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Sermon: The First Sunday in Lent (C) - 21st February 2010
St Aidans' Anglican Church West Epping
Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:4-13; Luke 4:1-15
In 1988 Martin Scorcese made a film titled “The Last Temptation of Christ.” It was a strange film. It had trouble understanding what Jesus’ temptation was all about. Churches around the world condemned it and in the United Kingdom it had the distinction of being the most complained about film for that year. This also guaranteed its commercial success. The film focussed upon the theme of temptation and tried to look at temptation from every angle. It assumed that this temptation of Jesus must have included every temptation imaginable and then it placed all of them on the screen.
But they would have made a very different film if the focus was less on temptation and more on faithfulness – though, of course, that kind of film would have made a lot less money. People usually concentrate on temptation and so it is easier to come to wrong conclusions with this gospel reading. Some people even claim that this passage is a guide to how to avoid temptation which usually means nothing more than quoting a few helpful Bible verses. But I have never found quoting scripture a successful technique in resisting temptation. The other possibility is where we resort to the cynicism of Oscar Wilde who said, “I can resist everything except temptation.”
But this account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness takes on a very different shape if the emphasis is more on Jesus’ faithfulness. Throughout this passage, the language that Luke uses reminds us of Israel as they travelled through the desert on their way to the promised land. This was their testing in the wilderness. Yet with each test or temptation they experienced, they failed. This mattered because they had entered a covenant with God. He would be their God and they would be his people. He remained faithful to them. Yet, as they faced their testing in the wilderness they proved to be faithless.
At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is presented as both God and man. As man, he is a substitute for Israel. He is the new Israel, the new people of God. His forty days in the wilderness are in contrast to the 40 years of Israel in the desert. The issue is not so much the temptation he experienced. Rather it was the matter of would he be faithful when Israel had been faithlessness. This is the story of the Messiah of God coming into the world, and it is in this tempting in the wilderness that we discover the quality of the man. Will he be an improvement on Israel?
But this story has another level we need to consider. On the surface the story is about Jesus’ temptation and Jesus’ faithfulness. But as the story moves on the focus shifts to the faithfulness of God and its impact on these events in Jesus’ life.
In the first temptation Satan encourages Jesus to turn the stones into bread. This would be a chance for Jesus to demonstrate his Messianic powers. No doubt as the Son of God, it is something he could have done easily. But Jesus quoted the verse from Deuteronomy 8 “Man shall not live by bread alone.” The verse goes on to say, “but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Now its very easy to misunderstand what’s being said here. One could get the impression that the Deuteronomy passage is describing some super-spiritual experience, that it is encouraging us not to be too earthly focussed and that we should take our real nourishment from the scriptures. When you take verses like these in isolation it is easy to come to the wrong conclusion. But that’s not the point of the verse. Rather, it is describing the event of God calling Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness. While they were in the desert, there was no food. The question arose, has God brought us out here so we will starve to death? And God’s response was to provide the manna. The point of the story was that God was keeping his promise to rescue his people – that is – he was keeping his word. So the point of the verse “Man does not live by bread alone,” is describing the faithfulness of God in keeping his promises.
So here in the wilderness in Luke’s gospel, God had led Jesus to this lonely place. He hadn’t done it so that Jesus might die. Jesus’ response to the temptations is to say he will remain faithful because he knows God will remain faithful. There is no need to perform the miracle when you can rely on the God who keeps his promises.
The following temptations have much the same pattern to them. When Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world he seemed to be making the offer using the language of Psalm 2. Yet, in that Psalm it is clear that God will gladly give this gift of power to his Son. So again Jesus affirms the truth that the path of wisdom is to rely on the promises God has made, knowing that he will remain faithful.
And, of course, all this comes to a head in the third temptation. We can now see that the key to understanding the other two temptations is found here. Jesus tells Satan there is no need to test God to see if he will rescue his Son if he jumped off the Temple. God is the one who has always kept his promises and so it would be inappropriate to test him. His faithfulness has been proven over the centuries. The real question is, is Jesus faithful. And at each temptation Jesus responds by expressing his trust in the goodness of God.
But have you ever wondered why there were three temptations? It is typical of ancient world thinking. If someone did something once, that proved nothing. But if it were done three times – that was the proof. So we have Jesus in three separate scenarios, as he is tempted, demonstrates his faithfulness by entrusting himself to the character of God.
This gives us a comparison between the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of the man, Jesus. The problem in the Old Testament was the comparison between the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of God’s people. But with the incarnation God has become a man and proven himself as faithful in Jesus Christ. We know that we have been put right with God through faith in Christ but it could also be said that we have been put right with God through the faithfulness of Christ. His whole life demonstrated a life of faithfulness to his heavenly father whom he knew could be trusted. Throughout life we too are tested in many ways. Our faith is tested in many ways. Sometimes, because of the suffering, because of the greed and the selfishness of others we may wonder about God’s faithfulness. Sometimes, when everything seems to be going wrong, we can doubt the goodness of God.
As we approach the end of life with all the challenges that involves we may wonder where we can find God in the mess. And so we can be encouraged by Jesus example, that in spite of the dangerous mission he had been given he never lost his grasp on God’s faithfulness. Eventually, in Gethsemane Jesus prayed if it were possible for there to be some other way. Yet no other way was provided. That Garden meeting was Jesus final temptation. Yet he remained faithful and gave himself up to the faithfulness of God And by that way of faithfulness, the way of life was opened for everyone of us. Often, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but the lesson of Jesus is to entrust ourselves to the God who always remains faithful, the one who always keeps his word, the one who is keen to bless us in all things. And so we can approve the truth the man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.