Year C – 1 Lent

“Have You Been Saved?”

The Reverend Donald L. Hamer

February 25, 2007

The First Sunday in Lent, Year C

Proper 25, Year B

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

I’d like you to picture yourself. Maybe it is Saturday afternoon. About 3 p.m. You have finished the day’s chores. You have just sat down to watch a football game, or read a book, or engage in your favorite hobby. Then, the doorbell rings. You are annoyed. You get out of that nice, comfortable chair, lumber over to the door. You open it, and there are two people standing there on your doorstep. Maybe they are male, maybe they are female. Maybe they are young, maybe older, maybe middle aged. You notice that they are carrying a thick book, usually with colored ribbons coming out of it. And in the other hand, some magazines or brochures. Frequently they are wearing a cross on their lapel or pocket. And you brace yourself. You say, pleasantly enough, “Hi, how can I help you?” And then they ask the question: (Come on, somebody help me here . . . What’s the question?)

“Have you been saved?” “We’re wondering if you have accepted Jesus into your life.” “Have you been born again?”

It’s not always Saturday afternoon at home. Sometime it’s at dinner time during the week, or at the mall. But the question is usually the same, and our response to it is usually predictable.

We all probably have our fixed response to such questions – usually designed to get the people out of your face and away from your house as quickly as possible. My customary response to that question is, “Yes, I was saved when I was baptized.” Hopefully, your response is not the one you give over the phone to salesmen – “I’m not interested!” That’s not a ringing proclamation of your faith, and only convinces your visitors of the necessity of their visit in the first place! So, “I was saved when I was baptized,” is my usual response.

Now, I am always intrigued by their reaction to my response. And to be totally honest, I particularly enjoy it when I answer the door and I am still wearing my clergy collar. I notice the slight drop of the jaw, the slight deer-in-the- headlights look as they realize what I do for a living. Oh, I can be so smug, enjoying every delicious moment, letting them squirm as they try to figure out how they can convince me – a clergyman, a minister of the Gospel – that my own faith is somehow deficient, that only their own faith holds the magic key to God’s grace and salvation. This actually happened just the other evening as Debbie and I were eating dinner, when two young Mormon men came to my door. After a brief interchange, in which I assured them that I was saved, I wished them well in their ministry, wished them a blessed day, and sent them on their way. After shutting the door, I returned to my dinner after running my victory lap around the dining room table.

I suspect many of you have a similar reaction when people who are on fire with their faith invade our space, intrude on our peace and quiet, and question our own faith. We know what it means to be saved – we were baptized, we even go to church – at least most of the time. How dare they question our faith?

But the fact of the matter is that most of us don’t reflect enough on the depth of our faith, or on its place in our lives. Other than the occasional visitor to our door, how often do we think about being saved – about what it means to be redeemed from sin? Here’s what our prayer book says about the subject:

What is redemption? Redemption is the act of God which set us free from the power of evil, sin and death.

How did God prepare us for redemption? God sent the prophets to call us back to himself, to show us our need for redemption and to announce the coming of the Messiah.

What is meant by the Messiah? The Messiah is one sent by God to free us from the power of sin, so that with the help of God we may live in harmony with God, within ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation.

What are we to take from these answers? Just this: God offers us freedom, love, harmony and hope. That is God’s purpose and mission . And we are reminded that we are uniquely and intimately connected to that purpose and mission as children of God, as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, through the sacrament of baptism.

Now, when most of us think of this question – Are you saved? – we generally think about our one-way ticket to Heaven. Whether it’s a discount ticket or full fare, most of us think of redemption and salvation in terms of being freed from the bonds of original sin and given the assurance of eternal life on the other side of this earthly life.

When Debbie and I were in Tabora, Tanzania, this past summer and I was teaching at the clergy conference, I heard a talk on evangelism offered by another visiting priest. He was explaining his understanding of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and, not having seen this precise representation before, I found it quite powerful. He drew on the blackboard a picture of two high mountains separated by a deep and wide valley. The mountain on the left represented this sinful world, and a picture of a man on it. The mountain on the right was labeled “Heaven.” There was no apparent way to get from this world to the next – a vertical line separating the two. He then drew a horizontal line across the top of the vertical line, from one mountain to the next. The point was clear: Jesus’ death on the cross was necessary to overcome sin and thereby, gain eternal life.

I think this is a point that many of us don’t tend to think a whole lot about – particularly those of us in the western world who make regularly practice our religious belief at some level. I confess that I tend not to spend a lot of time reflecting on the saving power of Jesus, how Jesus’ suffering was for my sake, and how Jesus’ death has restored my human relationship to my Creator. Proclaiming this aspect of our faith is particularly important in sharing our faith with those who do not know Jesus. As we begin this season of Lent, now is a great time for us to spend more time focusing on this aspect of our faith.

But salvation “from” sin and death is only half of our faith. Jesus does not simply save us “from” something – he saves us “for” something as well.

Our Scripture passages for this First Sunday in Lent focus on the power and purpose of redemption and salvation. The reading from the Hebrew Scriptures proclaims the great story of redemption experienced by the people of Israel. “The Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders . . . God brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” God had saved the people from slavery, from oppression and from many afflictions. God had also saved them for new beginnings after they neglected their faith and were exiled to a foreign land; the promise of a new homeland, and new hope for the future.

In our epistle, Saint Paul says it not once but three times in this morning’s passage from his letter to the Romans: “You will be saved.” Paul knew that in Jesus Christ, God overcame the sin of Adam, overcame the separation that had come between God and God’s human creatures. And he had done so with his grace, freely given to his finite creatures out of his infinite and self-giving love. He had saved us from death, but Paul knew that God had also saved us for something – to be his hands and feet, his face, his voice in the world, to reach out to the world in love instead of fear, hope instead of despair, freedom instead of slavery, and life instead of death.

The Gospel passage from Luke also focuses on redemption in a slightly different way. I think it is noteworthy at the outset that Jesus doesn’t just wander into the wilderness on some whim or with any particular purpose. St. Luke tells us that Jesus was led out into the wilderness “filled with the Holy Spirit” and that he was, in fact, led by the Spirit. There is a purpose for this time in the wilderness. Here Jesus is presented with some difficult choices, all of them with a similar theme: Will he choose the mission which his Father has given him, or will he go in another direction? Will he choose the path of salvation, the path of redemption? Or will he choose the tempting possibilities laid before him by the Evil One who confronts him in the wilderness? We know the story, and we know that Jesus emerges from the wilderness ready to continue his journey of redemption.

In all three of these readings, we are painted slightly different renderings of the same scene, a different perspective on the same theme, which is the essence of the mission and purpose of God: to save, to redeem, to restore a world lost and broken by sin and reconcile it to himself by the gift of his grace, and by the gift of his self-giving love. And God offers us this gift NOT so that we can put it in our pocket and be content that we have it. He gives it to us so that we can share it with others, as his hands and feet, as God’s instruments in the work of redemption that began with Jesus and continues through us, his disciples, today. Like Jesus in the wilderness, we can’t be distracted by the hard times and the confusing events of our lives. This morning, God is again inviting us to experience the reality of his saving power through Jesus Christ, the reality of his love in Jesus Christ each and every day of our lives. God is inviting us to share that with others not as an idea, but as a part of who we are, as a reality in our lives.

So the next time that person comes to your door, don’t be annoyed. Tell them, “Yes, I have been saved. Thank you for reminding me. Thank you for reminding me that Jesus calls me to share the Good News of salvation, and the Good News of my work as a disciple.” And then give thanks to God for the reminder, and ask yourself, “How have I shared Christ’s Good News today?” AMEN.