I’m part of the preaching team at my home church, Carey Baptist, and this Sunday get to preach on “Temptation”. It sounds like a quaintly Victorian concept, something you really shouldn’t take seriously – after all, one of my favourite chocolates is named “Temptations” and the manufacturer expects me to eat them, not avoid them. Isn’t “temptation” about the fun in life – with only the most dull and drab refusing to dive into all that is on offer?
Perhaps, but I’ve enjoyed digging into Matt 4:1-11, the well know passage of Jesus’ 40 day period of fasting, praying and being tempted in the desert. It has a fair few surprises.
I’m planning to ask the congregation this question. I’ll start with a statement. “As you listen to the opening words of Matt 4, ‘Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted’ I imagine two things immediately leap out at you.” And then I’ll pose the question. “What are they?” If you are someone who hates being put on the spot, don’t worry. The question is rhetorical – someone might call out an answer, but I don’t intend to go the awkward silence route.
I’m hoping that people will quickly note that it is seriously strange that the Spirit leads Jesus to be tempted. After all, didn’t Jesus ask us to specifically pray, “lead us not into temptation” (Matt 6:13) – but this is a Spirit orchestrated journey to the place of tempting, so what is on the go?
The second response I’m hoping for – though it might come a little more slowly – is “How can you be tempted in the desert?” Isn’t the point of the desert that there are no dancing girls, no delightful delicacies to guzzle upon, and even if your bank balance is full to overflowing, there is nothing to spend it on. It’s just you, all on your own. So what is there to be tempted by?
Hmmm. Good questions.
If the Spirit leads Jesus to be tempted, perhaps temptation on its own is not a bad thing. Perhaps it is even critical. After all, how do you know what you really stand for unless there has been an option to let it go? It’s much the same as the story of the soldier in WW2 who said that he never prayed for courage, because the only way he would know his prayer was answered would be if he was in a situation that required courage – and he didn’t want that to happen. In a similar vein, some of us might feel very moral because we have never done some things we were never going to get the opportunity to do anyway. Perhaps remember that when you are an arm chair critic of how this leader is not using their power wisely, or of how they aren’t sufficiently selfless in serving the cause. If you have never had power to abuse, how do you know you would do any better?
I imagine that in leading Jesus to be tempted the Spirit is giving a quiet vote of confidence. The message is perhaps: “We need to see if you are up to what lies ahead. We think you are – but only testing will show that for sure.”
When we face our own testing, we could view it in a similar light. Don’t misunderstand me. I think Jesus meant it when he taught up to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” – but when for some reason that prayer is answered with a “no” and we find ourself in that place, perhaps we can view it as a constructive test – a vote of confidence that years of prayer and preparation have led us to the place where we can make godly decisions and opt for the right thing. Indeed, this is the promise of 1 Cor 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except that which is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
What about the second observation?
What is there to tempt you in the desert?
It’s a genuinely good question, often overlooked. The implication is clear. The real temptations in life are not about drunken silliness or greedy excess, they are the struggles deep within our heart. We face our greatest temptation when alone, and having to answer the “who am I – who am I really” question.
The Greek word most often used for sin in the Bible is hamartia, and its most common meaning is to miss the mark or to be off target. To be alone in the desert (or its equivalent) is to be confronted with our own harmartia – the troubling gap between who we have been made to be and who we actually are. When facing the gap, the temptation is to rush into self justification, “well of course it would be different if only…” But there is something about the silence of the desert that makes self justification sound hollow and trite. It is as though the silence simply echoes back a huge question, “really… really…really?”
Life’s greatest battles are always the internal ones, and it is in the desert that we are forced to face them. Without a thousand other distractions, our gaze turns inwards. Unsettling though this is, it is not a negative experience – especially if we know that it is the Spirit who has brought us to this place. Put differently, it is God who invites us to explore these difficult questions, so the intent is for good.
Now those who know this passage well will give a polite cough, and remonstrate quietly, “Actually Jesus wasn’t led into the desert to be on his own. He was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” And you are right – but did you notice this – as a third surprising thing, we are told that “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said…” After fasting,,, the tempter came to him.
Now we can’t be 100% sure, but the sense of the passage is that the real temptation by the devil came after the fast. Certainly the only recorded content of the encounter with the devil is the post 40 days of prayer and fasting encounter. Had the earlier prayer kept the devil away, or were the earlier temptations more minor, and not recorded? Did the hardest encounter with the devil come only after Jesus thought that with the prayer and fasting over, temptation was behind him and his ministry could begin?
Could the sequence then have been: Led by the Spirit, Jesus goes to the desert to be tempted. He fasts and prays for 40 days. This is a haunting period as he contemplates the enormity of the mission ahead of him, the struggles he is likely to face, and the price he will have to pay to fulfil it. As this period ends, the devil comes and in a more serious onslaught, poses a threefold temptation: Turn stones into bread; throw yourself from the temple; worship me (the devil) in return for all the kingdoms of this world. Forty days praying and fasting has prepared Jesus for this onslaught – which is then followed by the actual commencement of his mission. Not that Satan completely disappears from the scene, for as the parallel passage in Lk 4:13 informs us “When the devil finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” If you think temptation is a one off and then done struggle, this suggests not…
Interesting though this is, let’s not get too hung up on it. The point is really a far simpler one. There are times in our life when it is right to get ourselves quiet enough to face the really hard questions of our life’s purpose, direction and meaning. And we will always be tempted to settle for less. The temptation Satan threw across Jesus’s path was to settle for a showy, short cut, glossy ministry that was about entertaining the masses while changing nothing. It was about abusing power by using it for the wrong things. It was about false allegiances. And it’s still a real temptation – to give our lives to entertaining trivia, and make not one iota of difference.
One more seriously strange thing to notice in the passage. Did you spot how odd the last temptation was? Satan promises Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will only bow down and worship Satan. Did you notice Satan’s sleight of hand. It’s cunningly clever – the ability to tell a bold lie so confidently that most people don’t notice it. Who was Satan to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world? The world is God’s – always has been, always will be. Satan is essentially saying “I will give you what you already have if you bow down and worship me.”
Seriously – why would anyone fall for that? Except that this was at the heart of the very first human sin. Do you remember it? In Gen 3:5 the serpent urges Eve to eat the forbidden fruit saying the reason God had said not to was that on the day they did, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” You will be like God – I beg your pardon – Gen 1:27 tells us they already were… they had been made in God’s image and likeness. And what is more, they already knew the difference between good and evil, which is why Eve did not want to go ahead – she already knew it was wrong… The temptation was to be what they already were – but with a huge price tag – allegiance to the devil…
Sobering to think that our most grievous sins usually come because we forget who we are, God’s precious children, made, loved and forgiven by Him. Don’t be tempted to settle for any identity other than child of God – this week, or any week…
Nice chatting…
Photo by Ella Olsson: https://www.pexels.com/photo/strawberry-and-dumplings-1334133/
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