Lent 1: Following Jesus through Trials and Temptations
TranscriptioN
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Please pray with me. “O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment and light rises up in darkness for the godly, grant us in all our doubts and uncertainties the grace to ask what you would have us do, that spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
The temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness is a very well-known narrative. Most of us can relate the story, and like a lot of stories in Scripture, it can almost become too familiar with many repetitions. The main point of the narrative of Jesus' temptations is to demonstrate how the Lord, God of all creation, deals with temptation in light of his humanity.
It clearly demonstrates the victory of Jesus Christ over the power and cunning of the enemy, and perfect man who overcomes temptations after 40 days of being alone, tired, weakened, and hungry. What personal meaning is there for us in this Scripture? If Scripture is given to us as a model for a manual, for my K-12, I did that very well, for living godly lives, how does Jesus, who is perfect God and also perfect man, overcoming Satan's temptations? How can that help us? It's actually a question I've asked myself. I'm not God.
I'm not a perfect person. To be honest, I'm not equal to the task, and neither are you. It's too easy for us to fall into temptations. There's so many, and the enemy knows each one very well. As the enemy of our souls, he unfairly waits for us to be alone, tired, weakened, or hungry. He shines his light on those moments of weakness and skillfully pokes at our old familiar habits, patterns that are so easy to fall into, painful past experiences that may have shaped or traumatized us and caused us to relive those painful memories at the worst times, family behaviors that are ingrained, many of which we thought we had addressed and overcome.
But unlike Jesus, we are too easily tempted. We are actually low-hanging fruit for the enemy. Our temptations are for sure. We pray for the mind of Christ in all things, but there are times when unexpected events at home or surprising conflict with family members, especially it seems on Sunday mornings, when we hope to be more heavenly minded, we are the opposite. I don't know about your family situation, but sometimes the worst arguments and sometimes even the worst language have erupted on the way to church. I'm making a confession here.
And there sits the enemy, gloating in triumph, gloating over our failure. While we try to summon God's grace to cover our bad behavior, our out-of-control emotions, and our failed resolve to resist temptation, before we arrive at the church door. No wonder Jesus included temptations in his model prayer for us. As you look at the wilderness temptations of Christ, you may notice that Satan offered him things that were already his, manifested in his father's perfect way and timing. Satan tempted Jesus with those things that have already been given him. First, Jesus was the bread of life, our spiritual food, necessary to our daily spiritual nourishment as we live out our lives in Christ.
Secondly, God's process for salvation was already perfect in Jesus. His father's glory and his authority and power over sin and death had been established by his father. Jesus was blessed by a vision of his father's glory manifested in him at his baptism. Finally, Jesus was already in possession of God's glory and the kingdoms of the world. He was alive in God's purpose and power and he knew there were no earthly shortcuts to God's perfect time and plan. Looking past the 40-day wilderness experience, Jesus experienced his greatest temptation.
Again, as fully man, he was tempted to the limits of his humanity. Tempted to turn away from the purpose of his father's mission, which was to endure severe punishment, beatings, a sense of utter rejection, and the unimaginable pain and shame of the crucifixion. And Luke says it this way, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.
In his anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground. We experience so-called mountaintop experiences where the Holy Spirit has covered us with overwhelming joy and reassurance of his love. We at those times experience a taste of God's glory.
In that moment, it seems endless. So frequently, it's followed by a series of personal disappointments, a crisis, a family blow-up. Is there a connection between these two experiences and our sense that maybe we should prepare for a discord to follow these mountaintop experiences? To be so far from that joy of the Lord that we wonder if we really experienced it.
Hebrews reminds us to keep our eyes on the joy before us and continually remind yourself of what is at stake. Think about your family, your calling, and Jesus who gave up everything for you. Have you experienced an unmistakable and exhilarating call of God, followed by an extended time in the wilderness? Understand that the waiting and the prolonged delay are part of the fulfillment of God's call.
This is a hard one, especially if the call is clear, but the plan, according to Christian lecturer Oswald Chambers, is haphazard. Sadly, the purpose of God has for us will most likely require a time of extended patience. God needs to know that we trust him and his plan and process without the temptation to figure it out on our own what it is or what we need to do to help God.
God, make it happen. Wilderness seasons her heart and unless we know what is at stake, we may be tempted to give up. Oswald Chambers, again in the book of his lectures, my utmost for his highest, told his students one of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God and with it the temptation to rush ahead of God's timing and his plan.
So how can we overcome the temptation before us and stand firm with our eyes fixed on Jesus? Another place to look is to recall Satan's approach in the garden. His soothing voice asked a question, created doubt in our first parents, and if I were to do this the way I want to, I would hiss on every single S word because he was a snake and I believe that he said things like, did God really mean that in this beautiful lush garden created especially for you to enjoy? He has told you not to eat the fruit of this tree. Doesn't he want to let you make your own decisions about your own lives? This is original sin.
How many times are we tempted to take control of our lives as if we have better answers than God? I've heard statements like this. I seriously doubt that God understands quantum physics, the complexities of genetics, and the depths of the human genome, the Ryman hypothesis, the Goldbach conjecture, and the Hodge conjecture, which are some of the hardest math problems in the world. On the wall of one of the restrooms at MIT was another different kind of statement and it was this, and God said, followed by a complex mathematical problem, and there was light.
The devil's wilderness temptation of Jesus began with the word if, also tempting to sow seeds of doubt, but unlike Adam and Eve, Satan was trying to negotiate with the one who created all that was created, including quantum physics and the most complex mathematical problems. Over 20 years after the original publication of the human genome, the number of protein coding genes is stabilizing around 19,500. Even with a complete gene annotation of a finished genome, we will have only one example of the human gene catalog, and that will not apply to all humans.
It's endless. I call it inner space. We can't count stars.
Jesus can also count all of the genes in the genome. If you are the Son of God, if you then worship me, if you are the Son of God, as if being human, weary, lonely, weakened, and hungry, Jesus would be easily fooled. No, he endured so that we could know him in the wildernesses of our lives.
We are not God, and to be certain, we know it. Jesus places us in situations where we do not have a clue, so that his power and his authority take over. I imagine him saying to me, honey, just sit down and let me be God in your life, and when you're tempted to mess things up.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Let us pray. Gracious and holy Father, please give us intellect to understand you, reason to discern you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, a spirit to know you, a heart to meditate upon you, ears to hear you, eyes to see you, a tongue that proclaims you, a way of life pleasing to you, patience to wait for you, and perseverance to look for you. Grant us your holy presence and life everlasting. Amen.
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