Tempted By Good

February 17^th, 2013     “Tempted by Good”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Luke 4:1-13

          This morning we enter fully into the season of Lent.  Lent is a time of personal reflection and focus.  It is a time to hold ourselves up to the light, to look at areas in our lives where we have strayed from God, and to ask for forgiveness.  Lent is a time to be honest with ourselves about our own sinful nature.

          The traditional text for the first Sunday in Lent is the temptation of Christ.  As we embark on a forty day sojourn into the wilderness of our souls, we think of Christ’s forty days in the wilderness.  After his baptism, Christ was full of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit led him into the wilderness for a time of focused prayer and fasting.  Christ knew who he was, God having made that clear at the announcement at his baptism, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  This time in the wilderness is a time of preparation and testing.  This is the time when Christ will come to know what his mission and ministry will be.

          Of course, during this time in the wilderness, Christ is tempted by the devil.  I think that we often wonder if Christ could really have been tempted.  We forget the human nature of Christ; that he possessed all the same weaknesses that we do.  We forget that the temptations were as alluring to him as any temptations we might face today.  On the surface, the urge to turn stones to bread, command the kingdoms of the world, or to jump off a building don’t really seem like things that would tempt us.  But if we examine them deeper, the true nature of evil reveals itself.

          The first temptation seems clear enough.  Jesus has been fasting for forty days, and so at the end of this time he would be understandably hungry, famished in fact.  Satan appears and challenges him, “If (or better translated, since) you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”  The inherent temptation to eat is clear, but wouldn’t Christ be able to resist mere human hunger.  The greater temptation is hidden within.  For if Christ can turn one stone into bread, than what about the thousands of stones that sit in the dirt throughout the nation of Israel?  With this power Christ could heal world hunger, and isn’t feeding the hungry the mission of the Messiah?  But, Christ responds with the words of Moses in the wilderness, “One does not live by bread alone.”  To finish the quote we remember that one instead lives by the words that come from the mouth of God.

          For the second temptation the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.  The devil claims authority over these kingdoms and promises to give them to Jesus if he will but worship him.  We must remember that the devil is the king of lies.  At the time of Christ, the known world was ruled by the Roman Empire.  It would seem as if the kingdoms of power really were in the hand of Satan to give away as he wished.  Even in our modern times we often wonder just who is in control of the world. 

Jesus would be thinking about the political role the promised Messiah was to play.  The Messiah was supposed to sit upon David’s throne; to rule over the land as the new monarch.  The devil is offering this to Christ.  But of course, Jesus knows it is not his to give, and reminds him that the only one deserving of worship is the true God.

          For the third temptation, the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and quotes Scripture.  “Since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down and let God save you, for the scriptures make such promises.”  What better way for Jesus to prove to others that he is the Messiah, than by an awesome performance of God’s power as angles come to his aide?  Jesus reminds the devil, and us, that we should not put our Lord to the test.  The devil then leaves him, until the ominous sounding opportune time.

          I think we need to be reminded about how real these temptations were for Jesus.  The devil wasn’t tempting Jesus to do something bad; he was tempting him with good things.  Jesus was hungry when he was tempted.  I think he was more than just hungry for food, I think he was hungry to begin his ministry.  He was hungry to get started at his work in the world, and the devil tempted him with ways to do this.  What better way to begin his ministry than by feeding millions of people, taking over the kingdoms of the world in benevolence, and proving the existence of God?  Everyone would believe he was the Messiah then.

          A great example of this tempting desire to do good happened a few years ago after the large earthquake in Haiti.  At the time, Lars and I were living about an hour from the state of Idaho and some Baptists from there made big news when they went down to Haiti to rescue children.  I’m not sure how much news play this story got in Missouri but in nearby Washington State at the time it was a really big deal. 

These Idaho missionaries were trying to do a good thing; to move children from Haiti to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.  From this orphanage the children could be adopted by loving families in America and move on to better lives.  This of course, is a noble cause.  The temptation of course, was to get this done in a hurry after the earthquake and pretty soon they were trying to do the right thing the wrong way. 

          In their zeal, they didn’t take the time to confirm all the family situations of these children.  Some still had loving parents who were so stressed after the earthquake that giving their children away seemed like it might be a good idea.  These missionaries did not go through the right channels, they did not have the right paperwork, and so they ended up looking a lot more like child trafficking then like humanitarian aide. 

          These missionaries were trying to do a good thing, but they were trying to do it on their own terms.  They were tempted to get it done fast, and did not consider the importance of the safety measures that were in place when getting it done right.  And in succumbing to this temptation, the sin of their arrogance was revealed.  For to take a child from loving parents who are struggling in the aftermath of a natural disaster, just because you can provide a “better” home, no matter how good it sounds, is sin.

           Often people are tempted not to do bad things, but to do good ones.  That is what makes temptations so attractive.  Satan doesn’t tempt Jesus and us with things that we know are hurtful to us and others.  He tempts us with things that we know are good.  Satan is the king of distortions and lies.  He presents wants as needs, falsehood as truth, and distrust as faith; and all too often we fall for his luring.

          During this time of Lent, we are called to examine our own hearts.  We are called to look for ways in which we have succumbed to Satan’s temptations.  Where have we pushed someone aside in our work for the greater good?  How have we lost our focus on the kingdom while we work to get one more thing done for the church?  How has our enthusiasm for justice hurt those who are new to the faith?  Satan doesn’t tempt us with evil, he tempts us with good. 

          As we sojourn together through the wilderness of Lent, let us be on guard.  Let us be honest about what tempts us, and let us remember that we will be more tempted by good than by evil.  Let us look to the example of Christ, who faced real temptations but remained without sin.  And as followers of Christ, let us ask forgiveness for the times that we have failed.  Amen.