Preaching text: Luke 4:1-13
It is considered the pinnacle of science fiction writing. As Lord of the Rings is to fantasy, as Citizen Kane is to film, so Dune by Frank Herbert is to science fiction. I’ve read the book probably a half dozen times over my lifetime. It’s a remarkable story and I was thinking about it this week in terms of the temptations that Jesus is offered by the devil in the wilderness. Particularly the second one. “Bow down to me and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.”
The reason I connect that to Dune is because Paul Atreides, the protagonist of the novel, essentially makes the opposite choice of Jesus to disastrous consequences.
In the novel, Paul comes to the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, with his royal family and soon discovers that, by coincidence and a bit of luck, he fits the bill of an ancient prophecy among the planet’s native population, a people known as the Fremen. He is essentially the very image of their “mahdi,” their Messiah. When his family’s enemies attack and wipe nearly everyone out, Paul flees into the desert and begins living among the Fremen, using their legend to keep himself alive. He also exploits it to turn the natives into an army he can use to avenge the death of his family. And he unleashes them on his enemies, but soon discovers he can’t control what he’s let loose. And the Fremen jihad spreads across the galaxy, leaving billions dead in its wake.
Promotional Art from the less-that-stellar 1984 film. It does show the Fremen army though.
Herbert wrote the novel in the 1960s in response to the dangers he saw in charismatic leaders throughout the world, people who started with a vision of a new world, but soon turned into murderous tyrants against anyone who did not share their vision. He wrote in response to such people as Adolf Hitler, Chairman Mao, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, and countless others, who had slaughtered millions in pursuit of their goals.
And to think, had he given in, Jesus could have one just like them.
Of course, he didn’t give in. He told the devil no and ensured that he would go on to do the very opposite thing. Instead of killing for his goals, Jesus would die and in doing so would save us all.
Too bad his Church didn’t quite the message.
That’s been our great sin over the generations, hasn’t it? Founded by a man who called us to serve others to the point of self-sacrifice, the Church has gone on to slaughter, rape, and pillage its way into the history books. Death to the heathen. Convert or die. And we’d justify it by quoting Old Testament texts of the battles of the people of Israel, stories told when our understanding of God was far more limited. But, the truth of it was uglier still. We did it because it was easier. Showing respect, honor, and giving service to others takes too long. Loving and showing compassion is not the quick way to bring people to Christ. Better to scare them into it and if they refuse, just kill them and not worry about it anymore.
That’s not what we’re supposed to be. Not what we’re supposed to be doing.
That was at the heart of the devil’s temptation to begin with. In offering Jesus rulership of the world, he was putting forward the options between what was right and what was easy. And Jesus chose the hard path, the right path, the path that led to the cross and to our salvation. He remained a servant to the end, a servant to all of us.
I wonder what the world would look like if we did the same. If we stopped choosing the easy path, and instead chose as he did, choosing the right, but hard, way. The way of compassion, understanding, honor, respect, and love.
How many more souls might be in these pews if we stopped telling them they’re abominations because of who they love? Would we live in fear of the Muslim if they no longer had reason to fear us? Would our nation be so divided across lines of race and politics and economics, or would be far more united than we are now? Would people be able to hear our message of love and acceptance if they weren’t deafened by our hypocrisy?
Those are hard questions. But these are things we’ve brought on ourselves. Things that have come about because of our fears and our eagerness to remake the world to our vision via the quick and easy path. Have we ever squared with the fact that the world is the way it is because we Christians have made it that way?
We have become Paul Atreides. And the world has suffered for it.
But it’s not too late. Lent is a time of repentance, a word that means to live life differently than you have before. Can we do what we have failed to do so many times before? Can we say no to the devil’s quick and easy path and choose instead, as Jesus did, the way of the cross?
Everyone of us faces that question everyday. How are we going to answer it? Each of us crosses paths with myriad different people everyday. Some are atheist. Some gay. Some poor or rich. All of them, in some way, different from us. Can we love them in spite of that? Can we accept them in spite of that? Can we show them what Jesus was really about? By living a life of service, compassion, and love. The question is before us. What will your answer be? Amen.
Pastor's Note: For those interested in the width and depth of Herbert's series, a great place to learn is this YouTube series
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