Tempted in the Wilderness 1^st Sunday of Lent, March 4, 2001

Psalm 91 Luke 4: 1-13

The mighty Niagara River plummets some 180 feet at the American and Horseshoe Falls. Before the falls, there are violent, turbulent rapids. But farther upstream, where the river's current flows more gently, boats are able to navigate and just before the Welland River empties into the Niagara, on a pedestrian walkway spanning the river there is a warning sign for all boaters. The sign has two lines. The first line says "Do you have an anchor?" And the second asks an equally important question: "Do you know how to use it?" In response to today’s gospel lesson I’d ask the same of you. Do you have any anchors that you can use to avoid disaster as we face a reality that is part of every person’s life, the reality of temptation?

We read from Luke’s gospel the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, a story that tells us a lot about Jesus. It affirms that Jesus was fully human - that he shared all of the realities of mortal life with us, including the reality of having to struggle with temptation, and with the source of temptation, known in the Bible as Satan, or the devil. The story gives us a glimpse of Jesus as he is beginning to understand and prepare for his mission, and it also indicates the anchors by which he resisted evil. Listen to the story again, as I tell it and try to draw out what it teaches us about Jesus and about us.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all report this story at the very beginning of Jesus’ active ministry, just after his baptism. Luke says that Jesus was “led by the Spirit,” out into the wilderness, where he fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil. This time of testing was evidently a necessary part of God’s plan for Jesus. The Spirit led him there, which indicates to me that while God is never the source of evil, he can make use of everything, including evil and temptation. Jesus needed to struggle with himself, with God, with the temptations of the evil one, in preparation for the work that lay ahead of him. Temptations, as we face them in life, can be like the refining fires of the blacksmith shop - a part of the process by which we are confronted and challenged and enabled to grow.

The gospels give three examples of temptation that were set before Jesus - none of which really sound that terrible. That’s the way temptation is often presented, in a subtle, disarming, not-so-alarming mode. I doubt if anyone has ever gotten killed at Niagara Falls by trying to launch a boat right at the top of the cascade. The danger’s too obvious. No one would be dumb enough to do it. But I bet there have been people upstream, without their anchors, oblivious to the danger a few miles down the river, who have gotten in serious trouble. Most of us are able to say “No” to temptations that are obviously evil and hurtful. If a seductive woman came up to me saying “Wouldn’t you like to have an affair with me, to dishonor yourself before your wife and family, discredit yourself in your profession, lose your job, and deny everything you believe about fidelity and faith?” I am sure I would be able to say No. That’s the equivalent of launching a boat right into Niagara Falls and easy to see. But temptation is rarely so obvious. It comes in the appearance of the not-so-bad. It comes with fine print. It comes with small compromises that seem harmless enough, like a peaceful cruise upstream on the Niagara.

The three temptations set before Jesus are not such terrible things. He’s hungry and the first temptation comes in the words “If you’re the Son of God, why don’t you turn these stones into bread?” What’s so bad about that? Jesus did do such miraculous things later in his life - water into wine, bread to feed a multitude....... But Jesus answers with a word of scripture - from Deuteronomy - saying “One shall not live by bread alone.”

Some have theorized that Jesus was still sorting out what kind of a messiah he would be, and that this temptation reflected the idea that he could be a wonder-working messiah who miraculously provided for peoples’ physical wants. “Bread and circuses” worked for the Roman emperors. Magic bread and full bellies could have won affection for Jesus among the people and he could be a messiah hero. It certainly sounds more appealing than a mission in which crucifixion and death are the final episode ..... Perhaps this temptation for Jesus was much simpler - the temptation to exploit his sonship, his unique relationship with God, for his own benefit, for satisfying physical cravings. He later provided bread for others, but now he is unwilling to serve his own needs, preferring to trust in God. He says “No, we don’t live by bread alone,” and though Luke doesn’t finish the sentence, Jesus may have been thinking of the whole quote from Deuteronomy, “not by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Jesus wasn’t going to be that kind of people pleasing messiah. He was not going to use his spiritual powers for his physical gratification. Reflecting on the story we might ask ourselves about our motivations for a life of faith. Are we most interested in what we can do to comfort and satisfy ourselves? Are you familiar with the temptation to a selfish kind of faith, a conniving kind of faith, a faith that’s pursued for what it can get me?

The devil then took Jesus to a place in which he could see all the kingdoms of the world, and he said “I can give you all this authority and power.” You could make a justification for this, couldn’t you? Wouldn’t it be better to have Jesus as emperor instead of some general who had battled and schemed his bloody way into power? Couldn’t Jesus use this power for good? Wouldn’t people be grateful for a messiah who would use this temporal power for the overturning of the Romans? Such temptation may have been raging inside of Jesus, but he was aware of the fine print and the compromises in this offer.

The devil said “You can have this power if you worship me.” And Jesus, again quoting scripture, replied “It is written ‘worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” He wasn’t going to compromise his fundamental loyalty to God. And we might ask ourselves “Do we have a bottom line of loyalty to God beyond which we cannot compromise, or can the promise of power tempt us so that we forget our fundamental convictions?” Jesus knew his bottom line. He wasn’t going to seek power in a way that violated his covenant with God.

So the devil places one more not-so-terrible temptation before Jesus - one more subtle attempt at changing his messianic work and subverting his faith. He took him to the highest part of the temple - some 450 feet high, I have read - and said “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down.” Having heard Jesus quote scripture he does likewise, quoting the Psalm we just read (#91) and saying “He will give his angels charge over you... On their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone....”

Perhaps Jesus considered the amazing acclaim and authority he would get from such a public display of wonder-working. It would make his work so much easier. Who wouldn’t listen to a holy teacher after seeing such a miraculous event? But Jesus answered the devil with yet another quote from Deuteronomy, saying “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.......”

In a way this temptation and Jesus’ response are parallel to the challenge Jesus faced a few years later in Gethsemene. Once again the idea of calling on God to save him from death was an attractive idea. But Jesus would not fulfill his mission as messiah by a miraculous escape from death. He fulfilled it by submitting to it.

This gospel passage is first of all about Jesus, about his tempting and testing, about his anchors of scripture-rooted faith, about his capacity to resist evil and grow stronger, about his determination to fulfill his sonship with complete loyalty. But the words of scripture - the anchors with which he wards off temptation and trouble - are applicable to us too. Taken together they tell us

1) that life is more that the pursuit of physical needs.

2) that we are to live with an ultimate loyalty for God and God alone, and

3) that we should not attempt to exploit our faith, or presume to put God to the

test.

The purpose of life is to worship and serve God. Anything that diverts, or compromises, or distorts this intention should be seen for what it is - the devil’s temptation.

Temptation comes to every life, but we have anchors that can sustain us. As we make our way through forty days of Lent, we can use this time for spiritual growth and for strengthening our faith, so that when temptation comes we may be saved and empowered and enabled, like Jesus, to walk with integrity on the path God has set before us.