Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts
be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Written in 1951, The Last
Temptation, or as it is more commonly known in America , The Last Temptation of
Christ, is a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. The central thesis of this fictional book
is that Jesus, while free from sin, was still subject to every form of
temptation that humans face, including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance, and
lust. In the novel's preface, Kazantzakis argues by facing and conquering all
human weaknesses Christ became the perfect model for our lives. He sacrificed
not only on the cross, but throughout his life. He struggled to do God's will,
without ever giving in to the temptations of the flesh.[1] As
this book places a great emphasis on the humanity of Jesus dueling with the
divinity of the Christ, you can imagine it has been on many banned book lists
since its publication.
You may be more familiar with the
cinematic version made by Martin Scorsese in 1988 starring Willem Defoe as
Jesus. The movie version tried to address the controversial subject matter by
beginning with a disclaimer explaining that, “[this movie] departs from the
commonly-accepted Biblical portrayal of Jesus’ life, and that it is not
intended to be an exact recreation of the events detailed in the Gospels.”[2]
This version was so controversial
that it was originally banned in many cities and picketed almost everywhere.
Even two years after its theatrical release, when it made its cable debut on
the Cinemax premium cable channel, many systems, including the one I subscribed
to in Colorado ,
chose to black it out. I don’t think you would find it surprising that while
doing research for this sermon I was unable to find a copy at Wal-Mart.
The idea that Jesus was tempted like
we are tempted is controversial. People asked, what does it mean if Jesus can
be tempted like me? The simplest answer to this question is that if Jesus could
be tempted by the spoils of this world then he is fully human. We also believe
he is fully divine so while tempted he never yielded to its temptations.
Jesus is so fully human that he is
perfectly human. In fact, more human than we could ever be.
So filled with the Holy Spirit,
Jesus is in the wilderness fasting, eating nothing for forty days and forty
nights. Verse two tells us that during the entire fast Jesus was being tempted
by the devil.
One of the elements of fasting is
that while the body abstains from food, the soul is fed. The fast becomes a
period of general readjustment, of renovation from the outer sphere of life
down to the roots of its innermost fibers.[3]
Through the fast, prayer is reinforced and penance is paid.[4]
The fast is more than the deprivation of our bodies; it is a means of spiritual
preparation. But let’s face it, forty days and forty nights of temptation would
be ruthless. Jesus perseveres this time of trial, preparing himself spiritually
for his life to come.
So after forty days and forty nights,
the devil needs to bring his best material if he is going to tempt Jesus.
Luke writes about three specific
temptations. The scene begins with the devil saying, “If you are the Son of
God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” When looking at original Greek
text, there are two ways to interpret hunger. Jesus could have been hungry for
bread or he could have been hungry for spiritual truth.
It kind of leaves this open for us,
doesn’t it? The original text could go either way. But all translation involves
interpretation, and our text says Jesus was famished. This translation implies
Jesus could use a good meal.
Jesus’ response turns this
interpretation on its ear. While the devil may have hoped Jesus would fall for
bread alone, invoking the words of Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus reminds us “One does
not live by bread alone.” Jesus hungers for spiritual food.
The Devil offers the most human of
needs, nourishment. But Jesus turns away from earthly satisfaction in favor of
something more substantial. The devil offers to satisfy one hunger, Jesus
proclaims satisfying the spiritual hunger to be more important. Luke teaches
that the need for bread is secondary to the fact that it is God alone who gives
bread.[5]
Jesus teaches that the one who
gives the gift is more important than the gift itself.
The devil isn’t out of temptations
yet, there is more up his sleeve. So the second temptation is offered, “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.”
There is some hinky stuff in this
passage. First, with this offer, we are reminded that the devil has power in
the world, power that can be delegated and allocated as he sees fit. The devil
offers this power to Jesus. Imagine if you will the power to do anything you
desire. For Jesus, there is a lot of good that can be done with that kind of
power.
But this power is given with a
catch, “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
A catch doesn’t get catchier than
this. Fly paper wishes it was this sticky.
But Jesus does not get trapped by
political intrigue, human glory and authority. He denies the devil his worship in
the words of Deuteronomy 6:13, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
The devil offers power over this world, a world that is temporary, a world that
is limited. Jesus knows that there is a greater power than the political domain
of the devil and the price of the devil’s power is too high.
Jesus rejects the devil’s demand of
worship insisting that the only real power comes from God.[6]
Jesus acknowledges that the source
of power is more important than power itself.
So the devil has offered Jesus
something to eat and all of the power in the world. What’s left?
The devil takes Jesus to the
pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem .
