In Between Darkness and Light-Facing Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, a 40-day journey of contemplation of our own sin, Christ’s suffering and sacrifice. It is a time of darkness and introspection, a time to refrain from saying “alleluia,” a time of giving up things to help us feel some small sense of suffering. When our two children were younger, they often discussed giving something up for this time to help them remember Christ’s suffering. I still remember many years ago when our son Sam decided to give up something significant in his life, playing with Legos. This was a difficult thing to give up, not like giving up broccoli or salad. Sam loved to play with his Legos when he was a child. Not long after he made that decision, Sam went to a friend’s house, and as we walked in the door, his friend’s mother announced excitedly that her son had just gotten several new Lego toys to play with and put together. Sam suddenly had an anguished look upon his face and told her that he had given up Legos for Lent.  Temptation would be staring him in the face for the next 3 hours at his friend’s house, and it wouldn’t be easy!

Today’s story is about Temptation. Temptation stares us in the face as well. We are always tempted to do things we know we shouldn’t. In those moments when we are weak, or feel deprived in some way, the voice of evil is most beguiling. This was true for Jesus, who had fasted for 40 days. Just as Moses spent 40 days upon God’s Mountain without food, Elijah spent 40 days en route to the mountain of God, and Israel wandered for 40 years, struggling in the wilderness, so now Jesus went without food for 40 days. He was weak. He was hungry. He was tired. Amid his physical exhaustion, the evil one saw an opportunity.  This is important for us to remember. It is often in those moments of physical and mental exhaustion that evil tempts us.

First the devil questioned Jesus’ identity, saying, “IF you are the Son of God…”  40 days before, he was baptized by John in the Jordan, and God has said out loud, “You are my Beloved Son.” Jesus knew who he was, and so did the evil one. Jesus is tempted to prove his identity by using God’s power to satisfy his hunger. “Turn these stones into bread.” Jesus’ first temptation was to satisfy his personal needs with his power.  Would his first concern as he began his ministry be himself? Pleasure of self has a way of speaking loudly. Satisfy your own needs first. Worry about others later.

Here‘s a made up example based upon a typical morning when our children were young. I often made breakfast for them before they headed off to school. Our typical fare was eggs, turkey sausage or bacon, grapefruit, and toast.  What if one morning, I wake up particularly hungry and decide to have a piece of bacon before making breakfast for the kids. I take one piece of salty, crunchy, smoky bacon and stuff it in my mouth. Yummy! Then it is time to put the rest of the bacon on the kids’ plates. Yet as I place each piece of bacon lovingly on their plates, it smells so good, and looks so crispy and salty. I remind myself I am making the bacon for my kids. My stomach grumbles, reminding me I am sooo hungry.  As I dreamily watch myself placing each piece of bacon on their plates, my mouth is open and I feel drool drip down my lip and onto the counter as my taste buds salivate. Fortunately, I come to my senses and place feeding my kids over feeding myself.   I put the bacon on their plates, and turn away, shaking my head. Of course this never actually happened… ever…The tempter constantly looks for ways to have us look to our own needs before we think of anyone else’s. Christian writer C.S. Lewis is attributed to the following saying. “True humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.”  In the moment of weakness, Jesus remembered his mission- to think of others first- to bring salvation to the world, to serve others by showing God’s love, and to bring God’s justice in helping the least of these. He responded, “There is more to life than bread, more to life than satisfying my cravings and needs.”

Then the evil one took him up to a high place, where Jesus could see all the world's kingdoms. You can see one artist’s rendition of that scene in the narthex. Part of our journey through Lent includes interacting with depictions of the scripture passages from each Sunday. Jesus was tempted to conquer the world, not through the power of the cross, but through the power of politics.  “Worship me, and you can rule all the princes of the earth,” said the devil. It was an opportunity to use the world's powers to accomplish God’s reign, but there was a catch. Jesus had to reject God and worship the evil one. Would Jesus worship the ruler of this world to achieve his goals? Would he replace his calling as Messiah with political aspirations? Jesus responds, “ It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”  Whenever we place our hope in a power other than God, we worship something other than God. That is a good rule of thumb, especially now with the current state of politics in America.

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and had him stand upon the temple's highest point. This is the building where Jesus would face some of his greatest temptations later in his ministry, and where he would face his final struggle. “If you are the son of God, then throw yourself down from the highest point here, in front of all these people, God will protect you with the angels, just as it says in that Psalm by David. Demonstrate your power to win over the masses! Become popular, a celebrity, a star!” Famous actor Alec Baldwin spoke of his stardom and the price he paid for it. “There’s a lot of money to be made on Wall Street. And if you want power, go to Washington. If you want sex, go into the fashion business. But if you want the whole poison cocktail in one glass- go to Hollywood.”  For those who have experienced all that comes with popularity and fame, most have found it lacking.

