“Going Naked”
A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett for Lent 1, Year A
Preached at Pleasantville UCC, March 13, 2011
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7, Psalm 32, Matthew 4:1-11
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…”
(Genesis 3:7)

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a little one in my life.  So the birth of Lucia Ruth Ann Hickman was a unique and precious blessing for me as I am sure it has been for many of you.  There are so many marvelous things about being close to the unfolding life of a new person.  Watching her grow before she was even born was awesome.  Meeting her for the first time was joyous and terrifying – I always forget how small they are.  Witnessing the changes that occur with astonishing rapidity in a young child’s development is nothing short of miraculous.  They are wondrous creatures, and being near them teaches us how to remember so many things about ourselves.

Lucia isn’t around the office as much as she once was, so a recent visit was a special treat for all the staff.  A few of us were preparing for a meeting while her Mama tended to her in the other room, when all of a sudden there was squeal of delight and a little naked baby wearing nothing but a big grin on her face came running down the hallway right into the front office.  Those are the days!  If you’ve ever had a little person in your life then you know that babies have no problem being naked.  For them it’s a huge relief.  Just get this diaper off of me so I can really move around!

Friends, we’re talking about nakedness today.  There’s just no getting around it.  I’ll never forget what Miss Debbie once told me about the subject of nakedness.  Apparently, there are two kinds of nakedness in the South: there’s “naked,” which means you have no clothes on; and there’s “nekkid” which means you have no clothes on and you're up to something.

The scriptures don’t really elaborate on whether Adam and Eve were naked or nekkid in this text that we are given to study this morning.  We only know that before they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they were naked and unashamed.  It was only after they had eaten from that tree – it was only after they had explicitly and knowingly disobeyed God, that they faced the naked truth of what they had done and they felt ashamed about it.

Being naked doesn’t always involve shame.  Babies and little children and highly evolved individuals don’t seem to feel uncomfortable about it at all – and I say, more power to ‘em!  But, all kidding aside, it’s not really the “buck naked” kind of naked I’m talking about this morning.  It’s a different kind of naked that I really mean.

Helen Zartman gave me permission to share this story.  I actually got the name for this sermon from her doctor.  Yes, it’s true, Helen Zartman’s doctor said, “I think we should go naked for a while.”  When she got over her shock, she quickly understood that what he meant was that he wanted her to go without a medication he had been prescribed which had provided her a certain level of protection from illness.  He made an assessment that eliminating that medication would be best for her right now, and while it might pose some risk, he wanted ‘to go naked for a while’ and see how things went.

That’s the kind of ‘going naked’ I’m talking about this morning – the kind which involves living with less protection; living with an awareness of our vulnerability; the kind of naked that requires living with a deep level of trust – going naked.  It’s what Lent is all about.

The season of Lent begins with the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.  It begins this way every year because these 40 days of spiritual practice that we call “Lent” are meant to remind us of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.  By observing Lent, we ‘keep faith’ with Jesus by following him into the wilderness.  We keep faith with him because he kept faith with us by going into the wilderness.  He emptied himself of power (Philippians 2:7), taking the form of a servant.  He went to battle with the powers of evil and triumphed over them.  The United Church of Christ Statement of Faith puts it this way: “In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, [God] has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to himself.”

The scriptures tell us that, immediately after his baptism “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  That’s how the story begins – immediately after his baptism.  Jesus’ baptism was a highpoint of his spiritual life.  The heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and the voice of God is heard to say, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  It probably doesn’t get any better than that spiritually.  And immediately after this, he is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness.

This is such a spiritually deep story; spiritual true –because, that’s often how it happens.  Doesn’t it seem so that it’s just after a moment of great triumph that we end up finding ourselves caught in great struggle?  Who knows why this is.  Sometimes it seems as if the Adversary lies in wait for us to steal our joy.  Maybe it’s that – in moments of great triumph -- our watchfulness is down – and those darker aspects of our selves have the opportunity to creep in and get the upper hand.  However it happens, we know what it’s like to experience the time of trial; we know what it’s like to come down off the mountain only to be hit with something that tests us greatly.

Jesus’ time of trial in the wilderness lasted 40 days and 40 nights.  And when he had run that gauntlet of fasting and prayer, that’s when the tempter came:

If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this high place. 
If you will fall down and worship me I will put the kingdoms of the world at your feet.

The tempter tries to undermine Jesus’ faith every way he knows how, and to each of these temptations Jesus falls back upon the Word of God as his shield and his defender saying:

“It is written…”
“It is written…”
“It is written…”

Nothing is going to stand between Jesus and the Father; nothing is going to undermine his faith: not physical suffering; not doubt; not the seduction of power.  Jesus is stripped down to the barest essentials; he is leaning wholly upon the Lord.  He’s going naked.

The season of Lent invites us to step into the wilderness with Jesus.  The temptations that he faced may sound different from the ones we deal with every day, but they aren’t really.

We are still tempted by the quick fix.

We are still tempted to doubt the power of God’s Word
and God’s love for us.

We are still tempted to put God to the test; to see if God is truly faithful.

We are still tempted to make our work our God; to make the kingdoms of this world ours by working ourselves half to death.

For forty days and forty nights we set our foot on a path of discipleship, and that path is called Lent.  Forty is an important number biblically – it signifies a long time -- long enough for something to come to fruition; long enough for transformation to occur.  It rained 40 days and 40 nights during the time of Noah.  Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights prior to receiving the law.  The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before they came to the Promised Land.  Jesus fasted and prayed 40 days in the wilderness.

The season of Lent lasts 40 days; long enough for real change to occur.  This is a season of spiritual practice; a season where we practice stripping down to our bare bones; stripping away falsehood and pride; stripping away the things that distract us from devotion to God.  It’s a season where we practice being the persons God created us to be.  Lent is a season for going naked.

May it be so!  Amen.