Sermon Based on : Matthew 4. 1-11; Genesis 2. 15-17 & 3. 1-7; Romans 5. 12-19
Preached on: – First Sunday of Lent- 01.03.2020
A priest was stopped by a traffic policeman for over speeding. While the cop was issuing a citation ticket, the priest pleaded, “Officer, forgive us our trespasses.” The cop smiled, and said, “Father, lead us not into temptation!”
Human nature has been weakened by sin. From the Genesis story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, through Paul’s exploration of how Jesus functions as a “second Adam,” to Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, these readings cut to the chase of what it is to be human. Yet we need not despair. It is precisely because of this miserable condition of sinful humanity that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came down from heaven and took on our human nature.
In order to accomplish his work of redemption, he had to undergo exactly the same experience of every human being, and that includes being tempted. This is according to the Letter to the Hebrews: “Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (Heb 2:18). “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).
While the temptation of Jesus is referenced in Mark briefly, the scene is considerably fleshed out in Luke and Matthew. Matthew, for instance, portrays Jesus as fasting as a righteous Jew should. He also has a different ordering of the Tempter’s trials, placing the temptation to worship Satan as the culminating episode in the scene, one that calls for Jesus not just to reject the specific temptation, but the Tempter himself.
Christ’s 40 days are like Moses’ 40 days spent on Mt. Sinai (Exod 34:28), or Noah’s Flood lasted forty days (Gen. 7. 17); or Elijah’s 40 day journey to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19: 8).
And, it also is reminiscent of the forty years the Israelites spent in the desert experiencing their own temptations. It is, of course, no coincidence that Lent is a forty day period. Thus how can the account of Jesus’ temptation illuminate our own forty day experience?
To answer this question, Let us concentrate on the temptations of Christ:-
Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and now He is filled with the Holy Spirit, (After the blessing comes the battle). And, what does the Holy Spirit do?
Leads Him into the wilderness. Please note that the Spirit does not tempt Jesus, but only leads him into the wilderness—goes with him into the wilderness—The Spirit leads Jesus—accompanies Jesus. The tempting is the devil’s business.
We see in Matthew that Jesus was tempted in three ways, which are similar to the ways the Israelites were tempted in the wilderness, and similar to the way Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden of Eden, and which are similar to the way all of us are tempted today.
You see, Satan is not real creative. He has only three basic temptations, and only one tactic. These three temptations are summarized in 1 John 2:16. Satan’s only three temptations are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. No matter what temptation you are dealing with, it falls into one of these three categories. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
From Genesis 3:6, we see Satan uses these same three on Eve. She saw that the tree was good for food (that’s the lust of the flesh), that it was pleasing to the eyes (that’s the lust of the eyes), and that it was desirable to make one wise (that’s the pride of life). The Church names these temptations as the arch-enemies of the soul: the flesh, the world, and the devil.
We will see this as we go through each temptation.
First -Satan wanted Jesus to turn stone into bread (the lust of the flesh). More broadly, the temptation is for Jesus to use his authority as the Son of God to meet his personal needs and desires. While this was no doubt a temptation for Jesus throughout his ministry, it is especially during his crucifixion that this would come to the fore again, as he is tempted by the onlookers to save himself from the cross (Luke 23:35-39). Jesus’ ministry is always focused on others, never on himself.
Second- the devil tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of
the temple in order to easily declare himself as the Messiah and
prove that God was working for him (the pride of life). A
Cross-Avoiding Spectacle
The
second temptation, jumping from the pinnacle of the temple, is the
most difficult to interpret. On the surface the devil’s idea is
merely an awe-inducing spectacle. So in part this temptation is that
of another alternative path for Jesus’ power, leading to fame and
riches rather than to service and the cross. Satan ‘s suggestion is
that cross is not necessary.
Third– the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world (the lust of the eyes),The third temptation (verses 5-8) is a direct appeal to the human desire for power. Jesus is offered the authority and glory of all the kingdoms of the world. For Jesus this was a temptation to embrace what many would have expected of him as the Messiah: political and military might and rule. That Jesus rejects this is a clear sign that his messiahship, his kingdom, is of a different nature than the common expectations. Jesus’ mission is about saving others, not about asserting worldly power.
Those are Satan’s only three temptations.
All of Satan’s temptations revolve around misusing or abusing the Word of God. That is how he tempted Eve in Genesis 3, the way he tempted the Israelites in the wilderness, the way he tempted the kings of Israel, and that is the way he tempts Jesus here.
And this is the way he temps us. He twists the Word of God, and raises doubt about what God has said. This is why it is so vitally important to know the Word of God. That is why it is so important to be studying the Word daily, to attend a church where the Word is faithfully taught, and to attend Bible studies and learn good Bible study methods.
These temptations of Jesus represent the essential forms of all temptation; they are our temptations, and the temptations of the Church. They are the illusions that we can use the divine spirit for worldly ends.
In this season of Lent we are led up by the Spirit into the wilderness; and the point is that we should be made free from our illusions. For this, a kind of wilderness, or a certain quiet, is necessary. It seems that the world goes faster every day, and that we are increasingly consumed by its complex busyness. There is noise and activity everywhere and always. There is fear of the future-what does the future holds for us, fear & anxiety everywhere. It comes to pass that there is no time or place for quiet reflection. A certain wilderness is necessary for the clarifying of the Spirit.
Lent calls us to participate, at least in some small way, in that flight to the desert, to try to see ourselves clearly in the undistracted light of God’s word, to identify our illusions so as to be free of them. we are also tempted to abandon the task God has given us for ways of self-indulgence, power, and spectacle. Lent is the time for confessing our failures and redirecting our steps to the way of Jesus. And through the power of the Spirit, we, too, can resist the temptations of the devil or the devil himself.
That is what today’s Gospel is about, and that is what our Lent should be about,
St. John, in his first Epistle, summing up the three forms of temptation, puts the matter this way: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2.15-17)
In the name of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen