From the Pastor |
Luke 4:1-13
There was a young boy who was forbidden by his mother to go swimming in the local river on his way home from school. The next day his mother found him in his room, working very studiously on his homework I might add, with wet hair, and a damp swimsuit in the corner. She asked him “Did you go swimming after school today?” “I couldn’t help it,” he replied… “The devil tempted me!” “Well, how come you had your bathing suit with you?” she asked. “Oh,” said the boy, “I brought that just in case I got tempted.” Oh, the Temptations… so often the downfall of us all… and temptation is what our Gospel reading is all about. After coming out of the waters of the Jordan River… the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and Jesus knew that the time had come for his ministry to begin. But instead of hopping right to work… the Holy Spirit sends Jesus out into the wilderness for quite a long time. There Jesus fasts and prays… and experiences great temptations. Have you ever considered why? I think there were a couple of reasons for this sojourn into the desert. 1st, Jesus needed to fast and pray in solitude so that he could discover EXACTLY what it was God wanted him to do… He was human after all… and let’s be honest… anytime human beings try to discover God’s will for them on their own… the results are not great… We need to take some time to quietly pray and listen for God’s will to come to us. It would have been no different with Jesus. He needed this time to find the truth of his path. But he also needed to be confronted with his options… he needed to decide his path for himself. Like all human beings, Jesus had the ability to say ‘no’… he had free will. He needed to make the difficult decision to follow the path God put before him… or not… And that is exactly what happened. While fasting and praying in the wilderness… Jesus was tempted, in a variety of ways, to take a different route… an easier path. Our current bible study asked an interesting question in regard to the temptation story. The author asked which of the three temptations do you think was the most difficult for Jesus to reject? My first thought was the bread… I mean… I hate being hungry… and I cannot imagine… In fact… most of us actually have no idea what that feels like to be truly hungry… we have not known true hunger; the kind of gnawing hunger you would feel after not eating anything for so long. So the temptation to satisfy this most basic need would definitely be understandable. I mean… Jesus had the power… but he also knew that using his power for himself was not the will of God. Then we have to consider the 2nd temptation. This one HAD to be tempting to Jesus. He is shown “all the kingdoms of the world” and told that he could be Lord of it all… all he had to do is bow down before the tempter. I imagine this must have been a really tough one for Jesus because it certainly sounds preferable to the path God had laid out before him. Bow down… Be rejected… Bow Down… Die on a cross… The long, hard, painful road… or the quick and easy path. Like I said… FAR from an easy decision for any person. So maybe THAT was the hardest one. Then we look at number 3. This third one… at first glance… doesn’t seem that hard of a decision… I mean… he is told to throw himself off the highest peak of the temple. Seems like a no-brainer to me… except when we look at how this one is worded: “If you are the Son of God… throw yourself down from here.” After all… you won’t get hurt… For the scriptures assure us that his angels will guard you… “they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” In other words… if YOU really are the Son of God… prove it! Actually, over and over again Jesus was asked to prove it… do this so we might believe… do that and we will follow… even when he hung on the cross they told him… “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” [Matthew 27:40b] How tempting it must have been… not just there in the desert, but throughout his ministry… for Jesus to just say “Heck with it!” and offer the proof they claimed they wanted… to give into their demands and prove his identity. But again… that was not God’s plan. A quick reading through our text makes it seem like it was easy for Jesus... The devil said "Do this." Jesus said "no... scripture says..." But it was certainly NOT that clear cut and simple... There is no doubt… Jesus struggled with this for 40 days… it was NOT easy, but he did not give into temptation. Instead, he focused on God and used the scriptures to help him in his decision making process… Each year, we begin our Lenten journey with Christ in the wilderness because, honestly, that is where we live. We live in the wilderness… faced with temptations both great and small on a daily basis. These 13 verses remind us that Jesus experienced what we experience… he struggled with the temptations of this world… just like we do… that in him we have a High Priest who “has been tempted in every way, just as we are…” [Hebrews 4:15b] In fact… we face temptations like these every day… the temptation to satisfy our personal needs and wants… the desire for power and influence… money and prestige… issues of identity, security, taking the easier, less painful road… Like us… Jesus was tempted to satisfy his own basic needs… to take the easier, less scary road… but this would require turning away from God’s plan… and that is what the temptations we often face do as well… they derail us from God’s path… causing us to trade God’s will for another… often our own… This world… Satan… the devil… the adversary… whatever you want to call it… offers us many shortcuts… many other ways… but often, the most powerful temptations are the most subtle… many may even seem ok when we look at the idea that the ends justify the means. It often makes rejecting temptations very difficult… Maybe you've heard this prayer. “Lord, thank you so much for being with me today. I have not gossiped, nor have I spoken a cross word. My thoughts have been on you and I am thinking of the people in my life with love in my heart. I have not been angry, sarcastic or impatient. Now, I ask that you continue to help me as I get out of bed this morning!” To live is to be tempted, but if those temptations do not embrace God’s ways… God’s laws and God’s love… they are just plain wrong. To God… the ends DO NOT justify the means. The biggest trick is recognizing that we are most vulnerable when, like Jesus, we are exhausted, hungry, weak, beaten down, stressed out by the demands of our lives that seem to pull us in multiple directions... When we are stretched to our limits. The good news is that we are not alone… Jesus is with us through it all. No matter the temptations we face, Jesus has been there… he knows what it is like… how hard it is… Jesus was tempted to follow a different path, but he choose to do God’s will and did, in fact, accomplish each of these “temptations” in a manner that was not self-serving... Instead of changing a few stones into bread to feed himself, he changed a few loaves of bread and some fish to provide food for thousands. Instead of bowing down to the devil, he offered the prayer “Not my will but yours be done” and gave his life on a cross in a demonstration of true love poured out for all... and has been lifted up by millions of people all around the world as Lord of all… Instead of proving his identity by throwing himself off the temple peak, he humbled himself as a servant to the poor and needy and walked the path of love and compassion… dying only to be resurrected once again… proving he was indeed the Son of God… and he did it all God’s way… The same choices confront the people of faith. God is calling each of us to do God's will… to live out a specific purpose now. Unfortunately, there are distractions and temptations all around us, things that would draw us away from the path of the Lord. But, how do we resist the many temptations that cause us to fail to do God’s will? We need to put our trust in God… and focus of God’s care and provision… immersing ourselves in God’s word… using the scriptures to guide us. And we need to keep our eyes on Jesus… on his example… his words… his love and his spirit… by allowing the Spirit to work within us sustaining, guiding, inspiring and strengthening us… helping us to overcome temptation and follow the way of God. So, this Lenten season, take a long, hard look at the temptations you are facing. Consider what it is that might be pulling you away from God. Then let God’s word and God’s spirit lead you along the way of Christ and wherever God’s will is directing you to go. Amen.
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Yeon Shin
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