They are on the highest place of the high places of the Holy
Land . And from there, the devil goads Jesus. “If you are the Son
of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his
angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you
up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
This time, it is the devil’s turn
to invoke scripture, Psalm 91:11-12. Now this is a good temptation. The devil
uses something good to suit his own bad intentions.
In this case, the devil literally
offers the oldest trick in the book. The devil asks Jesus to doubt the Father’s
sincerity. Paraphrasing Genesis 3:1-4, the serpent tests Eve saying, “Go ahead,
eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. Sure, God said you will die, but
do you seriously think that God will take your life?” In Luke the devil invites
Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple because, after all,
“God has promised to protect you. Do you doubt it?” Eve and then Adam and then
Jesus are tempted to wonder if God’s promises are real. Adam and Eve fall for it,
Jesus does not.
Jesus responds in kind to
temptation shrouded in scripture. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, Jesus tells the
devil to shove off reminding him “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
The Old Testament reminds us that Israel
tested the Lord time and time again, and in every case the Lord is faithful. It
is said that scripture is best interpreted by scripture, and this is a shining
example.
Jesus is invited to test the
sincerity of the Lord; Jesus reminds us the Lord is not to be tested. The
Father is faithful. God has passed that test time and time again.
These first recorded temptations of
Jesus: physical satisfaction, political power, and testing God’s sincerity;
these are the things the devil puts on the table. Jesus passes these tests.
Jesus does this by knowing what is important.
Bread is not as important as the
one who makes it. Power is not as important as the one who creates and gives
it. Testing God’s sincerity is not as important as knowing God is earnest and
faithful.
But there is more at stake than these
obvious temptations.
The devil prefaces the first and
last temptations with this phrase: “If you are the Son of God…” So while it is
easy to say that the temptations are about bread and sincerity, there is
something more sinister happening. The greater, more subtle temptation the
devil tries to put in Jesus’ mind is the doubt that he is the Son of God. Yes,
the devil asks Jesus if God will do what God has promised, but it is far more
devastating if Jesus doubts he is the Son of God. If the devil can plant this
seed of doubt, then everything else is lost.
But this seed has no purchase.
Jesus will not allow the devil to define what being the Son of God means. Our
Lord will not let the devil define what kind of Messiah he is, that is between
Father and Son.
And as soon as we doubt that we are
the children of God we are lost. Jesus reminds us that being children of God is
more important than anything else. This, this relationship between creation and
the father is the only source of our hope; the only source of lasting hope.
So often people wail and rent their
clothes crying that they are unlovable. That’s because people believe that God
can’t possibly love them because they are so horrible; they are unworthy of
such great love. This is the lie the devil wants us to believe. It’s the lie
the devil told Jesus, it’s the lie the devil tells us all. “If you are the sons
and daughters of God…” “If you are the child of God…” When we buy this lie, and
fall to this temptation, then we are lost.
When we don’t believe we deserve
God’s love, we try to earn it. We know better, we know we can’t earn God’s
love. We’ve seen this before in scripture, “You have been weighed on the scales
and found wanting.”[7] That
doesn’t keep us from trying, and it doesn’t keep us from failing either. When
we doubt that we are the children of God we are lost.
The Swiss theologian Karl Barth put
it this way “God does not love us despite who we are; God loves us because of
who we are.” Barth’s point is that God loves us because we are the children of
God. It’s who we are, not what we do. We can’t earn God’s love and that’s just
fine—God loves us period. We can’t earn God’s love because it is a gift freely given.
In “The Last Temptation,” the thought
that Jesus could be tempted is controversial. In real life it’s horrifying that
Jesus could fall to temptation. To resist, Jesus relies on scripture and his
relationship with the one who gives us scripture. To resist temptation we must
rely on Jesus and the scripture and the love of God the Father by the power of
the Holy Spirit.
As we approach the cross through
Lent, we need to be intentional about growing in relationship with the Lord our
God, just as Jesus shows us how. Jesus resisted the temptation. By the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit we
can resist too. By this, that seed of temptation will find no purchase in us
either. In this alone is our hope.
[1] The Last
Temptation of Christ-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_last_temptation_of_christ, accessed February
19, 2007.
[2] The Last
Temptation of Christ-Film, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_%28film%29,
accessed February 19, 2007.
[4] Jungmann,
Josef A, S.J., “Public Worship: A Survey.” Howell, Clinton, translator. The
Liturgical Press: Collegeville
[5] Cousar,
Charles B., Gaventa, Beverly R., McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, Newsome, James D.,
Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, Year C.
Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, page 197.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Daniel
5:27 (NRSV)
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