Jesus knew the pitfalls of fame. He knew that his following would come as he obeyed God, as he shared the love, hope, and light of God with the world through his actions and words. So he answered the Devil, “Do not put God to the test.”  This was his last of three quotes from Deuteronomy 8. Three times, the tempter tried to persuade Jesus with fantasies of pleasure, power, and fame, and three times, he was rejected.

It is essential for us today to be careful of abdicating responsibility for giving into temptation.  I’m a child of the 60s and have fond memories of watching the Flip Wilson show, particularly laughing at his character, Geraldine. When caught in the act of doing something she knew was wrong, her catch phrase was, __?- The DEVIL MADE ME DO IT.  It wasn’t Geraldine’s fault for anything bad she did to others. She wasn’t at fault. Evil was. Scripture can help us own our evil tendencies, as Paul described in Romans 7. “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  Theologian M. Scott Peck said, “People do not need Satan to recruit them to evil. They are quite capable of recruiting themselves.” 

The evil one is also a personified force outside ourselves as we see in today’s passage, possibly a powerful angel gone astray; and as a ruler of sorts over organized forces arrayed against the will of God for the world. I have experienced that personified evil a few times in my own life. I remember visiting the Soviet Union in 1984, and traveling to “Babi Yar” in Ukraine. In this location, great evil was done to human beings during the Second World War. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish Ukrainians were slaughtered by Nazi troops and thrown into a shallow canyon. I remember feeling two things as I walked around the place: an overwhelming sense of sorrow and loss. Second, a real sense of the presence of evil, still lingering over this mass grave.

However scripture frames evil, we glimpse the reality that there is a strong opposition within us and among us to love, health, wholeness, and peace. Theologian John Haynes Holmes said,“Evil is a fact, not to be explained away, but to be accepted; and accepted, not to be endured, but to be conquered. It is a challenge neither to our reason nor to our patience, but to our courage.”

So, what can we do, because evil exists and works against us, tempting us to do the things we hate, rather than the things we know we should do? How do we turn from temptation as we begin our Lenten journey? As a wise person once said, “Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell!” Just as Jesus experienced in the wilderness, we find that evil is a constant reality we must contend with as God sends us into the world. Yet despite how threatening and powerful evil might appear, Jesus assures us that evil will eventually be vanquished if we dare to cling to him.

Philippians 4:13 reminds us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  In those moments of weakness, physical hunger, and seeking power and fame, we have the guidance of the Spirit, just as Jesus did, to turn from evil, to turn from ourselves, and to turn towards God and service and sacrifice. So first and foremost, when tempted, Turn to God and ask for help. You have the power through Christ to resist.

Also, Jesus did not tolerate a direct assault on his fundamental identity. He knew who he was, as God had proclaimed his identity out loud as he was baptized. He had the self-awareness and self-confidence to banish Satan from his presence. Jesus recognized the seriousness of his mission, and most importantly the faithfulness of God. Because he trusted God, remembered who he was and who he was not, and trusted that he would be sustained in any place, he could turn from temptation. Finally, remember who and whose you are- You are a child of God, created to serve God.

At the end of today’s passage, we learn that the tempter doesn’t give up on Jesus, which also means that neither does he give up on us.  When the evil one had finished all of his temptations, he left Jesus until an opportune time. That time was as Jesus hung upon the cross, which sounded similar to one of those temptations he had faced in the wilderness. (Luke 23:35-36) “He saved others; let him save himself, If he is the Son of God, the chosen one!”  This was the evil one’s final opportunity to corrupt Jesus as he spoke through others while he hung upon the cross.

The reality is that you and I will face temptation regularly. In those moments of wilderness, when the tempter is leaning on that doorbell, in those moments of spiritual and physical hunger, in fantasies of power, in the search to find fame and fortune, those are the opportune moments that the tempter will try to turn us, to corrupt us.  Rev. Donald Denton said, “Temptation assaults us in the place of our devastation. We are vulnerable when hungry, angry, lonely, and tired. Sin results whenever we meet these legitimate needs via illegitimate means or make eternal virtues of these temporal conditions.” May we recognize those moments of weakness and opportunity to be tempted and led astray in our journeys through the wilderness. May we be courageous in our faith and turn to Christ, who gives us the power to turn away. May we not lose sight of our true selves, remembering who we are, and whose we are. And in those moments when temptation overcomes us, may we always remember God’s abundant grace and the new life available to us, always. Amen.