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Monday, February 14, 2005
Outta the Park
People of a certain age will remember Pogo Possum.
He was the hero of one of America's all-time best drawn comic strips, a denizen of the Okeefenokee swamp. His friends and neighbors included the cigar-smoking Albert Alligator, a good-hearted turtle whose name I forget, and the lovely lady skunk, Miz Hepzibah.
I thought again of these old cartoon friends while preparing yesterday's sermon.
The texts for the day were Genesis 3:1-7 and Matthew 4:1-11. Two similar sets of temptations, two radically different results.
It was Pogo who said, during our country's next worst thing to a mental breakdown in the 1960s, "We have met the enemy and he is us!" The Genesis story tells us how true that really is.
In the Garden of Eden, Satan uses a snake to tease Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Once she's done it, she invites Adam to join her. And he does, just like that.
I believe that little story is the template for every temptation. Whatever the specific sin, we're strung along through the same kind of thoughts and feelings.
1. Doubt says, "I'm not so sure God knows what's best after all," and opens the door for sin.
2. Distrust wonders, "Maybe God doesn't really want the very best for me." That raises your spiritual blood pressure and sets you up for...
3. Desire, which thinks, "I don't even care what God wants, because I know how much I want THIS!" Self-love displaces love for God; self-gratification outweighs everything else.
4. Disobedience, in this context, is almost a foregone conclusion. For Eve, Adam, and all of us.
When Satan shows up in Matthew 4, he pitches Jesus three huge temptations. To each one, Jesus says a prompt "No way!" And he explains why. Simply put, he sides with God.
By resisting temptation here and all the way through his story, Jesus undoes the deadly damage of original sin. And he shows us the template for our own spiritual success.
That's when I remembered Miz Hepzibah.
Her creator Walt Kelly once drew a cartoon about how to cure the sorry state of the world. It featured Miz H. in the woods, beguiled by a snake holding a big ripe apple in his mouth. She hesitates, sizes him up, then swings her parisol like Barry Bonds' kid sister. The apple goes flying out over the farthest stand of trees.
Kelly's social commentary was simply profound (or vice versa). At the bottom of it all: the lure of self-serving sin. The solution: swat that sucker outta the park!
Just like Jesus.
posted by Jack Buckley at
2:40 PM
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