Jesus has been taken from his baptism in to the desert. He has gone from a point of great proclamation to being in the desert… alone, and tempted. He could have agreed to any of these events: the opponent tempted him because he knew the risk Jesus incarnation bought to this earth.Which brings me to two unfashionable points.
- The devil exists. He is, like Holme’s Professor, a consulting criminal.
- We have fallen far from the standards Jesus showed. For the temptations he faced are both powerful and common.
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where 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. 3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.'”
5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And 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. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'”
9Then 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, 10for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'” 12Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
The three temptations are common.
- The temptation of provision. Satan tempted him by asking him to make bread from stones. And to eat. Now, a number of liberation theologians have reduced the gospel to social justice — the provision of bread. And a bunch of pentecostal revivalists have indicated that the gospel will lead to worldly prosperity. This is completely against scripture: we are not promised riches alone, but troubles and work. We are challenged to live by the word of God, not by our stomach. Yet the church seems to spend too much time thinking about worldly riches, and not doing good.
- The temptation of worldly power. We are asked to ally with this party, or that: to ascribe to the world view of the left or the right, and to be politically correct within their terms. If we enter politics, we are asked to put our conscience on the shelf and support the party platform. If we do this, we become apostate: a religious arm of a political movement (and yes, this is the other error of both liberation theology and the religious right). We can work with people, but we need to remain wise, and careful. We must not give our authority to any worldly power. But we are tempted by the applause, and we do exactly what we should not.
- The temptation of the spectacular. Miracles, great acts of power, make all the people talk about it. It gets on the news. There is a temptation to rely on miracles to proclaim the gospel (which is a misreading of Acts: Paul and Peter preached, prayed… and healed. But in that order). It is also a temptation to produce miracles where none exist to gain publicity, and that lie poisons the witness of many if not all.
Now, the modern church loves the spectacular, the powerful, being politically connected, and concentrating on social programmes, from the soup kitchen to (that horrible oxymoron) the divorce ministry.
We have succumbed to temptations our master has rejected. We need to stop pretending we are rich, powerful and wise, and remember we are poor, powerless and broken. For if we do not change when society changes (and it will) we will neither have the courage or the deep roots of faith to withstand our time of testing.
Lord, lead us not into temptation, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.