TEMPTED LIKE US
Luke 4:1-13
February 25, 2007
Betty Berghaus
So, is there anyone here who has never been tempted, by anything or anyone? If so, you are probably not human! It is very human to be tempted. Webster’s Dictionary defines temptation as the act of enticing to do wrong by promise of pleasure or guilt, of provoking or inciting, or, as a noun, the thing which intices us to do wrong. We are tempted to eat or drink the wrong thing, or to eat or drink too much. We are tempted to go to the movie when we know we should be working. (Some people are even tempted not to go to church, I learned between services! Whoa!) We are tempted to do many things, and by nature of the act itself, those things are not usually good for us. We are tempted to do wrong.
Because temptation is a very human thing, the Bible talks about it a lot. The first to fall to temptation were the first human beings, Adam and Eve, when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God had told them to leave alone. Theologians say that their original sin condemned us all to be sinners, forever after.
In both Hebrew and Greek, the words are the same for “temptation” and “test.” The Bible tells us that God tested Abraham when he told him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham prepared to do so and was about to do so when God provided a lamb in his place. (God does the same for us!) In Exodus, the wandering Israelites quarreled and tested God when they were running low on water. God provided water for them from a rock. God complained (Numbers 14:22) that the people tested him 10 times and did not obey God. Isaiah spoke of God testing the people in the “furnace of adversity” (Isaiah 48:10), and Daniel’s friends were indeed tested in a furnace, and he in a lion’s den. Or perhaps God was tested when these things happened to these faithful people. And God came through to save them.
Jesus knew we would be tempted. He taught us to pray, saying, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (or the evil one)” (Matthew 6:13). And in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said to his disciples, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak.” The letter to the Hebrews spoke of Jesus’ temptations for our sakes: “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” And “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested (or tempted) as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 2:18 & 4:14-15). Paul knew that we would be tempted, because we are human. In I Corinthians (10:13), he said to a people who were struggling with the temptations of the pagan religions in their midsts: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful and will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing [God] will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.”
The Bible also talks a lot about the Tempter, also known as Satan, the devil, and many other titles, like the evil one, the accuser, the prince of demons, the archfiend, the instigator of all evil, the rival of God, or the Antichrist. The name Satan comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to obstruct,” or “to oppose.” There is a Greek translation as Satanus but there is also the Greek word diabolos. Satan appeared only 3 times in the Old Testament, and he is not clearly a demonic figure in these passages. Job talks of Satan, or the accuser, getting permission from God to test the righteous man Job (See Job 1). Zechariah had a vision of Satan, or the accuser, rebuking Joshua’s role as high priest for the people who had returned from exile (Zechariah 3:1-2). And Satan caused David to take a census of the people according to II Chronicles (21:1). Satan of the Old Testament is a superior being, but a subordinate of God who answers to God. He is a spirit who causes errant behavior.
By New Testament times, Satan began to be personified more and to be more prominent. The New Testament mentions Satan 32 times and diabolos another 32 times. He is a more distinct personality who enters into human beings and causes them to do evil things (I always think of Flip Wilson saying: “The devil made me do it!”) It is Satan who tempted Judas to betray Jesus and Peter to deny him (Luke 22:3, 31; John 13:27), who in Acts (5:3) prompted Ananias to withhold his contribution from the church, and who prevented Paul from visiting Thessalonica. Hebrews says that Satan brought evil into the world (Heb. 2:14). John called him “a murderer from the beginning” and the “father of lies” (John 8:44). And Revelation declared that Satan, “the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev. 12:9) was defeated and would be bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20:2). Indeed, throughout the New Testament, Satan got worse and worse!
Satan is the personification of all that is evil. When we cannot explain something, honestly, we tend to find someone else to blame for it. So the immense presence of evil in our world must be due to some monstrous evil being! Thus Satan, or the Devil, grows in our visions. But perhaps he is, after all, the figurehead for all evil. How else do we fully explain such horrors as the Holocaust or 9/11, serial killers or child abusers? There is evil in this world, and it is not of God. Satan gives us a way to personify that evil.
In our passage for today we see this evil Satan tempting, or testing, Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus’ temptations were perhaps not things that would test the rest of us. They were temptations peculiar to his role as Messiah, or Savior. His temptations were not even inherently bad.
