Lent I / “The Temptations of Jesus”, 02/21/2010

Sermon on Luke 4:1-13, by David Zersen

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

The Greater Call

In my little fantasy world, I sometimes wondered as a child what it would be like if our temptations would be written on digital screens on our foreheads.

Or I wondered what it would be like if our bodies would radiate different colors appropriate to the temptations we were having.

Perhaps it was an overactive guilt complex manifesting itself in my fantasies, but I did think it valuable that it was possible to contain our temptations within our brains and not have them flashed before the general public. Of course the FBI and the CIA might have an easier job if they could see a terrorist's plot before it was carried out. On the on other hand, how embarrassing it might be for us were our spouses or girlfriends or boyfriends or bosses to see the thoughts in our heads which we never dared to express.

Today's text tells us about three temptations that Jesus experienced and, of course, because these are shared, Jesus has no way of keeping them to himself. However, the great Greek novelist, Nikos Kazantzakis, tells a fictional story about a temptation that Jesus had about which no one knew. Entitled The Last Temptation of Christ, the story reveals what came into Jesus head while he was on the cross. Before he gave up his spirit and died, there was this last temptation to forgo the suffering and death, use his divine powers, and come down from the cross. He could marry Mary Magdalene (something that Dan Brown plays with in his own fictional story, The Da Vinci Code), have children and grandchildren and live happily ever after. The story focuses on all these possible scenes and makes it all seem very real. So real, in fact, that the 1960s book became extremely controversial. A film produced on the book in 1988 was so controversial that Christians picketed theaters all around the country.

I wonder, in retrospect, what was so controversial about this fictionalized story of Jesus' temptation. After all, the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was tempted in all things, just as we are (4:15). Perhaps pious Christians never assumed that such temptations might involve sexual desires or angry thoughts. But if his temptations were like ours, I can't imagine why any temptation might not be fair game for a film.

I think the larger issue is that we aren't supposed to know what another's temptations look like, and Kazantzakis had the gall to remove the veil and let us see the reality.

This is really not such a bad thing, however, for in Kazantzakis' story, Jesus considers the temptation, but then sees the larger picture. He remembers who is called to be and what he is called to do. He recognizes that if he comes down from the cross to pursue his temptation, the world will remain in its sin and nothing will change. With sudden abruptness, the film version of the story ends with a jolt-and Jesus is dead. The lesser calling or temptation is subdued by the greater calling and he fulfills the purpose which involves his living ... and his dying for us.

There is something in this word I just used, the word "calling," which we should pause to explore. Luther made a great deal of this word that has a Latin root, vocare, meaning "to call." From it we get the word "vocation." One's vocation is not just what one does, Lutheran opined, but it is what one feels called by God to do. It may be something humble or something exalted, a common laborer's task or a professional's occupation. In either case, it should be regarded as worthy because God values the worker and his work.

Of course, in our text for today, we are quickly made aware of the fact that not only God issues a call. Temptation may also summon us, and quite powerfully. The struggle that Jesus and also we undergo as these various calls confront us is at the heart of meaning making in our lives. Deciding which summons we will obey, and which is the greater calling, is the most important thing we do in life. Do we surrender to calls that are trivial and dehumanizing or we do obey the greater calls that ennoble us as human beings?

Exposing some real temptations

At first glance the temptations in today's text seem rather bizarre: to turn stones into bread, to worship the devil or to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple. One can make a good case for these being hallucinatory trances because in the Judean wilderness the temperatures can reach 120 F and in such temperatures a person with heat stroke could imagine most anything.

However, I think that this story points to realities which each of us can understand. The first temptation has to do with basing one's life on materials things, as Madonna sang it:

Living in a material world
And I am a material girl
You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl

What's the most important thing you could desire in a desert with no food and no water but to use some supernatural powers to put bread on the table? Of course, if the need wouldn't have been real, this would not have been a temptation. It was a very real summons to do what you have to do to satisfy human desire. However, Jesus remembered that he was called to a greater matter, and that in this time of meditation and deprivation he was being trained to see what was really important. And so he gave us that line which we can never forget, "One does not live by bread alone."

