St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, February 25, 2007
Playing Cards With the Devil – Rev. David Mundy
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Luke 4:1-13
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Tonight the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will gather in
glittery splendour to honour its own in Los Angeles. One film that didn’t get
nominated for any of the major awards made a lot of money and was actually a
pretty good yarn. I’m referring to Casino Royale, which, if you enjoy action
movies is worth seeing for the opening chase scene alone – arguably one of the
best in motion picture history.
As the name suggests, a significant portion of the story takes place in
a casino with a high-stakes poker game between the suave 007 and a creepy
archenemy. The photo reminds us that the game begins with a number of
participants around the table, but they fall by the wayside. Gajillions of dollars are wagered and . . .
well, you better see the film. Needless to say there is plenty of bluffing and
quiet tension and that we usually associate with a game where a lot is at
stake.
Have you noticed that poker is everywhere these days? It is on
television in prime-time, with all manner of second-string celebrities and
weird looking characters in sunglasses playing for the television audience. It
seems that every time I turn to a certain sports channel I get a poker game,
which in my humble view does not come even close to being a sport.
Here is a simple definition of poker:
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Any of various card games played by two or more players who bet on the value of their hands. |
Of course the player with the best hand wins. Or at least the other
players in the game have to believe that one of them has the best hand and that
player bluffs his or her way to a win.
The church has always frowned on games of chance and card-playing for
money, so I was a little surprised to see a quote recently from a 16th
century Spanish Christian mystic named Osuna. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard
of him. I hadn’t either and he is obscure in the Christian tradition, at best.
Osuna offers that God plays a game with the soul called “the loser wins”;
a game in which the one who holds the poorest cards does the best. It is those
who think they have the high hand who are prevented from ever winning a trick
Think about that for a moment: the loser wins. This is the first Sunday
of the season of Lent, forty days of reflection and preparation which take us
to the great story of resurrection which is Easter. And today we heard in
scripture about a high-stakes poker game between Jesus and the Devil. Actually
there is nothing at all about a poker game, but there is an encounter between
Jesus and the Devil which is recorded in three of the four gospels.
Before Jesus began his public ministry, Jesus went into the wilderness
for a time of prayer and fasting to prepare himself for what was ahead. All of
the stories say that Jesus was taxed by hunger and thirst. He probably suffered
from the extremes of heat and cold which are characteristics of the desert of
Judea as well.
And all of the stories say that Jesus also had an encounter with the
power of evil while he was alone, a force which is described as satan or the
devil. Do you even believe in the devil? God probably hopes you do, and the
devil probably hopes you don’t. It’s unlikely that we expect some guy in a red
suit with horns and a forked tail to show up, but we actually said a few
moments ago during the baptism that evil is real and that we are going to do
everything in our power to resist it.
According to the gospels, when Jesus is in the wilderness, he had an
experience of the force of evil which is so palpable and immediate that it is
as though there was someone in front of him, speaking the sweet words of
temptation to do the right things for the wrong reason.
In Luke there are three temptations in all, which are captured in a
contemporary art piece by Craig Yingst. Behind Jesus and the devil are three
doors labelled power and riches and desire as the choices,
as though the temptations are part of a game show.
The Devil, or whatever we want to call that power which tells us lies
that are close enough to the truth sensed that Jesus, weary and weak, could be
overwhelmed by his “high hand.” But he
is only bluffing. Jesus draws on the
strength of his relationship with God and his understanding of scripture to
“call” the Devil each time.
Christian culture has acted as
though it holds the winning hand for so long that we can forget what the
gospels actually tell us. The life and ministry and death of Jesus gives us the
strange good news that out of apparent weakness comes strength and out of what
appears to be certain defeat there is victory.
There is a peasant baby, born in a stable, who becomes a refugee from
power. There is a teacher who doesn’t have any credentials, constantly
challenged by the religious leaders of his time.
