Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 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.” ’ Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” ’ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
After Jesus’ was baptized, the spirit of God descended from heaven as a dove and a voice declared, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased,” Jesus followed the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, or more appropriately to be tested.
This familiar passage typically is the lectionary reading that begins our Lenten season, our forty days and forty nights of fasting, a time of penitence and prayer that exemplifies us giving something up in order to draw closer to God as we journey towards Good Friday, the death and burial of Christ and his resurrection. But I submit to you for consideration this morning that the Lenten season is not necessarily about us imitating Jesus’ time of testing, so much as it is about us coming to grips with the realization that we all have the capacity and sometimes the desire to be powerful and that there are times when we are tested and tempted as well.
Jesus’ testing in the wilderness wasn’t done to determine whether Jesus was weak and would succumb to what was offered to him. The temptation of Jesus was a test to determine whether Jesus would allow God to be God and thus be himself—sinlessly absolute, righteous, all knowing, all powerful creator of heaven and earth in the midst of physical, human weakness. The testing of Jesus was a power struggle. Some say it was a struggle between good and evil, but it was actually a struggle between what is of God and that which is self-serving.
In the Old Testament, times of testing revealed the essential character of the one being tested; temptations were not allowed by God in order to weaken, but to strengthen faith and help the tested to emerge purer than gold, with a greater reliance on God. Abraham was tested, when God ask him to sacrifice his son and heir. Abraham headed out early in the morning with Isaac in order to comply with God’s instructions, all the while praying and believing that God would provide a way out, as God always had. During his time in the wilderness, Jesus epitomized Abraham, Isaac and the ram in the bush—the tested, the sacrifice and the way out.
John Dalberg-Acton, the 1st Baron of Acton is quoted as say: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He also stated: “Authority that does not exist for liberty is not authority but force.”
Self-serving, corrupting power uses God-given gifts and talents to further personal causes, rather than serve others. Self-serving, corrupting power uses God given resources and riches to benefit self, rather than helping those who are in need. Self-serving, corrupting power ignores that which is right with the world and instead points to everything they personally deem as being wrong and then proclaims they, not God, can fix it. Self-serving, corrupting power continually seeks adulation and recognition rather than doing what is right, caring, and just without seeking the attention of others. Self-seeking, corrupting power legislates to take away affordable and accessible healthcare coverage and other needed provisions that some call entitlements, from the least of these, rather than seeking to ensure people have the same, public subsidized health care and entitlements they do. Self-seeking, corrupting power fasts with its heads hung low, wearing a forlorn and sad face and exhibiting what appears to be a humble demeanor, rather than continuing its normal behavior and routine, while fasting and being in constant communication with God seeking strength for the journey.
Jesus was led into the wilderness to submit to the test that would confirm with all certainty that he is the Son of God, Beloved, and that he is also human and thus had the same frailties, the same weaknesses, the same desires and faced the same temptations that we do. The three tests to which Jesus was subjected were variations on the same theme, the temptation to seek or gain power.
“Turn these stones into bread,” the tempter enticed Jesus to overcome his physical hunger. Attempt the miraculous, set aside the laws of nature and experience and display your divine omnipotence. To which Jesus’ replied: “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Deut.8:3) The Word of God, sacrificial bread given for us sustains, nourishes and strengthens; this is what God has sought to teach God’s people through all perpetuity. The miracle of turning stones to bread treats the symptoms of hunger, but does not heal the systemic cause of hunger and thirsting after righteousness; it does not fill the empty places and gaps in our lives. The only way to true satisfaction and satiation is complete dependence on God.
The tempter is not deterred; he renews the attack from a different angle; the temptation to the spectacular or prestige. In a vision, the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple and tempts him to throw himself down, as it is written: “God will command angels concerning you to bear you up, that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” To which Jesus replied: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
There are times in each of our lives when we must take risks; there are times when we step out on faith, as we feel we have been directed by God. By faith, we may leave a position or job where we have no future; by faith we may return to school in order to earn another degree to grow personally or professionally; by faith we may approach an individual we know is struggling to offer them some assistance, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on; by faith we may let go of a relationship that is abusive, not mutually supportive or enriching; by faith we may enter into a Lenten fast, giving up something that distracts us, behavior or food that is not healthy, activities that don’t strengthen us spiritually. These are not risks that enhance our own prestige or seek attention. Faith that is dependent on signs and making a spectacle of ourselves is not faith, and definitely isn’t worth the risk. If faith cannot or does not believe without sensational actions, it is not faith; it is doubt seeking proof.
One commentator states: “God’s rescuing power is not something to be played and experimented with; it is something to be quietly trusted in everyday life….Jesus refused the way of the sensational because he knew that it was the way to failure—it still is—because to long for something sensational is…to distrust God.” (Barclay, William; The New Daily Bible Study, Matthew)
The tempter comes for Jesus a third time. Taking him to a very high mountain, showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; he says: “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Jesus was the creator of all the tempter had shown him. It is his kingdom, this world that Jesus came to save. The tempter was offering the power of authority or ruler-ship through compromise; the temptation of kingship to rule the world he created by using terms that sidestepped what God ordained; that the world would only be saved by Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. The tempter was offering a quick fix, an opportunity to advance while retreating, to change the world by becoming like the world.
Jesus commanded Satan to flee and replied: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.” (Matt. 4:10) Jesus knew we can never defeat evil by compromising with evil. Faith cannot stoop to the world’s level; faith lifts the world to its level. I believe it was Michelle Obama who said: “When they go low, we go high.” The apostle Paul said it like this: “be not comforted to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Jesus struggled with the same temptations with which we struggle—godliness vs. evil, faithfulness vs. faithlessness, justice vs. injustice, righteousness vs. unrighteousness, truth vs lies, living in the light vs. hiding in darkness. Jesus was not exempt from the human experience or afflictions and therefore neither are we. Just like Jesus, through our inner-most thoughts and desires, the tempter comes to kill, steal and destroy. But we have the assurance that just as Jesus overcame the tempter when he was most vulnerable, after forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, communing and seeking God; he remained faithful, he didn’t succumb to the lure of satisfying his physical hunger, luxuriating in the lap of privilege or exercising power that belongs to him.
The tempter will show up to disrupt our lives, relationships and situations. The tempter will sit on our proverbial shoulder and whisper untruths in our ear. The tempter will tell us lies about whom and who’s we are, how we can get ahead by seeking power and prestige doing that which is unfaithful. The tempter will tell us what we can’t do, hold us bondage to sin, sickness and habits; tell us there’s no way out of situations that hold us captive. But as followers of him who overcame, we are reminded that we too are overcomers, the battle is not ours, it’s the Lord’s. The Lord, who is all powerful will walk with us, lead and guide us, will comfort and keep us, when we seek first the kingdom of God.
Jesus made his decision – he would not, could not survive by satisfying his hunger for bread alone; that he would not, could not take the sensational way out. Jesus decided that there would not be any compromise in the message he proclaimed or in the faith he exhibited. Jesus’ choice was to not struggle for or with power, but to obediently make his way to the cross, for it was at the cross where inevitably weakness is strength, degradation is made glorious; and all power in heaven and earth are his and his alone.
Amen