February 14, 2016 – “Wilderness Temptation” from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.
A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on February 14, 2016.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
and Luke 4:1-13
I was in a grocery store, a new-to-me grocery store
looking for a jar of blackberry jelly.
I couldn’t find it, so I went up to the counter to ask for help
from the guy standing at the cash register.
He was on the telephone, and, when he saw me head in his direction
he turned his back toward me.
His side of the dialogue went something like this:
“So, did you get to the party?
Really?
Oh, you’re kidding!
What did Susan say?
No way! You’re kidding!”
On and on it went—so finally I cleared my throat.
He gave me a sharp look in my direction…and kept on talking:
“That’s Susan all right.
Oh, I know, I hate that.
So, what are you up to this weekend?”
“Excuse me,” I finally said, “I need to ask one question.”
He let us this great sigh and mumbled into his phone
and then he turned and looked at me with an exasperated expression
that sort of said to me: “Spit it out!”
“I’m looking for blackberry jelly.”
“It’s on the THIRD aisle, in plain view” he added, with disdain.
As I walked down the third aisle,
the further I went, the more angry I became.
I was tempted to go back up there and let him have it.
I was tempted–what does that mean?
///
Some time ago I was talking with this couple.
It seems that the husband
got to schedule a mid-winter business trip to San Diego.
“I could go with him,” said his wife,
“but our teenaged kids have school and we would have to leave them at home
by themselves—and, well, we TRUST them,
but I hesitate to put them under that kind of TEMPTATION.
She hesitates to put them under that kind of temptation—what does that mean? [Read more…]