For the first temptation, Jesus was most likely hungry after having no food in the wilderness. And he also knew that there were, like today, many in his world who lacked adequate food. Stones, on the other hand, were very abundant in this arid land. So turning stone into bread would benefit not just Jesus, but many hungry mouths. Moses made water come from rock and bread appear from the earth. Why couldn’t Jesus do the same?
But perhaps this was the quick, easy fix to a bigger problem. We too want the easiest fix. Presbyterians try not to do the easy fix because we do things by committee! Often it would probably be quicker for one person to do the deed, and to get it done, but going through a committee (which always takes longer!) involves more Christian hearts and heads, and so hopefully comes closer to discerning the will of God. That is, at least, what we Presbyterians believe.
Jesus said, in a way, that there is more to this temptation than the obvious. He answered Satan with a quote from Deuteronomy: “One does not live by bread alone.” The rest of the quote says, ‘But by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The quick fix might not be the best solution. We have to consider what would best conform to the will of God.
Next, in Luke, the Tempter showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The devil said he had authority over all of these realms (something we might agree with some days as we watch the news!). He said he would give Jesus this authority, if Jesus would but worship him.
Again, this temptation is not all bad. The kingdoms of the world were oppressive and dictatorial. People were suffering at the hands of the most prominent rulers in Rome. (People suffer at the hands of some rulers and governments in today’s world as well.) The people of the New Testament times awaited a Messiah who would overthrow the evil government and replace it with a peace-loving ruler. That would not be a bad thing!
But the condition for this rule was to worship the devil, and not God. We Christians know that is wrong, even if we are not sure what it means to worship the devil. Perhaps letting other things than God come first in our lives constitutes worshiping the devil. When we drive towards success so hard that it does not matter to us if we step on others on our way up, when we are so addicted to alcohol or drugs that the obsession for them ruins our relationships and our lives, when we spend money we do not even have to acquire more and more, perhaps then we are worshiping the devil more than we are worshiping God.
Jesus was not going to rule the world as Satan tempted, and he again quoted Deuteronomy (6:13): “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
A third time Satan tempted Jesus. He transported Jesus (a la “Star Trek!”) to Jerusalem and to the very top of the Temple, and told him to throw himself down. Human as he was, Jesus would have been crushed from that height. Satan next pulled out all the punches by quoting Scripture himself (Psalm 91:11-12) to say that angels would protect Jesus from any harm. Now, perhaps this temptation too was not all bad. Such public “air time” would increase Jesus’ popularity. More people would hear about him and would certainly flock to him for healing and help. But this was not what God had in mind for Jesus, at least not now, nor in this way. Jesus answered again with a quote from Deuteronomy (6:16): “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Three (a sacred number in the Bible) tests seemed to be enough, and the devil then left Jesus alone. But the text tells us that he departed “until an opportune time.” We know from the Scriptures that Satan returned again, to harden Judas’ heart, and to convince Peter to deny Jesus. And the evil appeared again to put Jesus to trial and to death.
Jesus would not be tempted to give a quick and miraculous fix, at least not at the beginning of his ministry. He would not turn stones into bread, yet he did feed thousands miraculously. Jesus would not be a political figurehead, reliant on either popular vote or dictatorial rule. He would not be the next Emperor or King of the world, yet he did usher in a kingdom of which we are a part. Jesus would not make a show of God’s power to promote his ministry, yet he did heal lepers, the blind, the paralyzed. And perhaps the most flashy news item, his resurrection, continues to be Good News throughout the centuries and brings millions to follow him.
Maybe, then, the bottom line is that Jesus would not be tempted by the Evil One. His acts and his words would come from God, and from God only. And he was able to discern what was from God and what was not. That is the wisdom we seek, and the wisdom we need, as we try to follow Jesus, the Bread of the World, the Prince of Peace, the Life and the Resurrection.
We are human. We will be tempted by things or persons that may not be healthy for us. But resistance is NOT futile (another reference that “Star Trek” folks will understand). In this case, resistance may be of God. Our task as Christians is to discern what is of God and what is not. And that is not always easy to do. So let’s help one another, as the covenant community of faith.
Jesus reflected upon his ministry in his time of temptation in the wilderness. This Lenten season, reflect upon your relationship with the Christ. Examine what temptations he may be calling you to leave behind, and what he may be calling you to do. Spend some time in the holy wilderness, as did Christ. Spend some time with the Christ. AMEN.