Hear the words of the Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent:

We beseech Thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of Thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty, to be our defense against all our enemies.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. We pray in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Collect for today is a prayer for God to protect us from ‘our enemies.’ This raises the interesting question, “Who is this enemy the prayer is addressing?”

If we look at the history of the world we see that political ‘enemies’ can’t be the answer to that question. We fought the Germans and the Japanese in World War Two. They were at that time our bitter enemies. Now they are great friends. The Russians were our allies in World War II, then they were our enemies, then somewhat friends and now again it seems somewhat our enemies. The saying, ‘politics makes strange bedfellows” should be amended to add the word ‘temporary’ as well. So, political, as well as the national, identities of enemies do not seem to be the answer to the question of whom we should beware of.

The same can be said about those of different races. We fought the American Indians almost to extinction, and yet in World War II it was these same peoples that were instrumental in defeating the Japanese in the Pacific. The same can be said about many people of color who played a part in defending our country all the way back to the American Revolution.

When we look at religion we seem to have a better handle on who the enemy is. Yet, when we take a look over the course of history we see again the shifting sands of friend and foe taking place. In Christ’s time the Jews were the natural allies of Christians. Yet, by the early second century we were bitter enemies. Muslims did not even exist before the seventh century, so I do not believe Christ is talking about them directly either. Even the heathen were not the enemies of Christianity, even though they saw Christians as their enemies. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:44 that we cannot view them as enemies:

But I say unto you, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Then of course we come to the parts of our own religion that seem to be our enemies, that hold things as Christians which directly contradict Scripture. While they are certainly people that we disagree with, I hesitate to call them enemies.

So if our enemies are not outside of us who are they? Perhaps the Prophet can be of assistance to us when he says in Micah 7:6:

For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

This could be closer to the truth except for the fact that love and forgiveness could change their minds and restore the bonds of peace between family members. Well if it is not those who differ from us in political ideology, religious belief, nationality, race, or even family members that are enemies, then who is it?

Wait a minute, I know the enemy we must be protected from its Satan. He is the one we are to be protected from right? Well that answer is both correct and incorrect. He has certainly destroyed empires, nations, tribes, and even people but if we fight against him we will win. James 4:7 tells us:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

So we see that while all of these can, and at different time have been, our enemies, none of these things had happened when Jesus spoke the words about a house divided, which is the basis for the prayer for today for protection against our enemies. So who then is the enemy the Collect is talking about?

Who, or what, is it that is not in any of the groups we have mentioned, and yet is ever with us. That is always ready to rebel against God and have us do wrong instead of right, an enemy that was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and that is still with us this very day. This is an enemy indeed.

We have eliminated every possibility but one. If the enemy, our greatest adversary, our nemesis, is not outside of ourselves, then that enemy, adversary, and nemesis must be within us. That enemy is our human nature and our free will. It fell in the Garden with Adam and Eve and it is still fallen today in each and every one of us.

It is always there, urging us to do what we want to do, even knowing it is not the right thing to do. This, our fallen human nature, was what Christ took on when He became incarnate in the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is the avenue that Satan used to tempt Jesus throughout His life, and especially in the Garden of Gethsemane.

It was within Christ’s humanity that the battle for our salvation was fought and won.

That is why Gethsemane is so important for our salvation. This is why Jesus was sweating blood while He was praying. The Garden was the final battleground for the universe’s redemption, it took place within Jesus’ human nature, and Satan was throwing everything he could into the fray. Satan wanted Jesus to just walk away and he would have made sure that Jesus got away clean, for then He would not matter because Satan would have won.

So this then is the enemy we face today and every day, is our own human nature. A nature that is fallen away from God, is self-centered, insatiable, greedy, lazy, and at times even murderous, along with many other things we seek to justify.

These are the things that Saint Paul talks about in the Epistle for today, and that we know all too well through first hand experience. However, there is a cure for this malady, and a way to overcome even our fallen human nature. That way is through the Grace that Jesus Christ provides to us as a free and everlasting gift.

All we have to do is hear His voice and follow His way, and we can conquer even ourselves. For after all that is the only battle that we must win. We must hear the words that Christ spoke to the woman in the crowd and take them to the very heart of our battle with ourselves. Let us hear what Jesus says in Luke 11:28:

Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Let us become the blessed of God by hearing His words and keeping them throughout our lives. In Jesus Name I pray that for us all.

Amen,

The Very Rev. Canon John Jacobs