The Temptation of Jesus (to Focus on Raising his Net Worth)

Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13

It’s Ash Wednesday, and I am about to leave to attend an Ash Wednesday service with my favorite theologian, my wife.  She never lets us miss an Ash Wednesday service because she finds it to be one of the most profound services of the church year.  I asked her why that was, and she simply said, “It reminds us that we are all made of the same stuff.”  In this week’s scripture we follow Jesus into the wilderness to find temptation to let that idea go.

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Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’

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One thing that always grabs me about the story of the temptation of Jesus is that the story starts with Jesus being led into the wilderness by “the Spirit.”  In the passages prior to this one we saw the Spirit descend down to Jesus like a dove, so now we are seeing where the Spirit moves Jesus.  Unfortunately for Jesus it is leading him off to have a really awful few weeks.  Jesus has no food and presumably little shelter for forty days, and the text would have us believe that this is the will of God, because the Spirit let him there.  Jesus is out in this mess because he is following where God led him.

As Jesus is feeling horrible, the story tells us that the devil comes to him with some possible ways to get out of this mess that God has put him in.  He begins by tempting him to do something that no human could do.  He could use some special power that he has to turn a rock into bread.  In that way he could circumvent the harm that he is undergoing, but he would also circumvent God’s will, because the spirit led him to this.  Jesus gives a nice flippant answer in the form of a scriptural reference and moves on.

Next the devil tempts him with the power of the world.  He says that he can give him all the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory and authority that comes with that.  Then Jesus could easily get a nice meal as well a rule with an iron fist if he so desired.  But in trade he would have to give up following God, and instead worship the devil.  Given the offer of immeasurable power here on Earth, Jesus shuts the devil down again.

Finally the Devil gives him one last temptation.  He asks Jesus to essentially force God’s hand.  Rather than sit here and undergo this torment, Jesus could jump off the temple and force God to send some angels down to take care of him.  This would not only allow him to get out of his current situation, but it would also take some of God’s power for himself as he made God do what he wanted.  Once again Jesus tells the devil to shut it via scriptural reference, and the devil heads off to fight again another day.

One thing that all of these three temptations have in common is they are an attempt to gain power above what any person may have.  Jesus is left out in the wilderness, and he is experiencing it in the way any normal person would.  He is hungry.  It is awful.  He does use superpowers coming from himself to fix it.  He does not use power coming from the world to fix it.  He does not force God to fix it.  He came into this situation in faith, and he will come out of it in faith.  He just comes home when the Spirit says it’s time.

Now I do not believe that God leads us through terrible things just to tempt us to give up on God's path, but I do believe that following God’s call is often incredibly difficult.  I think the gospel writer knows that as well and wants us to know that Jesus went through it too.  Jesus went through some hard times following God’s call, and rather than miracle his way out of it, Jesus went through it just like would, hungry and tempted to stop.

We are all made of the same stuff.  We can’t turn rocks into bread, we can’t take God’s power, and any power we amass through not following God will be pretty useless at the end of the road.  We are all called to follow God, just like Jesus.  Sometimes it will feel like the wilderness, and we might be tempted to make decisions that take us away from our connection to God, rather than having strength in our faith to keep going.  More likely though, things are generally ok, but we are just as tempted by the fear that the wilderness might be right around the corner.  Either way, use this Lent to assess what is helping you on your journey following God, and what isn’t.  And have faith.  The wilderness is hard on all of us.