The Temptation of Jesus

Luke 4:1-13

The Greek author Niko Kazantzakis wrote a famous novel in 1955 called The Last Temptation of Christ (later made into a really awful movie) that was inspired by today’s Gospel reading. The premise that Satan would return at an opportune time to have one last go at tempting Jesus to stray from the path of the cross. In Kanzantzakis story, Jesus is tempted while on the cross. He is tempted to come down from the cross and to live a normal live. To get married, have children, and most of all, not be crucified. Jesus imagines what a ‘normal’ happy human life might be like. And it is tempting, but in the end, Jeus resists this temptation, just as he did the earlier temptations of Satan, and remains on the cross.

The point of the novel was to portray the fact that for Jesus to really be tempted, the temptation must be subtle and must, well, … be truly tempting.

Many times we think of temptation in very crass and obvious terms.  We imagine that someone will offer us great sums of money to join an organised crime gang, or will come up to us and say, ‘would you like to try some really dangerous drugs?’ But the reality, of course, is that temptation doesn’t happen like this. Temptation is always subtle and always makes a good point.

We see this in the account of Jesus’ temptation. The story is about Jesus’ preparation for his ministry. It is also a story that gives those who follow Jesus an understanding of what it means to be tempted, or tested. And we learn from Jesus’ example how to deal with temptation.

A point that needs to kept in mind from the beginning is that the word ‘tempted’ can also mean ‘tested.’ Both senses are probably intended in today’s text. From Satan’s perspective this is a temptation, it is an attempt to cause Jesus to stray from the path of the cross. From the perspective of the Father, who leads Jesus through the Spirit into the dessert, this is a test, a test which shows who Jesus is and shows his preparedness to begin his public ministry.

In the same way, temptations that we encounter often also have the positive aspect of a test that can show us who we are in Christ, and can show us that we really can follow God’s call or path for us.

So let’s look at the temptation of Jesus and what we can learn from it.

The context is that Jesus has been fasting in the wilderness for forty days. This has clear allusions to the wandering of Israel in the dessert for forty years, and it is no coincidence that the quotes Jesus uses to respond to Satan come from the book of Deuteronomy, that is, from this very time in Israel’s history. Perhaps it is Jesus’ way of showing that he is able to pass the tests that the people of God in the wilderness failed to pass.

The first temptation or test of Jesus.

After forty days of fasting, we are told that Jesus was hungry. This has to be one of the great understatements of the Bible! Such a fast would have allowed liquid drink, and perhaps some very small amounts of nourishment found in the surrounds, but no proper, filling meals. So Jesus would have been in a very weakened condition both physically and mentally. It was the ideal time for Satan to tempt him.

And the first temptation is quite simple and seemingly harmless. ‘If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into loaves of bread.’

After forty days of fasting the small rounded rocks, about the shape and size of small loaves of bread, must have increasingly looked like bread to Jesus. So Satan uses something already in Jesus’ mind. Also, the conditional ‘if you are the Son of God,’ can also be translated as ‘since you are the Son of God.’

And this makes more sense. Satan knew how Jesus was, and Jesus knew that Satan knew who he was. So why beat around the bush. The point of the temptation isn’t to question who Jesus is, it is to get him to veer from his appointed path.

The temptation here is to abandon the humility of the incarnation, the living of life as a human, and to use his divine power (which was, after all, his right) for his own personal benefit.

Jesus had finished his forty days of fasting. And the nearest bakery was a long walk away. So why not replicate the miracle of manna in the dessert and produce a few tasty, freshly baked loaves of bread from the local rocks?

This is a type of temptation or test that we also face.

It is the temptation to think of our own needs first.

It is the temptation to put physical matters above spiritual matters.

It is the temptation to do what we would like to do rather than following what God wants us to do.

Jesus resisted this temptation with a quote from scripture. (And recalling or thinking of a key Bible verse, by the way, is a very good way to deal with temptation or testing).

