What tempts you? How are you tempted? What makes something a temptation? Now for me that would be easy. I can easily be tempted by chocolate. If you want me to do anything, then give me chocolate. Giving up chocolate would be almost impossible for me to do. I would suffer some pain until I could eat chocolate again. Moreover, I would think about it over and over and over again. I just got to have chocolate!! Give me chocolate!!! Now I could easily give up pop or coffee. That would be easy. I rarely ever drink pop, and I never drink coffee. For others that would be really hard. In fact I think there would be some serious societal consequences if lots of people were denied their coffee. What is a big temptation for some people is easy for others.
This is the first Sunday in Lent. Lent of course is a penitential season before the joy of Easter. It calls us to examine where we are with God. Every first Sunday in Lent we hear of the temptation of Jesus. This year we hear Luke’s version in his 4th chapter. Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness led by the Spirit. At the end of this time the devil tempts him. Jesus is tempted to turn a stone into bread, to rule over all the kingdoms in the world, and to throw himself down from the temple to see if angels will lift him up. Jesus answers each time by quoting scripture. The devil even tries to tempt him using scripture, but Jesus discerns this and answers back with another scripture passage. From this encounter there is much to learn, but two things stand out to me in particular.
First, being in a right relationship with God is most important. If you look at the temptations they are not bad things in and of themselves. It would not be a bad thing for Jesus to turn a stone into bread to eat. He is hungry after all. Further, it would not be a terrible thing if Jesus ruled over all kingdoms. Finally, it would not be horrible if Jesus was lifted up by the angels. So, the temptations are not bad in and of themselves. What is wrong is that if Jesus did what the devil suggests it would disrupt his relationship with God. The temptations are bad because it is the devil who is trying to take power over Jesus. Jesus recognizes this and knows that the most important thing is his relationship with God the Father. I was reminded this week of an amazing film. It is called “Of Gods and Men.” It is the story about some Trappist Monks who lived near an Algerian town. They are very connected to the townspeople and help them in many ways. They help with medical attention, there is a common garden they share, and other deep connections to the people. In the film, based on a true story, some militant, in this case Islamic, group takes over the town. The monks have to discern whether to stay or leave. They decide to stay because they feel called by their relationship with God and their relationship with the townspeople. In the end they sacrificed their lives, but they did so out of a deep love and a desire to be in relationship. It made me wonder, Do I value my relationship with God as much as they did? Would I have made the same decision?
The second thing I learned from this gospel lesson is that Jesus is always there for us. Sometimes people will ask me questions like, “Why did Jesus have to be tempted?” “If he was God why didn’t he just make everything fine?” My answer is always that Jesus had to experience all that we experience in order to heal the brokenness between the human and divine experience. God wanted to intimately know what it is like to be one of us. All of us have known someone who knows it all. Everyone knew a kid that seemed to know everything and have done everything by the time they were eleven. You would say that you did this, that, or the other thing, and the kid would say, “I’ve done that too, I know all about that.” This of course drives most of us crazy. The reason why is because the kid was always lying. The kid did not know what it was like to have your experiences. In pastoral care I was taught never to say, “I know what you are feeling.” The reason being that we cannot know exactly how another feels, but we can be present with them. We can walk with the person down those roads to give support. This is often the best thing to do. We can never do this perfectly, but Jesus can. Jesus knows what we are going through. He has experienced it. He will walk with us hand in hand. That is why Jesus was tempted. He was tempted to truly know how we feel. He was tempted because God desires to love us so much. In fact the Spirit led him to be tempted in the Wilderness.
I pray that this lent you may come to know more about the love and grace of a God who desires to be with each of us.
