Tempted?
Readings: Luke 4. 1-13
‘I can resist anything except temptation’ so said Oscar Wilde. As we head into Lent, as we wrestle with temptation, and as we wrestle with temptation more widely in our lives is that true of us? We can resist anything provided it doesn’t tempt us, provided we’re not on some level interested? So how might Jesus teach us in our Gospel reading today how we can resist when temptation inevitably comes our way.
In our Gospel reading today we have almost a rematch of the Fall. As in Genesis 3 when the tempter comes and asks Eve if God really said so here the tempter comes to Jesus. A rematch between humanity’s representative and evil. Except here in this rematch the stakes are even higher. Adam and Eve were in a garden with everything they could ever want, Jesus is in a wilderness. Adam and Eve were surrounded by trees of every kind offering fruit that was good to eat, Jesus hasn’t eaten for 40 days. And when Jesus is worn down and at his most vulnerable, now the tempter comes.
Alcoholics Anonymous use the acrostic HALT to remind their members when they’re most vulnerable to giving in, when they’re Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. It’s pretty useful for outside of alcohol addiction for any temptation too, we’re most vulnerable when we’re hungry, angry, lonely or tired. I wonder if you can identify with that? When we’re worn down we’re at our weakest we’re most likely to give in to whatever temptation pulls at us most strongly, you know, the ones which pull at you day by day, the familiar, habitual temptations which you can’t seem to shake. And what we can easily do in those times is think we just need to muster more willpower, to dig a bit deeper, to try a bit harder, to push on stronger. And that might work for a while, but eventually we’ll give in and fall once more. So what can we learn from Jesus about resisting temptation?
Well Jesus is struggling with 3 out of 4 of our acrostic, he’s hungry, he’s lonely, and he’s tired. That’s a pretty vulnerable place to be. And the devil comes with three temptations specifically designed to pull at Jesus, to tug at him most strongly.
Firstly he challenges Jesus to prove himself. ‘If you are who you say you are, prove it’. And not just prove it, prove it by providing for himself what he so desperately needs: bread. It’s a win-win for Jesus it seems, he can prove his identity and be fed at last. But Jesus resists and he responds with Scripture, quoting from the Law, from Deuteronomy, interestingly from a passage talking about Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. To quote the full verse; ‘He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.’ Deuteronomy 8. 3. Jesus points back to the earlier wilderness wanderings of God’s people and what it should have taught them, utter reliance on God.
How often are we tempted to prove ourselves? That automatic response to temptation, to put in more effort, to push through it be sheer force of will is in many ways the temptation to prove ourselves. For if we manage to push through we can say we did it, we resisted, we can give ourselves a pat on the back, maybe even share with others ‘I was really struggling not to eat all the chocolate in the cupboard but I said to myself, don’t you dare, and I closed the cupboard and it’s still there’. It’s a good feeling when we push past temptation through our own efforts but it’s sending us in the wrong direction, we’re not to rely on ourselves, on our willpower alone, because eventually our willpower will crumble, instead we’re to lean on God, trust in his power, trust in his word and what he commands us to do.
So the devil moves on and offers Jesus all the Kingdoms of the world, all the nations to rule over. He essentially offers to surrender all his power over the nations to God, what an opportunity. Think of all the good Jesus could do, he could bypass the cross and all the suffering it entails and instead try to teach the world to live in righteousness and holiness. But it comes at a price, to get all this Jesus would have to worship the devil as god.
How often are we tempted to compromise, think that the ends justify the means. That what would result from some slightly shady actions would justify them. Maybe it would allow us to bypass many years of slog and get us there now. Maybe it would avert suffering or struggle. But in doing so it compromises us, sends us down a much darker path, compromises our witness, our relationship with others or even with God. And it forgets God’s power to achieve what we cannot and puts the emphasis back on us to do, to achieve.
