“You
misunderstand me doc.” The man replied,
“I don’t want to change my behavior. I
want you to give me something so I don’t feel guilty about my behavior.”
We could look at our gospel reading from the point of view
of resisting temptations. Indeed we
could draw parallels between the three things the devil is tempting Jesus to do
and things we are tempted to do in our own lives. But I think we’ll find something more
significant if we go another layer deeper into the text. Let’s rename this text, “The Testing of
Jesus.”
Remember that this text comes at the
beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
We’re in chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel so we’ve been through Jesus’ birth
story and a bit about Jesus’ childhood.
For the most part, however, Jesus hasn’t come on the scene yet. He hasn’t preached anything. He hasn’t taught anything. He doesn’t have disciples or followers. He is baptized by John the Baptist and
immediately goes into the wilderness for forty days, which gives us our forty
days of Lent. This is a time for prayer
and discernment for Jesus before he begins his public ministry. And thus the stage is set for his temptation,
or testing, by the devil.
If you’re a scientific thinker don’t
get too worked up about figuring out the nuts and bolts of what really happened
historically. Luke is teaching us
something in story form, and the historic plausibility of the story doesn’t
impact its truth.
It boils down to this. Jesus is the Son of God. How is he going to use his status as the Son
of God?
So, back to Jesus in the wilderness,
what is his orientation going to be?
Will he as a man stay turned to God and God’s purposes, or will he be
like Adam and Eve and not be content with what God has made him and set off on
his own course of self-improvement?
That is the root question underneath
our gospel reading. And it is a
question we have to ask ourselves too.
Which way are our lives oriented?
We might easily answer that our
lives are turned towards God. After all
here we are in church. We pray. We try to do what is right. We try to be good people. We resist temptation, and even when we fail
we are sorry about it and try not to do it again.
But evil is not so simple. Evil is very subtle. Look at the temptation of the devil when he
shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and says, “To you I will give their
glory and all this authority… If you,
then, will worship me.” As a child I
imagined this worshipping would look like Jesus bowing down before the devil
and literally worshipping him. How
disgusting! But as an adult I understand
this temptation differently. The real
test is which way will Jesus orient his life and ministry? Is he going to go along with the flow of the
world or is he going to orient his life exclusively the way God calls him to
orient it?
Why is your life structured the way
it is? If you own a house, why did you
buy it? If you have children, why did
you have them? Why did you buy the car
that you have? Why do you have the
education that you do? If you are
retired or think and plan ahead for retirement, what is shaping that vision?
I believe that what many people who
consider themselves to be good and successful have really done is looked at
what our culture says good and successful people do and they basically follow
along. It is very easy to build your
life around society’s models and then tack on Christian faith almost as an
accessory.
I have an old Dodge minivan that is
rolling on to the end of its life. I was
recently talking to my mechanic about it and he recommended that when the time
comes I should check out the Honda Odyssey minivan. He says they are long lasting and perform
well. So I started poking around online
to learn more about Honda Odysseys. I
don’t buy new cars. That’s mostly
because I’m just plain cheap, but also because when you park in hospital
parking garages as often as I do it’s only a matter of time before your vehicle
bears all sorts of scrapes and dings from other people’s car doors. I couldn’t risk something new and pristine in
a parking garage.
Well, I didn’t poke long before my jaw dropped at how much Honda
Odysseys cost; even-well used ones! But
I looked some more and saw that the stripped down base models were still really
well equipped and were pretty reasonably priced. I could be comfortable with that.
But then vanity set in.
Do I really want to pull into a parking lot filled with other parents
and have them see I’m driving the bottom of the line vehicle? I mean, a minivan isn’t exactly a fashion
statement. At their best they’re still
an insult to a guy’s masculinity! The
least I could do was be seen in something more than the base model.
Then I thought about it some more. Why do I want a minivan in the first
place? Well… it’s because that’s what
good parents drive, right? I’m probably
getting myself in trouble when I say this, but what you drive says a lot about
you. If I, with a wife and two kids,
insisted on driving a sports car people would call me a selfish jerk. If I drove a massive SUV that rivaled the
state snow plow trucks in size people would call me a bully. But a minivan is what good parents who have
their priorities straight and care for their children drive, right?
So says society at least.
But what about God? Have I
considered the situation in light of what God is calling me to do? Is a Honda Odyssey going to equip me to
accomplish God’s purposes in this world?
That is the question I should be asking. When the devil tempts Jesus the real test is
whether Jesus will go along with the ways of the world because that is what the
world expects of people or will he turn to God over and over again? The world says if you’re hungry and you can
get food for yourself you should get it.
But God wanted Jesus to be fasting when he was in the wilderness. The world says here are the rules we live by
Jesus, bow down and follow them. But
Jesus chose to always turn to God for guidance.
The world says use your gifts to get ahead in life. If you’re smart or sexy or talented or
charismatic use those skills to go as far as you can go. Jesus choses to use his gifts only to
accomplish God’s agenda.
The world says buy the minivan because that’s what good
parents drive. Maybe that’s what I
should have to accomplish God’s purposes.
Maybe not. I’d better make the
decision in light of God’s kingdom, not just do it because society tells me so.
Here at the beginning of Lent the testing of Jesus in the wilderness by the devil reminds us that this is the annual time when we look at our lives. Where are we going? Why are we doing what we are doing? How do we make decisions?
Wholeness of life is only possible in God. May God give us the courage and insight to
always turn towards him. Amen
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