We’re told that Jesus stood on a hillside once with a crowd of curious
peasants gathered around him. He tells them all that they are blessed, if they
want to believe it.
Blessed are those of you who have been dealt a lousy hand, because God
is looking over your shoulder and won’t abandon you. Blessed are you who are
poor, and poor in spirit. Blessed are those of you who are meek and bullied and
scorned for following me.
These peasants who know all the hard way about the power of the Roman
Empire are listening to Jesus with a part of them saying “this one is crazy.”
And at the same time they are hoping that what he is preaching is so true that
it is the only thing that really matters.
People in other parts of the world might look at us here in Canada and
wonder why we would ever feel we have worries or that we have been dealt the
low hand. Yet we have often gone through situations where we feel that we are
powerless and overwhelmed. When a loved one dies or a relationship comes to an
end we are crushed. Jobs end in a heartbeat and we are left scrambling for
dignity and purpose. We find ourselves lonely and insecure, even though others
figure we have friends and confidence. It can be so difficult to trust that God
actually cares and wants our highest good.
The weather this week reminded me of a wonderful elderly couple who were
part of a congregation I served years ago. They invited me to their apartment
one day to let me know that their adult daughter, a nurse, had been diagnosed with cancer at age 40 and
her life was at risk. They wanted me to pray with them.
Just before Christmas they let me know that the treatments had been
successful and she was given a clean bill of health. It was the best Christmas
gift ever. A few weeks later, at about
this time of year, they called again. The daughter and her husband had driven
into a whiteout and been killed in a head-on collision.
I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but evil seemed very real in that
moment. And it didn’t stop there. A few months later this couple went to
Southern Ontario to bury the ashes of their child and while there he had a
massive heart attack and I got another call saying that he was in hospital
dying, although he was still conscious and aware. I felt helpless as I phoned
Harry who was hundreds of kilometres away. He sounded weak and shaken. I felt
like crying. But he was not overcome. His faith was still strong and I prayed
with him, long distance and as close as a heart beat. I did the praying and he
gave me strength. Within 48 hours he died. He died and lived again.
While we have those times when we feel defeated or abandoned, God will
come to us, and Christ will come to us and “the loser wins.”
Did you notice the ominous verse at the end of the passage we heard? When
the devil had finished every test, he departed from [Jesus] until an opportune
time. Even though the first game is
over, he is coming back to the table. And that’s what happens.
By the time we get to the end of Lent and Holy Week we will be deeply
aware of the tragedy of Jesus’ life. Three years or so later Jesus, battered
and bruised, stands before the Roman
governor who once again appears to be holding the best cards. Pilate sentences
Jesus to death because he can’t be bothered not to. And Jesus is nailed to the
cross, the symbol of humiliation and defeat.
The Christian writer Frederick
Buechner looks at this story in his book with the intriguing title
Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, & Fairy Tale. He
reminds us that Jesus is not defeated, although everything points in that
direction until Easter morning. He paraphrases Jesus’ words from the cross: “my
God, my God, why have you left me holding the bag, holding the world, when I
can hardly hold up my own head?”
Then Buechner goes on to offer
the hope of the resurrection.
Jesus shares with us the darkness of what it is
to be without God as well as showing forth the glory of what it is to be with
God. He speaks about it, and perhaps that is much of why, although we have not
followed him very well these past two thousand years or so, we have never quite
been able to stop listening to him.
During Lent we can commit
ourselves to listening to Jesus and trusting that because he is with us, even
when we think we have lost the game.
In one of the films which has been nominated for awards tonight, Little
Miss Sunshine, the sullen teenage brother is wearing a tee-shirt with the
words Jesus Was Wrong. It is one of those “teen rebellion”
statements that are meant to be a bit shocking.
The story of Jesus in the wilderness and Jesus on the cross gives us a
different slogan: Jesus Was So Wrong He Was Right. That’s
shocking too, but it’s true.
The losing hand wins. Jesus is not bluffing. Thanks be to God.