The following sermon was preached at Believer's Baptist Fellowship in Hendersonville, Tennessee on March 6, 2022. An audio of this sermon is available on Soundcloud. Click HERE to listen. The Gospel reading of the day was Luke 4:1-13.
If you are comfortable, close your eyes. I want you to completely clear your mind. I don't want you to think about anything, especially pink elephants with purple polka dots. Whatever you do, do not think about pink elephants with purple polka dots. Now open your eyes. What were you thinking about?
Too many times, we tend to think of temptation in this way. We think about the things we don’t want to do
or the feelings we don’t want to feel, and we try real hard to not think about
them, but our efforts only reinforce their presence and power in our lives. This passage today may give us a different
way to think about this.
As we look at this passage, we need to take note of the context.
Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptizer in the Jordan river. Now, Mark’s gospel tells us that the spirit sent
Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. It is harsh and does not include much
information. Luke tells us much more and
Luke says that the spirit led Jesus in the wilderness or into the
wilderness, and while he was there, he was tempted (the same word could also
mean tested.) Luke says that Jesus was
“full of the spirit”, which has led some others to speculate that a lesson for
us might be that coming from such a profound spiritual experience and feeling
“full of the spirit” is just when we often experience hardship, struggle, or
temptation. I can definitely see that
interpretation. I feel like I have
experienced that before, coming from a profound religious experience at a
retreat or such only to go right back to find some significant challenge in my
life. However, I have a different reflection on this today.
Jesus has not yet begun his public ministry. He has submitted to being baptized by John as
a possible movement towards a new phase of his life and ministry. Feeling full of the spirit, a contemplative
Jesus feels led into the wilderness for a time of intentional reflection. He goes to a place of solitude and for 40
days he fasts, prays, and reflects. The
literal time in the wilderness may have been shorter or longer than 40
days. In a parallel experience, in I
Kings, the Prophet, Elijah, also goes into the wilderness for 40 days. This “40 days” is like us saying, “I haven’t
seen you in a month of Sundays”. Do we
literally mean a period of time that encompasses a month’s worth of Sundays, or
do we simply mean a long time? Forty
days was a long time. We know it was a long time because when Jesus had reached
the end of this time of fasting, he was famished. No duh, right? Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday and that
marks the beginning of Lent. In this
time many Christians choose to give up something in order to help them focus on
Christ in the time of preparation leading to Easter. I don’t know anyone personally who decides to
give up food for lent. I am sure someone
has, but that would be huge sacrifice for most people! After not eating for that period of time, I
am sure you would feel beyond hungry.
And that is when Luke says that Jesus was tempted.
In the 12-step programs, they sometimes use the acrostic H.A.L.T.
or HALT, that stands for “Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired”. These 4 states or feelings are things that
can be risk factors for those in recovery to be tempted to relapse. They are also states of being that can lead
us to be tempted to be less than our best self.
This is why it has become so cliché to talk about self-care, but
literally tending to your feelings, taking care of your basic needs like good
food, adequate food and sleep is so important.
Jesus
was potentially lonely and tired, but we know that he was hungry, and it is at
this point Luke says that Jesus was tempted.
The first temptation is to turn stone into bread. And would that have really been so bad? I mean we just talked about the importance of
taking care of your basic needs. So,
what is the difficulty here? Many have offered various ideas and reflections. Is Jesus being tempted into selfishness,
a misuse of power, or some other use of power for the wrong reason?
I read this in a possibly different
way. I think about that HALT acrostic in
AA and the possible triggers for relapse.
These states and emotions are things that can lead people to make poor
decisions. Lower their resistance. Lose sight of their goals. It is possible that Jesus is tempted to focus
on his current state of hunger and say, “forget it, I want to eat” and lose sight
of his larger goals. His response communicates
to me that we should not live only be our emotions, drives, or reactions to those
around us who can provoke us. We are to be motivated and driven by the words of
God – the fullness of the spirit that dwells in us and the teachings of
scripture for us – these need to be our guides, not whatever way the emotional
wind is blowing today or not how those around us are behaving today. Keeping an internal compass of who we want to
be and what we want our lives to be about can be challenging in those times
when we are tempted to react solely on our emotions. When we are only governed by human drives and
desires for revenge or other immediate gratification, this can lead us to
alienation from others, disconnection from ourselves and God, feelings of
hopelessness, and depression. Jesus
demonstrates that he is grounded in his internal compass and refuses to act
only on his immediate feelings or drives.
The second temptation is to worship Satan in exchange for earthly power. I think some people might struggle with the idea of Satan or the devil. This is perhaps fueled by characterizations of the devil as a little guy with horns and pitchfork. Those images can be cute, but most people understand that when we talk about the devil, we are talking about the distortion of the truth, deception, and temptation to be our worst self. We never talk about being tempted to live a healthy life, with healthy emotions, and a strong spiritual life. In fact, when we talk about the devil or Satan, it is always in direct contrast to that which is good, healthy, or godly. So, when Satan says that he has the power to give to Jesus land, power and riches, it should seem absurd to us. It would also be just as absurd if another person told us that they could give us everything.
