Mark Pendleton (Click here for text)

March 6, 2022

1 Lent, Year C

The Rev. Mark Pendleton

Christ Church, Exeter

Aladdin, Jesus and Vincent Van Gogh

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."'

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone."

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. Luke 4:1-13

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It is a story we know well. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from The Arabian Nights, made even more famous by Disney. A young Aladdin found himself in pile of trouble: trapped in a cave with no way out. The only thing he had was an old lamp. How he wished he could escape from the cave and go home. Worrying and rubbing that old lamp, a booming Genie appeared: three wishes were Aladdin’s to command. This all-powerful Genie could give him anything he wished: riches and power among them.

How that ancient story still captivates our imaginations! What would we ask for if we had three wishes? Isn’t that the impulse that drives so many to buy those Powerball tickets? It could be us – one lucky ticket. Of course, in my younger years, when asked to imagine having three wishes, I would go for the predicable ‘more wishes option.’ Which never worked. Robin’s William’s brilliant Genie in the 1992 Disney filmed closed that door: “ixnay on the wishing for more wishes. That's it. Three.”

Deeply embedded in our human experience is the possibility of being lost, afraid, lonely, and powerless and then confronted with options that might get one out of trouble in the moment -- but come at a high cost. Out of money, down the pay-day lender one might go with worse interest rate terms than the loan sharks in the movies. Runways falling into the wrong crowds. Refugees handing over everything they own into the hands of smugglers who care little to nothing about their safety. Heart breaking all around.

This is where my mind went as we entered Lent once again. We begin as always in the wilderness. Led by the Holy Spirit right after his baptism Jesus would spend 40 days and nights alone, without any food, to be tempted by the devil. At every turn, Jesus withstood temptation: food when he was hungry; power and authority when it appeared he had none; and the risk of challenging the law of gravity and test God to catch him as he would certainly have fallen.

Three wishes were given to Aladdin in the Arabian Nights in the shadow of a menacing stranger. Three temptations confronted Jesus by the Devil himself.

Where is God found when we are alone, tempted, hungry, desperate, out of luck and second chances? How do we find strength to not give in to darker impulses?

I have little more wisdom about these questions than you. What I look for are holy companions – those who have been there and made their way through.

Our companion during Lent may seem like an odd choice: the great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, a man who lived until the age of 37. Why Van Gogh? Why not choose a famous saint or focus on the writings of a theological or spiritual giant? Part of reason rests in the family and home in which he was raised, and the other on his life experience: he knew the depths of despair, the loneliness of wilderness, and the haunting voices and thoughts that bedeviled him throughout much of his tortured life. I was in my early 20’s when a post-college trip to Europe found me in Amsterdam with many other like-minded young people my age. The city was amazing, with much to offer, and fortunately I knew enough to take in one site that would stay with me through the years. Then and now I would not call myself a museum person: I’m more likely to search out restaurants than I am galleries. But on that day I was introduced to color and light and broad brush strokes – enough to never forget.

Van Gogh was a son and grandson of Protestant ministers in Holland born in 1853. His desire was to follow in his father’s footsteps and gain a pulpit, but to do so he would have to go through the rigor of the ordination process. He was known to argue a lot, he would get distracted in his studies and was unwilling to jump through the hoops necessary for those who enter this vocation. In reading about his early 20’s, Vincent had a Christ like quality – he desired to live simply with poor coal miners in Belgium. He gave away his clothes and food, he barely ate and would sleep on the floor – not behavior expected of ministers of his time. Eventually the choice of ordination was not his to make: his life as a clergyman would not happen. It was then that Vincent turned to another love: art.

The popularity of the artist has only intensified over the decades – now with the traveling Immersive Experience of his paintings where one can step into his art. Over the last five years over 5 million people has shared in his works through this innovative exhibit. A man who only sold only a few paintings when he was alive, has sold over a billion dollars’ worth of art in death.

Why connect Van Gogh and Lent?

My aim is not to turn these few sermons into an art history lesson because I know eyes would soon glaze over. And I believe there is something to learn from the struggles of those like Jesus who have faced temptations and known wilderness. Who knew shadows and light.

Some of the voices that would bedevil Vincent through his life -- his argumentative nature, his many addictions, his failed love live, his mental breakdowns, his desire to save those who were seen as the lepers of his days and throw a way’s -- would lead him to lonely and dark places. Only his brother remained at his side to the end.

In our gospel, the Devil was ‘in Jesus’s head,’ as we would say today. His presence was haunting and disturbing. We meet this evil in prayer: “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” is part of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples and all who would follow. We pray it every Sunday. The Devil knew the primal temptations: food, power, and the allure of superhero-like abilities. Jesus would meet evil there face to face. He would encounter it again on the Cross. He would overcome it for us on the Day of his Resurrection.

It is believed by many that this son of a minister and almost-preacher turned artist never lost his faith. If anything, his church became all of nature: his cathedral the great outdoors and with its ceiling of stars. He believed that there were many ways to God. Just gaze at his The Starry Night” painting, one of his great masterpieces, and one can see how the Divine never left him.

Vincent grew ill and so distraught near the end of his life that he cut off his own ear -- and then painted self-portraits showing the bandage wrapped around his head. A reminder of his pain. Through his art, he found his true calling. Not as a preacher of words, but as creator of a new form of expression that would inspire the world long past his life. In the resource we are using for these weeks until Easter (Saltproject.org) we learn that for Vincent Van Gogh a painting’s purpose was to console, to comfort, to encourage us when we are distressed or brokenhearted. A painting is a kind of gospel, a visual declaration of the Good News.

Learning about the life of a long dead Dutch painter in a simple way remind us how out of broken lives glorious things can happen. And there is our hope. Strained relationships, unforgivable sins, chasms too wide to cross can, with grace, be met in those quiet places where God is most present and we stop talking. Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46.

The Apostle Paul, a broken yet redeemed human being if there ever was one, wrote in Romans: 3:23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And when we fall short, God reaches out – most often through us – to pick us up again.

40 days of Lent not counting Sundays. 40 days in the wilderness went Jesus. He said no to three wishes granted to him. No lamp. No Genie. Just God, whose Spirit was in him and is us.

May we learn how to face and tune out the voices that carry us nowhere fast. It is work and it is not easy. Which is why we walk the road of Lent together.