Sermon for the second Wednesday in Week 1: Got Up and Went

Proverbs 30:1-9; Psalm 77:9, 12-14; Matthew 4:1-11These texts are real to us. All of us have gotten to that place of “I can’t do another thing.” Or, as my mom used to say, “My get up and go has got up and went.” Too tired and exhausted to care whether the task ever gets done, we just stop. The task will have to wait until later; after rest and food. We revert to that childish needful place where we need to be cared for, there’s just nothing left.

I struggle with altitude sickness when I am in the mountains, so the first few days of back packing in the Big Horns is always a struggle. After a day or two, though, I perk up and really enjoy the scenery, the wildlife, and the sense of accomplishment that comes from living a more simplified lifestyle. There is something good about getting back to basics. Food, shelter, physical exertion, and the rest that comes from carrying everything you need on your back.

Still there are those moments when one wonders, “What the heck was I thinking?” One of those times was a cold and rainy day. We had started the day walking in snow. By ten o’clock the snow had become drizzle. At noon the sun had peaked out but the temperatures were still in the fifties. We had soup for lunch just to get some heat in us. About two o’clock, we could see where we were going to camp, but the incline just seemed to be endless. Finally, we got there.

By this time the rain had started again and we figured that it would be snow by morning. I sat down on a rock, dropped my pack and huddled inside my poncho. I was done in.

The friend I was backpacking with went out to find wood. He set up the tent and somewhere outside that cocoon I called self, the fragrance of food drifted to me.

I began to hope for better days again. Almost too tired to eat, Daryl served me a plate of mashed potatoes, sausage and cheese sauce; cups of hot coffee and hush puppies with syrup. It is still one of the best meals I have eaten.

Daryl did the dishes that night, and as I climbed into my sleeping bag, warmed from the inside out by the food and from the outside in by the campfire, I gave thanks for good friends. Tomorrow was a long way off, but it was welcomed.

Today we hear those words of weary exhaustion. From the psalmist we hear, “I meditate and my spirit fades. … Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable?” From Proverbs we hear, “Thus says the man: I am weary, O God, I am weary, O God. How can I prevail?” From Matthew we hear that at a time of being famished, he is tempted to think of himself and make his ministry about himself and not about creation.

In all of these instances we are reminded that  remember who and whose we are can bring us hope, even in those times of exhausted despair; when our get up and go has got up and went. The Psalmist, in grief, recalls the deeds of the Lord who leads the people out of the misery of Egypt by the hand of Moses and Aaron. From Proverbs we hear

Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

Jesus reminds us that we need to remember to love God and serve God alone. That turns our weariness of self-preservation and isolation into hopeful care for the world.

It is in this time of outward looking that makes it possible to receive the ministry of angels. If we look only to ourselves we wither away, but outside of ourselves there is this gift that God has given us; the gift of community and caring for one another.

It is this outward direction of Jesus’ ministry ironically that thwarts Satan’s plans. For in serving God alone, Jesus will not find food for himself, but food for five thousand one time and four thousand another. We will not see him on the pinnacle of the temple, but we will see him raised up on the cross. And as far as the people of the world worshipping him? We gather with thousands, maybe millions tonight to hear these words.

When our get up and go has got up and went, when everything in the world seems like it’s about us, we are reminded to remember the words from Proverbs 30:4.

Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
  Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of the hand? 

Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? 

Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is the person’s name? 

And what is the name of the person’s child?

Surely you know!