For the original audience of Luke’s gospel, the people were regularly confronted with demands to worship the Ceasars as gods. There were temples and worship of Ceasar and there were horrific punishments given for those that did not participate. If someone wanted to be able to conduct business and move freely in that society, they would need to participate fully in the Roman culture. The temptation that Jesus experiences is reminiscent of that experience. Similar to the first temptation, this seems to be a temptation to lose sight of our true call and our true nature and focus on earthly wealth and power.
There are several versions of the story of Faust, but each contains a story of a man who makes a deal with the devil for success of one kind of another, in exchange for his own soul. It is a story of the man’s loss of his true nature for that which is less than ultimate concern. That deal with the devil is rarely so blatant. Al Pacino’s movie, “The Devil’s Advocate” was one of the best representations of how this deal usually might go. In this movie, the devil is present in the life of a young lawyer and his wife. He does not confront the young man directly but plays on his own fears and goals and distorts reality enough to make the wrong decision seem acceptable and the young lawyer gives up a little moral ground at a time as his life spirals out of control. That is more how the Faustian deal happens, not with a conscious decision and signature in blood, but in minor distortions and deviations. We rarely make a dramatic shift to place a distorted idol at the heart of our lives, but slowly drift to that point. Pastoral theologian, Merle Jordan, writes: “Idols tend to clothe persons in ill-fitting suits. But God does not impose an agenda onto another’s life, but lovingly invites and calls for the unique agenda within the heart of each person. The worship of idols leads to the formation of a false self; the love of God invites the true self into abundant life. Because Jesus is full of the spirit, he is able to recognize the absurdity of Satan’s offer, he again quotes scripture to deflect the temptation, holds to his authentic self.
The final of these three temptations is to make a grand showing of his power. Jesus is tempted to throw himself off of the temple and have God demonstrate power by keeping Jesus from hitting the ground. This would have perhaps been a sin of pride in the form of a big showy gesture that would have indeed shown Jesus’s power and identity, but Jesus again and again refuses such big demonstrations of power in order to gain followers.
Theologian, Martin Luther, makes the distinction between “left-handed power” and “right-handed power”. In this context right-handed power is power that is derived from might and force. It is a power built on hierarchies and military might. It is majority rule and military strength in numbers. It is built on bullying and intimidation. It is easy to see such power in things like a Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it is also in other forms of coercion and control that seeks to divide people, elevating one group while hurting another.
Into this kind of world, Jesus was born as an infant in a stable. There is nothing more vulnerable than a baby. It depends on others for everything and has no defense against harm. From the beginning, Jesus’s life reflects Luther’s “left-handed power”. Jesus resists the big shows of power. He deals with others with love and humility and teaches his followers to do the same. In a world where a soldier could force a citizen to carry his pack a mile (right-handed power), Jesus says, show love and carry it an extra mile. In a world where we are to love our neighbor and hate our enemy, Jesus says, “no, love your enemy and pray for them”. The way of Jesus is not easy, it is hard, but what Jesus shows us in his own temptations, is that with the power of God, it is not impossible.
As I see it, when we take all of Jesus’ temptations together, the temptations are about acting impulsively, focusing on power and influence, and drawing attention to oneself. In each temptation, there is an element of truth, but a distortion – a lie. A person who lived their life driven by emotions and impulses, who is more focused on gaining power and being right, and who is more focused on maintaining an image, would be dramatic, shallow, and self-centered. They would be more invested in looking good or appearing right, than actually doing the internal and spiritual work that is required to live a grounded and authentic life.
It is my belief that Jesus spent time after his baptism and before beginning his earthly ministry to look inside. He spent intentional time alone and in introspection. He wrestled with various ideas about how to live and what he wanted his life to be about. In each instance, he came back to what he had chosen as the grounding of his life. He had his internal compass set. He had grounded himself in scripture and the love of God. He would later teach his disciples the same and would give them the same fullness of the spirit to be their guide.
Too often, we reduce temptations to the pink elephant issues that we just try to avoid and we waste our energy fighting what we don’t want. The example of Jesus is different. Jesus acknowledged the temptation but made a conscious decision to focus his energy elsewhere. For us, we may need to come to grips with some of the ways we have gotten off track. We may need to do the introspection to better understand ourselves. We may need to be honest with ourselves about what our temptations might be. We may need to look at where we are seeking a more “right-handed approach” to life and relationships. Being honest about our feelings, whatever they are and being honest about what tempts us, whatever it is, is the first step to overcoming those things. We do not do that by trying to ignore them or fighting them. We do that by working on the things that nurture our internal compass. We do that by focusing on health and wholeness. Often, we find that in our quiet moments with God, the teachings in scripture, and the example of Jesus.
As you go into the wilderness of your life, may you have the eyes to avoid deception and distortion, the internal wisdom to choose your response and action rather than reacting, and the courage and patience to choose the path of wholeness and healing. Amen.
