Most of you in this room have been in this world long enough that when you hear certain words, you get certain ideas or feelings in your head right away. One of the ways to describe this is in terms of “connotation.” Certain words or phrases have either positive or negative connotations. For instance, if I were to say, “warmth,” most of us would give that word a positive connotation when given to us in a vacuum. Or if I were to say, “grace,” we’d probably feel pretty positive about that. But if I were to say, “war,” or “violence,” or “Los Angeles Dodgers,” most of us would give that a rather negative connotation, right? The same is true with the word, “temptation.” We hear that word, and we instantly assign it a negative connotation. To be tempted is bad. It offers a risk to do something that we think of as harmful in some way. We’re tempted to take that twenty on the table next to us that isn’t ours. We’re tempted to kick that golf ball just a little further away from the deep rough so that we have a better lie. We’re tempted by that piece of cheesecake that tastes so good but messes with our carefully laid out diet that the doctor insisted we follow. So when we hear the word, “temptation” in scripture today, our first thought is that this is bad thing – especially since the devil is the one who is doing the tempting.
But in some ways, temptation can be good, and I think that the temptation that happens to Jesus in scripture today has some redeeming qualities as well. First, we know temptation can be good as it invites us to get out of our routine and into some new interest along the way. We’re tempted to try that new coffee place on the corner. We’re tempted to reach out to that neighbor across the street that just moved in. We’re tempted to offer words of encouragement that aren’t expected but could be helpful. Temptation – much like most things in our life – only is harmful in how we as people end up engaging it.
But because it’s the devil who is doing the tempting in scripture today, we don’t realize how the temptations that Jesus is forced to endure in scripture – though negative in nature – are indeed temptations that are designed to encourage the listener. Even though it’s tempting – see, there it is – to focus solely on the negative, and recognize our own brokenness, and how we’d probably fall flat on our face if we were tempted like Jesus was, Jesus’ temptations today are designed to provide a prime example of how we ourselves are often tempted, and yet are called to something more. And Jesus sees that and lives it out in his wanderings in the wilderness, giving us a blueprint for us to follow, in seeking something greater than our own self-gratification.
First, a note on something that makes Luke’s gospel a little unique. Of the four gospels in our modern New Testament, two of the four have a genealogy – a listing of Jesus’s ancestors to give us a sense of who Jesus is in the context of God’s work of salvation among the Israelites. The first is Matthew, which starts off with a genealogy at the very beginning. Matthew’s genealogy lists Jesus’ ancestors through Abraham. Luke’s genealogy, on the other hand, lists Jesus’s ancestors past Abraham all the way back to Adam. And even more interesting is the fact that Luke places his genealogy not at the very beginning of the book, but instead right after Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan by John, and right before the text you heard in worship today. I don’t think this is an accident. I think the writer of Luke wanted us to connect the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness to the story of Adam, who with Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, and was then cast out of Eden into the wilderness. And did you notice the very first think that the devil tempted Jesus with was the promise of food? And the fact of the matter is, the temptation isn’t about the power of knowledge that was promised to Adam and Eve. No, this temptation is simply about how easy is would be.
“If you are the Son of God,” the devil begins, “turn this stone into bread.” If you’re the Son of God, it would be easy. It would be a small thing. Almost as simple as picking a ripened fruit from a tree. What’s the harm? It’s not like there aren’t plenty of other stones out there. But that’s the thing about temptation. So often, it’s about the easy things – the seemingly harmless things – that then make it easier to justify less simple things later on. Nobody will miss the dollar found on the sidewalk. Well, probably nobody will miss the five found on that chair either. The twenty tucked away? I have no idea where it went!
The thing about temptation – and the thing it’s apparent that Jesus knows today – is the fact that it’s rarely about the first temptation. It’s rarely about the first domino. Because there are a lot of dominoes behind it. Jesus resists these first temptations not just because he’s God’s Son, but also because he shows us an example of focusing on what truly matters in order to change the world not through taking the easy way or making life easier for all of us. Instead of acting on the temptation to do the easy thing for his own sake, Jesus does the harder thing, because it is for the sake of all creation. And that gives us a potential tool to use as we examine how we respond to temptation in our own lives.
First, a caveat – we aren’t Jesus. We’re flawed human beings who have and will continue to screw up. We have the season of Lent in part because of our human capacity to screw up. So when we give in to the occasional temptation, we can be thankful we have the grace given to us by God to try to do better the next day. But when we look at the way temptation works, we need to ask ourselves the question – “is this for me, or is this for the sake of the world?” Because I think the temptation that gives us trouble – the temptation that leads to sin – is always about being selfish. It’s about putting our desires above others, even when it might cause harm to the other. Instead, when we listen to the instinct given to us by the Spirit to seek to help the neighbor and stranger, we live into the better way that God has put before us.
Today as we speak the Lord’s prayer, we’ll ask to be saved from the time of trial – relating to the words, “lead us not into temptation.” And these words tie to the nature of Jesus and his defeating temptation today. But beyond that are other words that guide us to a new paradigm for how to view the world in the midst of temptation – “your kingdom come, your will be done.” As we work to practice what we pray in that prayer, I encourage you – how might you do the work of God’s kingdom here on earth? How might you seek to do God’s will when confronted with self-serving temptation? It’s not always easy, because we do know that we fall short.
But today I can tell you that when Jesus faced temptation, he faced temptation not just as a man with God’s spirit inside him. He faced temptation as the descendent of the first temptation. He faced temptation and defeated it so that temptation – and the sin that comes from it – would no longer hold power over us. Through Jesus, we know that there is a better way – a way of doing God’s will, and when we examine the world through those eyes – the eyes of doing God’s will – temptations don’t seem quite as tempting. So today, I invite you, be people who work to live into God’s will when temptations to do the easy thing for your own sake come calling. For God has called all of us to be people of the promise. And God’s promises, freely given, set us free from sin and death and help us to live into the glory of eternal life found in the word and work of God that sustains us in the most challenging of journeys.