Jesus refuses to compromise, quoting from the 10 commandments, once again in Deuteronomy. He won’t compromise. The way offered may be quicker, may be easier, but it would compromise everything. In fact it would end the plan of salvation if the perfect one were to bow down to evil. If Jesus compromises, it’s all over.
The devil is getting crafty at this point. He’s spotted how much Jesus is relying on Scripture, and so his final temptation is pulled right from Scripture, from Psalm 91 which we read a little earlier. ‘Throw yourself down, for Scripture says that the holy one will be defended on every side, that you won’t even dash your foot on a stone’.
How real a temptation this is for us as Christians. To justify our temptations or our own biases from Scripture, to drag verses out of context to allow us to do as we please. How true a temptation to listen to those who would twist and distort God’s word to justify our ends, to justify our actions. This is the cruelest form of temptation, to take the words of life and to distort them to serve death whilst making it look like life. To take the words that bring true freedom and use them to entrap and ensnare us in our sins, whilst declaring loudly, that now we are free.
This is the cruellest snare, the trap that even diligent Christians can fall into. And yet Jesus understands God’s word deeper still, he goes above and beyond the words and looks to its heart, he goes beyond the verses and looks at the Scriptures’ arc, the shape of the whole. And so he can respond once more with Scripture, that God is not to be tested. And in doing so we see his heart, we see the one who trusts God completely, he doesn’t need to test him, for it would prove no more than he already knows, that God is good and will care for him, even in the darkest of times.
We need to be soaked in the Scriptures to resist this kind of temptation, we cannot be occasional readers, casual listeners, surface skimmers, aquatinted with some of it. If we’re to resist death which comes to us dressed as the words of life, we need to know Scripture deeply, be soaked in it, live and breathe it. Study it, dig deeper into it, know it inside and out. Otherwise we’ll be torn this way and that by those who would lead us astray, who say what we want to hear and say that God says it.
Jesus resists the temptations and the devil departs. But looking back over his temptations, what’s at the heart of how Jesus resists? At the core, at the root of it all, he’s not doing it for himself, he’s doing it for you. His mind isn’t set on himself, its set on each and every sinner that he has come to save. He doesn’t need to prove himself, to build his own glory, instead he has come to pour himself out. He’s not here to build up a reputation and following, but to empty himself utterly for the saving of the world. He doesn’t need to take charge, to compromise to speed up the mission. He won’t forsake the power of God for worldly power. For he won’t win us salvation by a traditional victory, he will win it by losing, by dying, by being overtaken by his enemies both temporal and spiritual. He doesn’t need to test God, he trusts him completely, his mind and heart are entirely directed upwards towards the Father, to do his will perfectly, knowing the Father’s love as deeply as he knows he is alive.
So what can we learn from this. Resisting temptation isn’t about us and our willpower, it’s about knowing God, knowing the one who directs all things, the one who dies that we might live, which allows us to die day by day in all sorts of tiny and massive ways, knowing that there we will find life. It’s knowing God through being soaked in his word.
Temptation isn’t resisted by trying not to be tempted. It’s often how we approach it, we resist temptation by trying not to be tempted, by trying to resist. But you know what that does? We stare longer at the temptation. And the longer we stare the more likely we are to fall. You know, you’re sat there in your living room going ‘I’m not going to eat those sweets, I’m not going to eat those sweets that are sat in the cupboard, I’m not going to eat those really tasty sweets that are sat in the cupboard.’ And then you go and you eat the really tasty sweets that are sat in the cupboard.
Instead when faced with temptations both small and great we are to heed the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians: ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.’ Philippians 4. 8.
We don’t resist my setting our minds against temptation, we resist by setting our minds on better things, on the true, noble, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things. Which of course among other things, above all other things means setting our minds on God, on his Word and on his works, for there are the supreme true, noble, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things. God come to us, to lay down his life for our salvation, and raised to life to bring us with him into everlasting life. If we set our mind on God and all he has done for us, we find ourselves better able to resist temptation, and there find life.
Amen.