Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards
he was famished.
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of
God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It
is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on
the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw
yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot
against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put
the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All
these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to
him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and
waited on him.
***
In preparing this sermon, I didn’t get past the scripture’s
first line all week. It reads, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” I don’t like the idea of the Spirit
leading Jesus to be tempted by the devil, because it seems to imply that the
Spirit leads us into temptation, leads us to the devil. It makes me wonder, is
the Spirit leading us to the devil’s temptations of power and greed, like it
does the Spirit? Does the Spirit lead us to consume more than our fair share to
the detriment of those around us? Does the Spirit lead us to seek power over
others? Does the Spirit lead us away from God? I had a hard time, thinking this
was true. I like to think of the Spirit, as the one who leads us to do good,
and who leads us closer to God. I don’t like to think of the Spirit testing us.
My first three questions from Lectionary Bible Study were,
“Why do you suppose the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness?” “Did the
Spirit know there, Jesus would be tempted by the devil?” and “What does
your answer about the Spirit’s intension say about your theology?” I got a
bunch of different answers, both from that Bible Study. Mark suggested that the
Spirit leads us into temptation where we can succeed, not where we will loose.
This may be true, but I wonder about those temptations where we do loose. Though
not Marks bent, I also resist the idea of what doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger, of having to go through a hard thing, so you can become a stronger
person, or even a stronger Jesus. I don’t like to think of the Spirit leading
us into the hard and tempting thing. I don’t want a pastry set in front of me
when I am hungry. I don't want drugs to be set in front of an addict. I don’t
want a new relationship to form amidst a broken marriage. I don’t want the
Spirit to lead me or others to these things, because even if we go through
them, I am not sure we are stronger because of them. I imagine the addict will
have an equally hard time the next time drugs are present. I imagine for the
person in a troubled marriage, the new relationship will become only harder the
more the marriage struggles, and I imagine, in simplest form, the hungrier we
get, the more we will want a pastry. I don’t want the Spirit to lead us into
temptation, even if we succeed.
At the Pastor’s Group, when I brought up this line; they
also felt it is was problematic. Another pastor gave an example with which I
was a little more comfortable, despite its harshness. He said, “If a baby gets
into a cabinet and drinks Drano, whose fault is it?” He said, “We would like to
blame the parents, or perhaps the company, because we cannot blame a baby,
whose fault it is neither, but the truth is, Chemicals kill babies. Sin exists
in the world.” The devil was out there in the wilderness. Temptation is in the
world. I believe this, I can see it in the world and I can see it in this text.
The devil is there in the wilderness, and if the Spirit is leading Jesus to the
wilderness, Jesus will be tempted by the devil.
I began to wonder if it is important in that first sentence
that the wilderness came first. It reads, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” I tend to think the Spirit,
was leading Jesus into the wilderness first and foremost. Likewise, I look at
the beginning of the temptation story, and before there was ever the devil,
there were forty days, and forty nights, of time alone in a wilderness. Forty
days and forty nights, which in Biblical terms, signifies a really long time.
In that time, Jesus fasted. In that time, Jesus sought to be closer to God. In that
Lent of his life, Jesus gave up all the common distractions of the world, and
moved into a wilderness with God. I wonder if this is where the Spirit was
leading Jesus, out into the wilderness. It just happens that in that
wilderness, we are tempted.
Liz Romvedt and I were talking about this text, and she
said, when she was becoming certified to teach yoga, a woman asked, “Do we want
to help our students by asking them questions about their demons during
mediation?” The instructor answered, “If they will sit in silence, the demons
will come by themselves.” If we give ourselves space away from the world, we
both become closer to God, like we do in mediation, but we also become aware of
our own demons. It reminded me of when I was talking to another friend and he
said, “Safety first,” and I laughed, and said, “Safety third,” something I
heard before, and then we tried to come up with what was one and two. I said,
“Perhaps, joy first, and adventure second.” I later thought, I had named my
temptations. I had named the things with which I fill my life, when I am too
scared to sit with the demons of loneliness, and boredom. Instead the devil
takes me up to a tall tower and says, “You can do all these things with all
these friends, and travel all these places, and I jump off.” This Lent, I am
going to try to pull back. I am going to try to remember the peace of God I
felt in gardening alone. I am going to try to remember, the contented feeling
of being home in Baker. I am asking the Spirit, lead me not into temptation,
but lead me into the wilderness, and deliver me from evil.
The Spirit is not leading us to be tempted by the devil. The
Spirit is leading us to the wilderness, for forty days and forty nights, in the
season of Lent. Yes, the Spirit is leading us where temptation lies, but also,
where closeness with God lies. This closeness with God is the Spirit’s
intention.
Lent is a time of wilderness, and I wonder where God is
leading you, is leading us, is leading Jesus. I wonder in this season, about
the ways you will become closer to God. I wonder what temptations will come up
and try to pull you away. But I give thanks, that the Spirit leads us away, to
a time in the wilderness, to a time to become closer to God.
