Tempted by whom?

 

First Sunday of Lent - February 17, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

Oh, that wretched Satan! The cause of so much trouble  for Jesus and for us.

Jesus is busy with that question of identity: Who am I and what is my place in the who ordering of things?

And Satan pops into the scene with his temptations to grab power.

 

We heard earlier of the Baptism of Jesus, complete with voice from heaven...”You are my Son, the beloved...”

But then Jesus was led by the Spirit, Luke says, into the wilderness.

This is not wilderness with babbling brooks and nodding wildflowers, but instead a nearly barren landscape of rough stone and sand and scorpions.

Is this any place for the Messiah?

 

If you are truly he, do something spectacular, Jesus!

You're hungry, and so are lots of other people, so fix the problem!

“You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God, he replies.”

 

“Feeding the hungry doesn't appeal to you?

Well, I can see your point.

Feed the hungry today; what good does that do tomorrow?

Let's feed them forever!

How? Through the only long-term means of good we know – politics.

Here laid out before you are all the kingdoms of the world.

I will give you power over  them and their glorious accomplishments (because, after all, I own them –politics is my major area of satanic concern.)

All that you need to do is to recognize my authority over political matters.

Worship me.”

 

But Jesus responds: “It is written, we shall worship only one God.”

 

“Well if you won't show a little compassion for the hungry, and if you don't care about making the world a better place, then at least sow concern for those who are struggling to believe.

Show those folks in the pews down there who you are.

Leap from the tower of the temple and stand in front of them unhurt.

After all, you're God.”

Jesus replies firmly: “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

 

Why is this story in scripture?

What is it doing to us?

I suppose our first reaction is to try to make it about ourselves, how it is an example of how we are to withstand temptation.

So let's play that out for a moment.

Jesus could have called upon the Father and rid the scene of this troublesome pest.

He can “send the power of evil reeling” as one of our hymns phrases it.

But he chooses not to act in that way, but instead to use the same resource that is available to each of us, namely, the holy scriptures, in order to phrase the right response to the evil temptation.

What a wonderful and positive example!

Of course it also means that we need to be much more diligent in study of scripture in order to frame such responses, but at least we have a pattern to follow.

The responses do not point to us, to our accomplishments and how wonderful we are, but instead point to the nature of God, and thus fill their proper role.

 

But there is another pattern quietly at work in this story, one that is not positive as we have just described.

Who is it that is doing the tempting in this story?

“Satan, “ we quickly answer with lots of righteous finger-pointing, “that is the evil one.”

But remember the Bible's first finger-pointing story: “She gave me the fruit of the tree in the garden and I ate.”

It was about hunger.

And the next one was about power: “And he rose up and killed Abel his brother in the field.”

And that is only by the fourth chapter of Genesis and we have lots more scripture to examine.

As we continue reading, are we going to find lots of faithful people regularly doing exactly as the Lord commands?

No, most all the time, they, and we, do not!

 

So who is this demonic tempter who is determined to trip up the Lord Jesus, enticing him to walk a path other than the one God has commanded?

The Satan, the tempter, is one of his own disciples.

The ones who offer him the greatest temptation, who want to transform him, are his own people – us!

The temptation he resists is us – Jesus' own people who, rather than agreeing to follow him on his own terms, attempt to make him over into our own image, what we think he ought to be.

We would rather do that than simply follow him as the God who the Scriptures say that he is.

 

The Good News is that Jesus is able to resist these temptations also; temptations in the wilderness and in the church.

“Get thee behind me Satan”

He not only quotes scripture; he lives it!

He embodies the love of God that sometimes speaks, and at other times is silent even in the face of great provocation, such as the derision on the cross: “If you are the Son of God come down from there.”

But he is silent, continuing on his way, determined to conquer that last enemy death from the inside out.

The temptation to do otherwise must have been overwhelming... but he resisted.

 

How long will this continue? 

The two evocative words used are “forty” and “wilderness”.

The number forty is used to convey the idea of fullness, completeness, a whole generation.

“Wilderness” is the place of great difficulties, where Israel learned to depend on the Lord God for physical survival: manna, quails, and water...

as well as spiritual survival: the covenant of the Commandments given through Moses on Mt Sinai in the wilderness.

And Jesus is in the wilderness 40 days, Luke says, tempted by all of the things that we can throw at him, and he is victorious.

 

Jesus confronted the archenemy and had won the battle.

The war, however, was not over.

The Messiah was ready for the awesome task spoken to him by the Father.

Unlike Israel, Jesus was faithful in every test, all the way to death.

He does not take out his appropriate anger on his people when they add to the scope of temptations.

His patience with us and endurance of our foolish words and deeds is beyond anything we can imagine.

He is completely devoted to the Father, in stark contrast with his adversaries. 

He holds out against all of the temptations, even the ones that come from  us and our demands.

Though hordes of devils fill the land

All threatening to devour [Christ or] us

We tremble not, unmoved we stand

They cannot overpower [Christ or] us

Let this world's tyrant rage;

In battle we'll engage.

His might is doomed to fail.

God's judgment must prevail.

One little word subdues him.

[Christ] breaks the cruel oppressor's rod

And wins salvation glorious

He holds the field victorious.

 

That is the truth to which we must cling when we don't feel like it.

On those days when it looks as though Satan is winning, when the temptations are extra alluring,

go back to the sources:

--Hear the witness of scripture.

--Come together for mutual encouragement.

--Receive the foretaste of the final banquet in the Holy Communion regularly.

--Sing the hymns of resolute faith; Satan just hates them!

And know this:

His might is doomed to fail,

One little word subdues him.  Amen.