Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
For forty days to be tempted by the devil.
Luke 4:1-13
There are two great
“temptation” stories in the Bible – the temptation of Adam and Eve in the
garden and the temptation of Jesus in the desert. In the first temptation
story, in the garden, Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent. They are seduced
into “giving in” and the serpent wins. In the second temptation story, in the
desert, Jesus is tempted by the devil but refuses to be seduced into "giving in" and the devil
loses. Both temptation stories present us with evil that appears, on the
surface, to be good but underneath is bad. Adam and Eve fall for the serpent’s
good-sounding offer. Jesus sees through the devil’s good-sounding offers and
resists them.
At his baptism in the
Jordon River, Jesus heard his Father say to him, “This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased.” Not understanding what those words actually meant, he
goes to the desert, a place free of distractions, to hear himself think, to
discern his path forward and get some clarity about the direction of his
ministry.
We are told that Jesus
was “tempted” by three attractive options offered by the devil during his
desert retreat. (1) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could attract a lot of
followers if he would just turn rocks into bread. Jesus said “no” because he knew
that there were enough resources already to feed the poor. What was needed was
not “magic bread,” but people changing their attitudes toward sharing those
resources with the poor. (2) The devil suggested that if he would just align
himself with political power and glory, he could easily accomplish his mission.
After all, who would make a better king than Jesus? Jesus said “no,” because he
knew that if they turned their sights toward God, they already had a king! (3)
The devil suggested to Jesus that he could get lots of followers if he would
just suspend the laws of nature and jump from high buildings and land unharmed
with the help of angels. Jesus said “no” because he knew that if people would
just open their eyes, they would see that life is already a miracle. He knew
that with a new way of seeing, they didn’t need dramatic stunts and cheap
miracles - there were already "real miracles" right under their noses!
After rejecting these
three attractive offers for going forward, Jesus comes out of the desert with
his simple one-word answer. Metanoiete! Change the way you think! You don’t
need magic answers! You don’t need dramatic stunts! You don’t need outside power!
All you need to do is change the way you look at the things right under your
nose, the way you think about things you see and you will see God already
working right there in front of you!
The story says that
Jesus was “tempted.” What exactly is a “temptation?” A "temptation"
is a personal inner struggle between good and evil, both appearing to look
good, with a choice that has at its base a desire to do something, especially
something wrong or unwise. Temptations are such a part of our everyday living
that they get their own special mention every time we say the Our Father. We
pray that we will "not be led into temptation."
I am reminded of a
wonderful passage from the Old Testament Book of Sirach. “Before you are life
and death, good and evil, whichever you choose shall be given you. No one does
he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” (Sirach
15:15-20) That is worth repeating! "Before us is life and death, good and
evil, whichever we choose will be given to us!"
A lot is made these days
of our "right to choose," but little is said about our responsibility
to choose wisely and even less is said about our responsibility to accept the
consequences of our choices. Many of us today are like kids who go through life
eating the filling out of the Oreos and throwing the cookies away. We want
freedom without the responsibility that goes with it! We want the right to
choose, but we are not necessarily willing to accept the responsibility and
consequences that go with our choices. Even our country is famous for its
citizens' The Bill of Rights, promulgated in 1791, but it was only two
years ago that a new book by Richard Haass, entitled The Bill of Obligations
about our obligations as citizens, was published to balance them.
We may have the right to
eat French Fries and Chicken Nuggets three times a day, but we also have the
responsibility to eat healthily. If we only exercise our right to eat whatever
we want, without accepting our responsibility to eat well, we will sooner or
later have to accept the consequences of our choices. Those of you in school, may
have a right to skip classes, but you also have a responsibility to go to
class. If you only exercise your right to skip, you must be willing to accept
the consequences of flunking out of school. If we only exercise our right to a
credit card, without accepting our responsibility to pay for what we charge, we
will sooner or later have to accept the painful consequences of our choices – a
cancelled credit card and a ruined credit score for years to come! Our culture
is filling up with people who keep trying to beat this basic truth! They want their
freedoms, but they do not necessarily want to accept their responsibilities for choosing wisely!
One of the benefits of
being a young adult is finally being able to enjoy the freedom to make your own
choices. One of the upsides of the freedom to choose is the ability to build
your own life the way you want it through a series of personal choices. One of
the downsides of that freedom is the ability to ruin your life through a series
of poorly-thought-out choices. The freedom to choose, combined with the ability
to choose wisely, is the ideal. Yet there are many who cannot handle their
freedom well and end up losing it. Giving into the temptation to choose what
appears and feels good at the moment, without the personal discipline to choose
what would actually be good over the long haul, is a recipe for disaster.
Hearing about people
ruining their lives has actually become a favorite American entertainment. Many
think it is funny to watch stupid people on trash TV tell the world how they
have ruined their lives and the lives of those who have been associated with
them. Every day programs like Judge Judy, Maury Povich, 60 Day Fiance and
Catfish make big bucks featuring people
who have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them because of the
poor choices they have made. They have the "freedom to choose" but
choose poorly. They have the "freedom to choose" but they don't have
the ability to discern what is of value. Illegitimate children, ruined
marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, financial ruin, family
disintegration, squandered opportunities for a good education and loss of
reputation are only a few of the consequences of making choices without the
ability to choose wisely.
To be able to
"discern what is of value," we must develop self-mastery. By
self-mastery, I mean we have to be able to name and then "stand up
to" our own temptations, to our addictions, to our cowardice and to our
laziness in order to create the life we want to have! We must be able to
"handle" ourselves and "handle" our cravings - for a higher
purpose and for our long-term good. We must be able to continually clarify what
we really want out of life, constantly focus our energies to reach for what we
want and consistently deal in truth rather than in deception. People with
self-mastery approach their lives like an artist approaching the task of
producing a work of art. People with self-mastery know how to discern what is
of value and use what they have discerned to live on purpose! The spiritual
disciplines of both East and West speak often of the practice self-mastery.
One of the sad things
about our culture, in which freedom of choice is so highly honored, is the
growing tendency to deflect responsibility for our bad choices after we make
them. We throw the blame onto others. If our culture is to survive, the freedom
to choose simply must be combined with personal responsibility. To demand the
freedom to make our own choices and then throw the blame on others when those
choices backfire is the height of cowardice and irresponsibility - and yet it
is so very popular in our culture. As Flip Wilson's character used to say all
the time, "The devil made me do it!" As we hear all the time on TV,
"It was my parents’ fault. They didn't raise me right!" "It was
right there for the taking. What could I do but take it! They shouldn't have
made it so easy to take!" Freedom without responsibility is wreaking havoc
all around us.
When enough of us have
the ability to discern what is of value and when enough of us have the
self-mastery to choose what is of value, marriages will improve, families will
improve, neighborhood will improve, the economy will improve, churches will
improve, nations will improve and the world will improve. These problems can
only be fixed one person at a time. In reality, no one can save us from us, but
us! Yes, lack of self-mastery has a direct impact on the quality of multiple
areas of people’s lives. Those who cannot establish mastery over their
appetites and impulses will no doubt see many aspects of their lives quickly
unravel. The ability to subordinate a lower impulse to a higher value is the
essence of a satisfying life. Leonardo da Vinci was right when he said, “One
can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”
The ability to discern
what is of value and self-mastery in the face of severe temptation is at the
heart of Jesus’ desert experience. To do his Father’s will, not his own, Jesus
had to be able to see the difference between what “looked good” and what was
“actually good.” Once he was able to discern what the will of his Father was,
he had to have the self-mastery to follow it, no matter how tempted he was to
do otherwise!
