Temptation

The First Sunday of Lent
March 4, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on Luke 4:1-13

I simply cannot read today's Gospel passage without Martin Scorcese's movie, The Last Temptation coming to mind. Perhaps you will remember the great controversy over the film. It brought up the uncomfortable possibility of Jesus being tempted, in the face of death, to seek happiness on earth by the side of Mary Magdalene and to end his days living a quiet domestic life. The mere possibility near the end of the film was enough to cause the moral condemnation of the movie. Perhaps you will remember that many Christians picketed the theatres pleading with people not to see it. In fact, that is the only reason I went to see the film at all. Was I giving in to temptation? I did not find that it threatened my faith in any way. I could not help but wonder why Christians neurotically hold on to a Jesus who is less than human! I have heard people say, 'naturally Jesus did not give in to the temptations'. They deny the possibility that the temptations really enticed him at all. If we truly believe that he lived and died as one of us, then surely it would be more of a worry if he had never been tempted as we are.

Indeed, Luke's temptations are very subtle and human in their nature. I suspect Scorcese could have stuck to the story and had a far greater impact on society. For Luke tells a wonderful, passionate story.

It is a story that sets the scene, for in it Jesus squarely faces his destiny – Jerusalem and the cross. He is a very real person enticed by very real temptations. He feels every human emotion. He suffers from deep inner conflicts and turmoil. He lives in the real world and is affected by the society in which he lives.

Jesus in the desert is completely vulnerable. It is the beginning of his earthly ministry. He is newly baptized. Weak with hunger, tired and lonely, he is confronted with some difficult choices about who he is and what he is going to do with his life.

The first choice is simple: "Make bread", the devil tempts him. Jesus is hungry. He is out in the desert. He has not eaten in forty days. He has need of food. It is a totally human response to human need. We all feel hunger. What harm could it possibly be to make a little bread to assuage his hunger?

Later people will come to ask him for bread. He will give it to them. He will break bread with his disciples. He will be recognized in the breaking of bread. But it will be a symbol of something far greater for it will satisfy their inner hunger.

In resisting the first temptation, Jesus recognizes a great truth. We do not live by bread alone. Is it not when we are totally empty inside, that we most deeply feel physical hunger? Psychologists say that people who overeat are trying to satisfy something inside themselves. To be human is to yearn for what will really fill our souls, fill them in such a way that we will never feel hungry again. But Jesus refuses to make bread.

So the devil tempts him again. "Be a political leader". Can you think of a better way to bring peace and justice to the world? Would not Jesus have made a great king? It must have been tempting! Not in terms of personal power! There were enough altruistic reasons to seize power from Rome. The Roman Empire was the cause of much suffering for the people of Israel. It squeezed money from them. It acted as if it were God. Later people would almost force him to become their king. He would ride into Jerusalem on the back of donkey. People would take palm branches and spread them before him as they would with the king. Even the disciples, those closest to Jesus, had an expectation that the Messiah, the one who would come, would come as a political leader to lead them to freedom. Yet Jesus refused to be tempted by power.

So there was a third temptation. "Perform a great stunt. Be noticed. Jump from the pinnacle of the temple. You won't be hurt. But people will surely take note. What harm could there possibly be in letting people know exactly who you are and what you can do? Look how people flock to see Simon the Magician."

Later the crowd will ask Jesus for sign. A sign, a clear answer, would be helpful. God would be known and understood. Everyone would be able to really trust God. Life would be totally secure. Or would it?

The fact is that all such acts would have left us powerless. We would have remained children asking for bread and looking for signs and wonders. We would be diminished, turned into tame animals, able only to follow orders. It would not have allowed us to live as human beings in freedom. It would not have allowed us to choose to serve God. It would not have allowed us to be all we are meant to be.

There is always the temptation to use God to meet our own needs. Churches can become social clubs that we use to advance ourselves in a community. They can be places of entertainment or middle class compromise. They can be places where we 'busily do good' and expect people to be grateful for what we do for them.

Jesus did not come to take over. He did not come to make us rich, or to fulfill our heart's desires. He did not come to entertain us with great feats of magic. He came to enable us to be all we are meant to be. He came to empower us. And that is exactly what he did. And that is exactly what we are called to do. He did it by way of the cross. That is the way we are called to follow. Our Lenten journey leads to Easter through the wilderness by way of the cross.

All too often when we look at the wilderness we see the testing and not its outcome. We are tempted to see times of testing in our own lives as a sign that God has abandoned us or that we have failed. Like Jesus, we often stand at the edge of a moral precipice with difficult choices to make. Let us commit ourselves to face all that distorts good, knowing that we are not alone, moving ahead in faith, and being all that God is calling us to be.