Theological Truth: Lent provides the opportunity to remember we are called to follow Jesus—the way of the cross and the way of life.
I remember the first time one of my elders yelled at me as an adult. It happened when my grandmother-in-law entrusted her famous salad dressing recipe to me. In her earlier years it was a closely held secret, so when Mama B shared it with me, I should have appreciated what was at stake. I should have followed the instructions carefully…should have…but the recipe called for a CUP(!) of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. That seemed like a difficult and time-consuming requirement. So being aware of modern inventions…and perhaps a little bit lazy…I used some bottled lemon juice I found in the back of our refrigerator rather than the fresh-squeezed variety.
Mama B later asked me how it turned out. I admitted it wasn’t as good as hers. When she pressed me, I confessed to deviating from the recipe with the bottled alternative and that’s when this kind, frail, gentle woman shrieked, “NO SUBSTITUTIONS!” Lesson learned.
We all face temptations to make substitutions and to take shortcuts. Some are relatively harmless. Frozen pie crusts have saved many a Thanksgiving! But others are lethal. Cutting construction code corners on high-rise buildings in earthquake zones or circumventing safety requirements on trains carrying chemicals are two timely examples of the dangers of taking shortcuts and seeking substitutes. When it comes to the important things in life, we must stick to the proven recipe. As we begin this spiritual journey of Lent, the readings today remind us that there are no quick fixes or miraculous bypasses. The way of the cross is the only way to life.
Take for example the story of Adam and Eve losing their innocence in the Garden. This isn’t an excuse to blame them (or only Eve as has been too often the case) for our state of sin and separation. Or to shame them with the claim that “If only they hadn’t listened to the serpent we’d still be in paradise!” (Wouldn’t that be a convenient way to shift the responsibility away from our own choices!) No. Their story is our story, and most of all, God’s story of the necessary and inevitable way of the cross. The loving union with all of humanity is God’s great desire, and it is freely given…but it costs us everything. There are no shortcuts or substitutions for walking the way of the cross.
Jesus didn’t take any, despite the devil’s temptations. When he was famished after his 40 days of fasting, since he is the Son of God, he could have magically turned those stones into a quick meal. As the Messiah, he could have accumulated many followers by a magnificent, death-defying leap from the temple. Because he is the heir to all things, he could have laid claim to all the powers and splendors of the world. But he didn’t take those shortcuts or make those substitutions. Instead, he took God’s path of love and walked the way of the cross. He trusted that this long and difficult way leads to eternal and abundant life.
This was as difficult for folks 2,000 years ago as it is for us today. Most of them desired and required miraculous displays of power, magical manifestations of ability, and authoritative proof of identity. Jesus will be killed because he doesn’t give them what they want. He offers them transformation rather than transaction, the power of love instead of a love for power. He resists the temptation to take that shortcut. He chooses the deeper, less immediate but more powerful way: the way of the cross.
Observers of the human condition, from Dostoyevsky to modern-day psychologists, refer to this human desire for a quick fix or an easy alternative as a fixation on “magic, mystery, or authority.” We see it projected onto both priests and presidents, medicines and machinery, political parties and new technology. Wouldn’t it be terrific if our physical, spiritual, and emotional health were attainable by taking one little pill, or voting for one particular person, or writing one check, or finding the right church?
But it doesn’t work that way. It’s not that simple or removed from our own participation. Jesus is right: We must lose ourselves to find ourselves. We must die to self in order to live for God…with God. Jesus chooses to walk the way of the cross, and we must also. There are no shortcuts, no substitutions.
Richard Rohr wonderfully illustrates our desire for a spiritual shortcut by referring to our preference for a “transaction instead of a transformation.” Here’s how he explains it:
“Jesus is a person and, at the same time, a process. Jesus is the Son of God, but at the same time he is ‘the Way.’ Jesus is the goal, but he’s also the means, and the means is always the way of the cross…. For some reason, we want the ‘person’ of Jesus as our ‘God totem,’ but we really do not want his path and message of ‘descent’ except as a functional theology of atonement: This is what Jesus needed to do to ‘save us.’ We do not want to see the cross as the pattern of life and a path for our own liberation. We prefer heavenly transactions to our own transformation.”[1]
Our 40-day sojourn in the desert of Lent provides us with the opportunity to follow Jesus along the path of “descent”; to resist the spiritual shortcuts and earthly substitutions and instead, to walk the way of the cross…the way of self-giving love…this pattern that leads to our liberation and transformation. There are no shortcuts, no substitutes. And here’s the glorious, good news of it all: We don’t need any! Because Jesus doesn’t only walk the way of the cross for us, he walks it with us. Still. Now. Always.
In this light, Lent isn’t a depressing time to slog through, but a therapeutic, transformational walk with a friend who knows and shows the way from death to life. Let’s walk this way. Together. Faithfully. Intentionally. Joyfully. Without taking shortcuts, without making substitutions, expecting transformation, following Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
— Fr. AJ Heine, Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church of Staunton
First Sunday of Lent, Year A, February 26, 2023
Readings: Genesis 2:15-17 3:1-7, Psalm 32, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11
[1] Daily meditation of February 19, 2023. Adapted from Richard Rohr, Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go, rev. ed. (New York: Crossroad, 2003), 80−81
