What Wondrous Loved Is This:Temptation

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Luke 4:1-14

          I didn’t know Faust was a real historical figure.  His full name was Johann Georg Faust. He lived in Germany and died around 1540. He was supposedly highly successful, yet he was deeply dissatisfied with his life.  So, he made a pact with the devil.  In exchange for his soul, the devil would give him unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.  In other words, in exchange for his soul, the devil would give him happiness.

          Goethe wrote a play loosely based on the life of Faust.  In the play, Faust pledged his soul to the devil in exchange for a life of decadent pleasures.  The devil kept his end of the bargain and gave the lustful Faust a beautiful, innocent young woman named Gretchen.  She gave birth to his illegitimate child. Faust destroyed Gretchen, the child, and Gretchen’s family.  But he still felt no happiness.  The devil then helped Faust manipulate the world of politics and the gods and then to meet Helen of Troy, the personification of beauty.  That was when Faust experienced a singular moment of happiness.  But remember the pact.  After that one moment of happiness, Faust died, and the devil came to claim his soul.  In Goethe’s version, Faust was ultimately saved, a declaration of God’s power over the devil.  In other versions, he is carried off by the devil to his just punishment in hell.

          This legend of the Faustian pact with the devil permeates modern literature and entertainment. Ariel, the little mermaid, so longed to be human and marry her human heartthrob, Eric, that she made a pact with Ursla, the sea witch.  Freddie Mercury’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” arguably the greatest song in rock and roll history, is about a young man who accidentally kills someone and, like Faust, sells his soul to the devil.

          All of these Faustian legends spring from our text in Luke 4, except in Luke 4 Jesus refused to make a deal with the devil.  Weakened by hunger and isolation, the temptation to make a pact with the devil must have been overwhelming, but Jesus rejected the temptation, not once but three times. 

          We read a version of this temptation story every year on the first Sunday of Lent.  Matthew and Mark have their versions.  Luke’s version is slightly different.  I’ll point that out in a moment.  Why do we visit this story every year?  What’s so important here that we make this annual journey into the wilderness with Jesus?  Does it say something about the power of temptation even for us, the grip of unseen forces that threaten pull us down and ruin us?

          The placement of these temptations in Luke’s story tells us what the temptations are about.  The preceding chapter in Luke, chapter 3, ends with a genealogy of Jesus.  Jesus was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Heli, who was the son of Matthat, etc.  If you place your hand over the genealogy, just block it out, chapter 4 connects very well to the end of chapter 3, which is the baptism of Jesus.  At the baptism of Jesus, you may remember, a voice came from the heavens, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

          The story of the baptism of Jesus makes the declaration that Jesus is God’s Son.    This is my Son, the voice declared from the heavens.  This is the Beloved.  I am well pleased with him.  The temptations then ask this question, “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, what kind of Son are you?  What kind of Son of God are you he going to be?”  Twice the devil will frame his temptation with this conditional phrase, “If you are the Son of God….”

          The first temptation was social (Craddock): “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”  Imagine what Jesus could have done in a society that was perennially food insecure if he could have turned stones into bread.  Of course, they had no Publix or Kroger.  Or, out in the country where I live, it’s a Piggly Wiggly.  We love our Pig in New Hope!  Most of us have a hard time imagining what it would be like to be food insecure, to not know if you’re going to have enough food to feed your family through the end of the week.  Not knowing if you’re going to have enough food to make it through winter.  Maybe you went through a period like this in your life, and you can appreciate how nice it would be to have a neighbor who could turn stones into bread.  Or peas and cornbread.  Or maybe a mouthwatering steak.  I suspect he would be a pretty popular neighbor.  I can see people dropping by his house most evenings about 6 o’clock. 

          And of course, that would have been good.  There would have been nothing wrong with feeding hungry people.  In fact, Jesus did some of that.  But here’s the problem.  Jesus wasn’t a social worker.  His calling wasn’t to operate a food pantry.  This was a temptation to be one-sided. 

          So, Jesus reached back to the book of Deuteronomy and quoted this passage, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”

          The second temptation was political (Craddock). The devil instantly showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and boasted, “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.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”  The land of Israel.  Rome. Assyria. Babylonia.  All of it.  Imagine one person holding that much political power.  Why, with that kind of authority, he could have passed laws mandating religion.  He could have deputized armies to enforce religious observance.

          That, of course, would not have been good.  Genuine religious experience cannot be forced at the end of a spear.  Sincere religious belief cannot be forced by an army or a decree.  Jesus knew.  True religion must be freely chosen.  This was a temptation to use temporal means to achieve a spiritual end.

          So, Jesus reached back to Deuteronomy again.  “It is written,” he informed the devil, “‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

          Now, here’s where Luke adds his own touch.  He changes the order of the temptations.  Matthew has this one as the second.  Luke made it the third.  In Luke, the climactic scene occurred in Jerusalem at the temple, the religious center of their world.  The third temptation was religious (Craddock).  The devil placed Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple and challenged his sonship again, “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.’”

          You must admit that would have been pretty cool!  He could have put on a white suit with white shoes, slicked his hair back, and jumped from the pinnacle of the temple while holding a large King James Bible.  And just before he splattered onto the pavement, the angels could have swooped in and caught him.  Oh, my goodness!  The people would have loved it.  Talking about a crowd.  He could have purchased his own jet and flown from city to city jumping.  Each time the angels would intervene just in the nick of time.  Why, he would have to build a larger temple.  This was a temptation to be a religious huckster. 

          So, one more time, he reached back to Deuteronomy, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

          If it’s true, Jesus, if you really are this beloved Son of God, let’s find out exactly what kind of Son you are.  Are you the social worker kind who likes to feed the poor and go on mission trips?  Nothing wrong with that, right?  Or are you the political kind, who can use your awesome authority to advance your agenda?  That certainly could have expanded his reach.  Or are you the religious kind, who puts on spectacular shows?  That would pump up the numbers.

          Tell us, Jesus, what kind of Son of God are you?

          I’m the faithful kind, he showed the devil, the kind of Son who understands his mission and is willing to be faithful to it to the end.

          Every year on this Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we are reminded of the power of temptation, the Faustian pacts we’re tempted to make with the devil, the tempter, the destroyer, the forces that would bring us to ruin.  And we’re shown the example of Jesus who, weakened by hunger and isolation, was nevertheless the faithful Son of God.

          These forty days of Lent challenge us to be faithful too.  To journey with Jesus to the cross, while taking up our own cross.  To see the betrayal of Jesus without being a betrayer.  It is a challenge to hear the seven words from the cross and be in awe the wondrous love of our Lord.  Won’t you come?  Let us make this journey together.

Closing Prayer 

          We’re willing today, Lord.  We’re willing to take this journey with you.  When we face temptations to fall away, give us strength to remain faithful.  Amen.