The second temptation seems like a call to worship the devil, but in reality it is to accept from the Tempter power over all the kingdoms of the world. In the film, Bruce Almighty, Bruce Nolan (played by Jim Carey) is not very happy with his life. So he is tempted to ask God (played by Morgan Freeman) to grant him all kinds of things which are good for no one including him. This is the insipid kind of temptation that is offered to Jesus at this point. He can choose power, but in reality he has been called to service. And this larger vision of his life's purpose has him reject the temptation that would have him take his cues from one who doesn't understand the meaning of service.

Finally, there is the temptation to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple and hope that God will catch him. You and I take risks like this all the time. After the death of a young man in the luge race at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, one commentator complained that there was a growing desire for greater heights and faster speeds to break records, and perhaps also endanger lives. We take risks because they are there, because we want to prove something, and perhaps because we trust God to pick up the pieces when we fall. Jesus, however, had a grander view of life. It had to due with the proper placement of trust, trust in God's mercy and love, not in his willingness to concern himself with our trivial need to take risks.

In all three temptations, Jesus shows us how to deal with false callings in life. We aren't called to be material people, to choose power instead of service, or to place our trust in superficial views of God's purpose in our lives. We are called to seek God's will for us and we discover it by searching the Scriptures, something, Jesus shows us by his easy ability to quote from them. At their heart, these temptations were profound, not what they seemed to be on the surface. They dealt with the understanding he had of his life's purpose and meaning. And this is precisely what temptations invite us to think about.

Understanding who helps us hear the greater call

You and I regularly face the same temptations that called out to Jesus. We are tempted to try to make our life make sense by centering it in material things. The biggest issues with which we wrestle in a given year have a lot to do with which car to buy, what kind of house to build, what kinds of clothes to wear, what restaurants to eat in, what privileges our children should take advantage of, etc. I confess to liking to read Consumer Report that tells me how to avoid purchasing mistakes and how to find the best value for the money. But it is also a very materialistic matter to concern myself so much with acquisition, when the one I call my master and Lord focused his life on have-nots and the underprivileged.

We are also tempted to find meaning in being successful, powerful, achievers. My father could never understand why I wanted to be an English major in college. "What do you want to become," he said angrily, "a milkman?" In his frustration, it was the only thing he could think of to let me know that I was not striving to be on top, that I was succumbing to the calling of a lesser voice. Yet Jesus, who understood this concern, calls us all to a life of service which sets aside the temptation to power.

The final temptation that Jesus rejects is very real to us. This week's edition of 60 Minutes interviewed a card shark who wrote a book about swindlers. We all like to trust people or we couldn't walk out the door in the morning. We trust our spouses, our children, our investors, and our government. At times, however, we are misled. Currently, the American people have a very low level of trust for a great many things. I think this relates to our unstable economy and our uncertainty about our financial security. My hunch is that, were Jesus to talk to us about this, he would say what he said to a less affluent society about not worrying so much about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough worries of its own and God takes care in his own way and time. (Lk. 12:32.)

Most importantly, he would want to talk to us about trust and the most important value in your life. For Jesus, the question of temptation is always a question of your greater values. What culture are you being shaped by, a material one or a spiritual one? What perspective controls your mind, a need to succeed in power circles or to serve those who are dependent on us? What call summons us most powerfully, that of God who loves and affirms us or promises that cannot possibly fulfill us?

We can be tempted to make life more exciting with a new sexual liaison. We may think that various kinds of drugs can help us escape our problems. We may think that certain foods can satisfy us in times of uncertainty. We may want to condescend to people we think are not worthy, even believing that makes us more spiritual. We can even believe that work and more work will fulfill us. But these are lesser voices, lesser calls, and today's text reminds us that there is a larger summons, a great call, which asks us, even begs at times, to remember that we have been baptized. We have been called God's own beloved son and daughter. We have been forgiven and freed for a life that looks to God for our commission. We are called to be about spirit, not things; about service, not power; about trust in God, not in those more interested in their welfare than in yours.

In some rather colloquial sense, this is a text that says, "don't sweat the small stuff." Don't burden yourself with temptations that cannot fulfill you. Consider them seriously! But then remember the God who loves you most; remember your families and those who need you; remember the potential for good that can be realized when you hear the greater call. Throw caution to the winds. Concern yourself with the big stuff.

Be the man or woman, boy or girl, God is calling into being.

Prof. Dr. Dr., President Emeritus David Zersen
Concordia University Texas
Austin, Texas
E-Mail: djzersen@aol.com

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