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3: ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ He reminds the devil that, hungry as he is, there are more important things to consider than filling one’s stomach. That can wait. The rest of the verse that he quotes, which would have been well known to every Jewishreader, it that we instead live ‘by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.’

The second test:

Having failed in this first, subtle attempt, Satan takes a more direct approach. He leads Jesus (presumably in a vision) to a high mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be seen. These were the kingdoms that Jesus as God in flesh was meant one day to rule. These were the people Jesus came to redeem. But the route to do this was a difficult one. It was the path of the cross.

Satan offers Jesus a deal. There is an easier way, he says. Simply pay me homage, some little sign of worship, and I will let go of my claim on all these kingdoms that are in my power and they can be yours, simple as that. All I am asking is for a little sign of respect and recognition.

Now there are a couple of problems with Satan’s offer. Firstly, he overstates his role. While Satan might seem to rule over the kingdoms of the world, they never did belong to him. He is offering what is not really his to offer. Secondly, no matter how little a sign of respect or worship he is asking for, it would be giving him something that can only be given by Jesus in his incarnate form to the Father.

The temptation here is to take a shortcut. We have all been in this situation. Just skim over the readings and sign the statement that you have read them.  Just dig the post holes at half the depth and fill them with half the concrete. Less time and less money and it will all look the same in the end. Life is full of the illusion of shortcuts. Want to lose weight, just buy this fancy device that will jiggle the fat away while watching television?

Shortcuts, of course, seldom lead us to where we wanted to go. A couple of years ago we drove to the top of Mount Bago. It was a long and circuitous route, that took us past the Bago Maze and winery. Once at the top I noticed a road that would take us in four kilometres back to the main road rather than the 12 kilometres the way we came. The road looked good to I headed down it, only to find after a precarious descent that the road was washed out, and had probably been in this state for some years, at the bottom. So we had to make the very difficult and trickly climb back up the mountain in order to go back down the correct way.

I am sure you can think of many examples in your life when you have been tempted to take a shortcut, and it didn’t work out as you had hoped. And that is the trap in Satan’s temptation to Jesus. The shortcut did lead to where it appeared to go.

Jesus recognised this, but did not argue this point with Satan. He simply cited another verse from Deuteronomy that settled the issue. Once more Jesus relied on scripture to deal with temptation. ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ There was no question that Jesus could give even the smallest worship to Satan.

The third test.

So Satan switches tact and has one more attempt. This time he quotes scripture himself, since Jesus seems to take these texts so seriously. Satan transports Jesus to the top of the temple and says, ‘Jump off. Think of the show. Look at the crowds below. They would instantly know who you are. And you would not be hurt because scripture says, (in Psalm 91) He will command his angels concerning you to protect you. On their hands they will bear you up so that you will not dash you foot against a stone.’

Satan is challenging Jesus to fulfill scripture. That doesn’t sound so bad. But the temptation is to show off.

The temptation is to go for the glory and avoid the cross.

he temptation is to impress the crowds, rather than obeying the Father.

Jesus again responds with a quote from Deuteronomy, this time from 6:16, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Jesus’ response reminds Satan who Jesus is. He is Satan’s God and maker as well, and he has no business trying to tempt or test him. And Satan has nothing left to say and leaves Jesus, for the time being at least.

We cannot, of course, immitate Jesus exactly in this response. We cannot point out that we are God, as we are clearly not. But we can point out, like Jesus did, who we are. We may not be God, but we do belong to God. We belong to Jesus, because he did not give in to temptation. He did not take the short cut, but went to the cross.

So when we are tempted, when we have been tested from every angle and our back is against the wall. We need to remind Satan, and remind ourselves, who we are. ‘Do not bother tempting me, I belong to Jesus, I am his and not yours.’

And we need to tell ourselves this time and again as we are tested in this life, as we will be often.

Every temptation is also a test, and in overcoming the temptation we grow through being tested and prepared by God. We grow through being forced, in the end, to come back to the one point that really matters. We belong to Christ.

Amen.
Pastor Mark Worthing.