“The Temptation
of Jesus”
A Sermon Preached by the
Rev. Jean Niven Lenk
Sunday, February 17, 2013
First Congregational Church of Stoughton, United
Church of Christ
Text: Matthew 4:1-11
Let us pray… Life-sustaining God, with us through all our trials and temptations, bear
us up through this season of self-examination, that we might discern your voice
above all the others, that we might feed on the bread of your word, open
ourselves to your presence, and serve you with joy, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our Bible story for today is traditional for the
First Sunday in Lent – Jesus in the wilderness.
And our passage today has all those elements of the season that touch
our hearts and give us that warm, fuzzy feeling – fasting, temptation, and the
devil. OK, I’m kidding. But I think one of the reasons I love Lent so
much is that it has not yet been hijacked by commercialization and
secularization. After all, Christmas has
Santa, Easter has the bunny, but Lent has -- ???
Let’s face it -- Lent is a hard sell, with its wintry
setting, somber gray mood, and emphasis on denial and discipline. Many of us would probably rather go straight
to the springtime of Easter with its baby chicks and marshmallow peeps
set in a palette of soft pastels. But
Lent is the journey we are called to take, following Jesus to the cross.
The
story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness is told by the gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke. Mark’s is a very brief
telling, which we heard a few days ago at our Ash Wednesday service. The accounts of Matthew – which we will hear
today -- and Luke are quite similar and go into great detail. So I invite you to turn to page 3 of the New
Testament section of your pew bible for this story from the Gospel of Matthew,
Chapter 4, verses 1-11.
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted by the devil.
2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was
famished.
3 The tempter came and aid to him, “If you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on
the pinnacle of the temple,
6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself
down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On
their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against
a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the
Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will
fall down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited
on him.
“Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Every
Sunday, we pray these words together, asking God to be our strength and guide
when we’re faced with temptation. These
are the words that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray just two chapters after
this morning’s lesson, in response to their request, “Lord, teach us to
pray.” In the New Revised Standard
Version, the bible translation you will find in the pews, the words are a
little different: “Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the
evil one.”
Regardless
of the translation, Jesus’ words may have grown out of his experience in the
wilderness, where he was led by God’s Spirit immediately after his baptism. The wilderness in
Jesus’ day was the exposed and barren terrain of the desert. And it was in this setting that Jesus
endured a time of trial and testing at the hands of the devil.
In many artists’ depictions of this
story, the devil is portrayed as a shadowy, winged figure lurking behind the
shoulder of Jesus, whispering in his ear, enticing him to temptation, and baiting
him with scripture, all to distract him from God. And that’s indeed what the devil tries to do
in this story.
“If you are the Son of God, command
these stones to become loaves of bread.”
In this first test, the devil taunts
Jesus and tempts him with food after his 40 days of fasting. First, he questions his power: “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus will hear these words later on, in
another setting: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” But here in the wilderness, the devil uses
them to entice Jesus to satisfy his hunger – to use his divine powers serve
himself. Between the lines, we hear the
devil saying, “Someone in your position should have some special privileges,
Jesus. Use your power to get the
necessities you need."
But Jesus resists, responding with
words from Deuteronomy[i]:
"One does not live on bread alone but [by] every word that comes from the
mouth of the Lord."
Jesus refuses to use his divine power to satisfy his
own needs. He remains faithful to who he is and what God is
calling him to do: not to ask for special privileges, but to enter fully into his
human condition of want and need.
For the second temptation, the devil
takes Jesus outside the wilderness to the pinnacle of the temple. "Throw yourself down … so that God's angels can save
you." In a foreshadowing of what is
to come, this is to test Jesus’ resolve to trust God even to the point of death,
and the devil hopes to plant a seed of doubt in Jesus’ mind, one that will
cause him to wonder, “Will God really protect me? Is God faithful and worthy of my trust?” And to be more convincing, the devil dishes
out a little scripture himself, quoting from the Psalms[ii]:
“For it is written, ‘He will command
his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that
you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
But Jesus once more resists, and quotes
scripture[iii]
right back: “Again it is written, ‘Do
not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
For the third temptation, the devil
shows Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world and says, "All this can be
yours -- if you worship me."
But Jesus refuses
to take the world by domination. The only weapon he will use is the Word; the
only sword he will draw is the sword of the Spirit. And he answers the devil, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the
Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
The devil may force Jesus to wrestle with
his own humanity, pushing every button of human weakness -- hunger, power,
pride, and a desire for security -- but Jesus resists, remaining faithful to
God. The
devil may even be able to recite scripture and may know exactly where to find the verses he needs
to put Jesus to the test.
But Jesus lives the Word; it is what springs him
free from the temptations; it is what sustains his life, what empowers him to
face the critics and endure the unknown, whether there in the wilderness or
later under the shadow of the cross.
During his time of distress and hardship, Jesus returns to the bedrock of his faith to find his strength and
face his fear.
And
just as Jesus spent time in the barren terrain of the wilderness, so do
we. It may be
a time of trial in our lives when we feel we are being tested. It may be a place of uncertainty and change,
beyond our comfort zone. It may be the
feeling of being lost and abandoned by God.
Or maybe our wilderness is regret
and sorrow stemming from our own wayward actions and unhealthy choices. While the devil figures prominently in this
story, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about him in our particular faith
tradition. Indeed, it can be problematic
to refer to an external entity which tempts and lures us into doing something
we shouldn’t – like when Flip Wilson’s Geraldine says, “The devil made me buy
that dress.” Because when we locate the
source of our sin outside of ourselves, it removes our responsibility for own
actions. “The devil” may in fact be our
inner demons which fill us with fear, anxiety, and doubt, and steer us on a
path away from God littered with our addictions, misdeeds and broken
relationships.
For all
of us who are feeling as if we are out there in the wilderness, there is hope
and encouragement at the conclusion of this morning’s story. Matthew tells us that after 40 days and
nights, the devil leaves, angels come and wait on Jesus, and his time in the desert ends. He then withdraws to Galilee and
begins to teach, heal and preach, proclaiming the Good News of God.
In other words, Jesus is strengthened
and transformed by his time in the wilderness, and he shows us that when times
of trial and testing enter our lives, we too can grow through them and emerge at
the other end refreshed, renewed, and revitalized to face our future with
trust, hope and faith. Amen.
