Testing Boundaries
2-10-08
Have you ever watched a child test his or her boundaries? You know, children learn about the world around them by testing it, especially by testing the warnings that come with dangerous or inappropriate behavior. Kids will often test if a parent or grandparent, a sibling, or teacher is serious about consequences, or if an action will really cause the world to snap back at them. That is part of how we learn our abilities, as well is what is right or wrong.
I remember a time my whole family received tickets to a Portland Winterhawks game. The Winterhawks were a semi-professional hockey team. It was a big treat to go to the Memorial Coliseum, eat hot dogs, and watch hockey. I remember that I actually got bored at one point. I wasn’t very old, maybe six, and I was kicking the seat of the woman in front of me. My mom told me to stop. I didn’t. I would kick when she wasn’t looking and I kept getting irritated glances from this poor, annoyed woman in front me. I kept kicking. My mom caught me and said, "If you kick that seat one more time, you and I are spending the rest of the game in the car." I wasn’t very old, but I was old enough to know that it was a big deal to be at this game, and I couldn’t imagine that she would give up her opportunity to see this game, by sitting with me in the car. So, I kicked one more time to see if I could get away with it. I was shocked and upset when my mom gathered her things in a quiet anger, grabbed my hand, and walked me out to the car where I cried myself to sleep. I tested the boundaries and learned that if my mom laid out consequences for me, she carried them through.
Children test boundaries to learn about the environment around them. Funny thing is, now that we have a firmer grasp of the world that surrounds us, we, even as adults, seem to be living in a day and time when people test all boundaries of human existence. Testing the boundaries of adulthood becomes more about testing our potential despite the consequences. And we humans have done some incredible things, in light of the physical barriers of our world.
In the 1940s the sound barrier was broken, and human travel broke through the earth’s atmosphere. Twenty years later, we landed a person on the moon. Not long after that scientists spoke of going beyond earth’s moon and traveling to Mars and other terrestrial frontiers. Time and space travel have challenged, and will continue to challenged, the boundaries of human ingenuity. Now that we know about the earth, human beings have the fondness for discovering, testing, and pushing our potential in venturing beyond earth. Yes, we love going where no one has ever gone before.
Not surprisingly, as we push our physical boundaries, we push our spiritual boundaries as well. We exist in a day and time when going inside of ourselves and testing the boundaries of the human spirit is "the thing to do." It wouldn’t be stretching the truth to suggest that books on spirituality, self-help, psychology, and psychics are still one of the fastest growing categories in popularity among readers. Spiritual gurus are springing up everywhere. Psychics have their own television shows. 900 numbers for getting a psychic reading about life are on the increase. These kinds of spiritual leaders lure people into spiritual travel that takes them where they’ve never been before. Many of these spiritual leaders are imposters and these imposters are nothing new on the landscape of human spiritual travel.
Jesus ran into their leader. Matthew identifies this pretender as the devil. Whatever name we give this intruder of the human soul, there are some things that we need to keep in mind when we are tempted to test the boundaries of the human spirit.
The forces that oppose God in this world would have us believe that we can turn rocks into bread. You see, Jesus does not test the boundary of human power to create something to eat from that which cannot be eaten. Jesus is "famished", as we often are. He’s physically hungry to the point he is tempted to think he can do the unthinkable. Yet Jesus realizes in his hunger, that the human appetite for testing physical and spiritual boundaries cannot be satisfied with grandiose acts of super-human activities. Jesus faced his own temptation by simply saying, "One does not live by bread alone". We do not live by feeding our appetite for life with the food of selfishness or our hunger for displaying extraordinary power in serving.
Another aspect of testing our boundaries is the belief that we deserve to be rich and successful, and have all the power and authority that go with such things. If we work hard, we deserve to be successful right? We have seen the preachers on television that tell us that we will prosper if we are truly following God. It is called a theology of prosperity. Isn’t that what the American dream is all about? So, according to such theology, a lot of people in this world, no matter how hard they pray and how much they give, are not doing something right. This type of theology is dangerous. If our vision of God’s world is more connected to acquiring and consuming things, then we worship a god of consumerism. Ministry then becomes a venue for developing programs created for the biggest givers. It is an especially dangerous temptation that every ministry faces. Jesus looked into the face of such a challenge, realized the importance of his ministry, and claims a higher call: "Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him."
Perhaps the most dangerous way we test the boundaries of human existence is to test the boundary of God’s protection in our lives. In our narrative this morning, the devil takes Jesus up to Jerusalem and tempts him to jump off the highest point of the temple, all the while assuring Jesus that he will be protected by God’s angels if he truly is who he says he is. Brothers and Sisters, to throw caution to the wind and jump into risky situations, risky investments, and destructive relationships just to see if God will catch us, really questions God’s love. We are forever being tempted to go where God does not lead, harming self and others.
You see, that’s just the thing. When we learn to justify our actions and give into the unhealthy temptations that surround us, we are harming ourselves and we are harming others. We all face temptations. And just by the nature of the society we live in, most of us have become really good at justifying them. It couldn’t hurt to skip out of work just this once. It couldn’t hurt to fudge on the numbers just this once. It couldn’t hurt to not tell my spouse where I’ve really been just this once. It couldn’t hurt to take out my frustrations on the kids, on my spouse, on the stupid dog or cat just this once.
It couldn’t hurt to focus only on the bottom line, to act now, and pray later just this once. It couldn’t hurt to leave God’s law and Christ’s love out of my decision-making loop just this once. Oh how easy it is…so very easy…to compromise our faith a little here, a little there. Compromise kills faith faster than anything else. Worship shifts when we compromise our faith. Compromise distorts our thinking until we wonder, so why should we open our church doors wider? What good news do we have to share with others?
We humans like to test the boundaries of our human existence; we like to stretch and adapt and define our human spirit. Be careful. When we consistently give in to temptation, then there will come a time when we won’t recognize our own destructive behavior as destructive. Our justifications will become sacred truth in our lives. Our faith will become compromised to the point that we are left not faithful, like Jesus who returned to the Words and the truth that shaped his life in the midst of great temptation, but we will be products of a world that does not understand the beauty, the mystery, the love, the grace, and the justice of God.
We have entered the 40 days of Lent, a season of opportunity to re-examine ourselves, and our boundaries. I encourage you to take the time to reflect on the greatest temptations you have in this life. Be filled and transformed with the knowledge that we follow a Christ who has been there before: tempted, hungry, tired, lonely, broken; a Christ that has been resurrected, a Christ that is with us today in the midst of our deepest struggles and our inward journey.
Sisters and Brothers, do not test the boundaries of God’s love, grace, and mercy. When we live and serve, exist within them, they have no limitations. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Blessings,
Melissa