Life is a Risk - Lent 1

Taking risks is often seen as the specific territory of teenagers, particularly teenage boys. Time and time again we are told the latest tragedy, accident or foolish behaviour is the result of young men responding to the adrenalin rush of going one step further than it was wise to do.

I would suggest we have all taken risks, foolish risks and survived, sometimes in one piece, sometimes a little battered and broken but still standing, mostly a little wiser, at some point in our lives. Looking back over my youth I confess to many such risky behaviours, but how else would I get the nickname ‘Loose’? I was given that name because I consistently went one step further than those around me at the time. I drove faster, drank more and took crazy risks others only talked about. Amazingly, I survived.

Yet, taking risks is a part of all of our lives.  It is dialled in. Perhaps not in the foolish way some teenagers and I have experienced it, but in a calculated and planned manner. No business succeeds without the risk of going broke. No athlete competes without the risk of not finishing. No politician leads without the risk of failure. No person loves without the risk of being rejected. Getting married and having children is a risk. Risk is hard wired into our lives as humans.

Therefore it is no coincidence the first thing God does with Jesus after his baptism is, he takes a risk with him. He sends him out into the desert for 40 days without food. He was fasting. Fasting is no easy task. 40 days without food would mean, not only were you hungry, but your mind would start playing tricks on you, you would start to think dangerous thoughts and begin to look for a way out of the situation you found yourself in.

At the end of the 40 days, ‘he was famished’ and that’s when the temptations begin. Not at the beginning when he was fresh, full of commitment and discipline. Not halfway through when he was hungry but still filled with the desire to get it right. But at the end. God places Jesus in a solitary aloneness where there was no consolation except his relationship with God. Would that hold? Could Jesus experience the desolation of his humanness and resist the temptations that arose with in and without him and hold onto God? Could he?

The temptations come in 3 distinct forms, but they are typical of the temptations we face everyday.

·      In the first Jesus is tempted to use his power to create food for himself, the ‘old rock into bread’ trick. If you have the power and you’re hungry, do something about it. This is the battle between Jesus’ divinity and humanity. If he succumbed he would have denied the Incarnation, he would no longer be human, just a divine actor on a stage called earth. He remained human.

We are challenged many times to do things just because we can, and by so doing, shortcut our experience of being human in exchange for less pain, suffering and joy. Just because we can, should we?

·      Secondly, Jesus is tempted to change sides. From where he is standing he can see the world and us tempted to get what he came for the easy way. This is the ‘old the end justifies the means’ justification. I am here to rule over the world, here it is being offered on a platter, why not just say yes and take it? Doesn’t matter how you get it, but if you get the outcome you need, that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Jesus is being asked if he can trust God with this task, even the process will be difficult, painful and risky. He does. He chooses to trust his relationship with God, even though he suspects that this is going to hurt, that it will cost him and without commitment, discipline and trust there will be no outcome at all.

This is a major temptation for us. We want to avoid pain, suffering and struggle and be happy all the time.  The temptations of the consumer world promise that. Wear the right clothes, buy the right car, live in the right street, use the right toothpaste and it will all be yours. Your can and will achieve the kingdom of happiness. Alas, we know from experience that’s not so and we either become bitter, sad or blame others (especially God), or we simply settle for less than the kingdom God promises. The kingdom of God is only accessible through the full journey of our humanity, a rollercoaster o pain, suffering, discipline, hope, good times, not so good times and more, but they all add up to that moment when we die to ourselves and are resurrected into a new way of being human.

·      Finally, Jesus is tempted to find out if God loves him as much as he says he does. He is asked to take the ultimate risk and leap to certain death, waiting for God to rescue him. He doesn’t.  He simply says don’t set God up; don’t let your expectations get in the way God works. He resists that temptation on the Cross, where people are taunting him and calling upon him to call upon God to save him, he doesn’t. In the midst of the pain of being a human who was deserted, brutalised and lost, he maintains his trust in his relationship with God.

This is a temptation we can easily fall for. When all has collapsed and we are desperate, how about calling God out, seeing what God will do?  Judas tried that and he got more than he bargained for. Like Jesus we are called on to stay faithful in our brokenness, trusting that God will be faithful to our relationship.  But at all times we are to be faithful. That was the purpose of the Incarnation. Jesus came to experience what it meant to be a human in relationship with God and other humans. Like him, we are to grow into it.

For Jesus it was a risk to become human, leaving his divinity behind; for God it was a risk to put Jesus in a place of great risk, that of being human (Jesus could have succumbed, it was always a possibility otherwise we have been deceived); and for humanity, us, it was a risk, for if that happened we would remain eternally lost.

Being human is the only way to live into the risk of God’s love. Go for it!

Text: Luke 4:1-13

When are we Not Teachers?

Early on in my priesthood some asked, "Do you know when to be a priest and when to be yourself?" It seemed a weird question to me because my first answer was, "But I am always a priest!"

It has taken some years to come to grips with the magnitude of my reply, and I am still growing into it.  I am never not a priest.  Wherever I am that is who I am seen to be - God's representative in the pub, at the footy, on the beach, at work or at the shopping centre. Every thing I do is judged as the action  of a priest and not as Glenn Loughrey. It is a tough gig and anyone who says different is, I would suggest, not trying.

Now I have compounded the task by becoming a chaplain in a school - a 'teacher'. Teaching is not a job, it is a vocation, much like that of a priest. Teachers not only teach content in class, they model life for their students. They are responsible for the whole person and are therefore mentors of those whom they stand in front of. Everything they do, wherever they do it, plays a role in the effectiveness of their vocation.

For both teachers and priests this means they are to be:

• Mindful. Being mindful of who we are is our first task. Remaining in the present moment helps us to make this less frightening and more exciting, for you and for others. You are a teacher or a priest and others are looking to you for leadership. Your choices have set you apart for a life that is very different to those around you. It has it's cost but the benefits when lived to the full are mysterious and amazing.

• Disciplined. Yes, we are always free to do what we want to do, but just because we can, should we? We are called to a disciplined life with boundaries and responsibilities. If we embrace such a life we have the freedom to teach, mentor and pastor.

• Self-sacrificial.  Becoming a priest means I sacrifice my will for the will of God. I attempt to live in  a self-sacrificing manner exemplified by Jesus. No short cuts. Teachers have the same call. They are developing young people for the future and are challenged to sacrifice what they want to do for what they need to do.

• Other focussed. In both roles, life is not about you. You are not entitled to your own personal life.  It is a life lived in community and dialogue. You are now connected with those around you, for better or worse, and how you live will be noted by others, for you are there to show them the way.

• Aware of the '6 o'clock news' factor. How will what I am about to do, say or attend play out on the 6 o'clock news?  What will others say when they see or hear this? 

Vocations demand more of us than a job or a career for the raw material we are working with is far more precious than gold, money or prestige. What is in front of us is waiting to be moulded into the leaders and mentors of the future. Teenagers rarely listen to what we say, but they do learn from who we are.

No matter where we are, what we are doing or what we are saying we are always teachers and priests. Oh, by the way, if you're a parent, then  you have a three-fold vocation!

What a privilege!