guide, and of the angels to care – not only for Jesus – but for us as well.
The forty days of Lent parallel not only the forty days in the wilderness for Jesus but the forty years of Israel’s wandering in the desert. Tests and choices follow in all instances.
Lent is a time of preparation and so the forty day journey we take each year towards Jerusalem is a time filled with testing and trusting. God has placed before each one of us the ways of life and death and the choices we make will determine whether sin or faithfulness will follow.
The journey we make will depend on the road we take. Two roads diverge – one towards Jerusalem, the other away from Jerusalem. We may be tempted, as the poet Robert Frost wrote, to travel both but that is not possible. So we must choose.
Frost reminds us of the consequence of the choices we make when he writes:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made the difference.
The choices we make, we make knowing good and evil. The choices we make, we make with our eyes open.
Let us pray: God of all our journeys, you call us out from where we are into a wilderness where everything longs to be restored. Grant us strength for the journey during this season of Lent. Give us new hearts to discover your promises along the way and a new calling to follow Jesus wherever our journey may take us. We join our hearts with yours in love for the world. Ke ho‘ohui nei ko mākou pu‘uwai me ko ‘oukou i loko o ke aloha o ke ao nei. Amen.