I have an idea! Do ya wanna ditch
the rest of the service and go get some coffee or eat a big breakfast?
Seriously! How many of you were tempted? Sounded pretty good, huh? I bet there
was that little voice telling you, “hey! If the pastor said it, it must be
okay!
Well, today is the temptation of
Jesus. It’s important to know where exactly we are in our Gospel. In Chapter 3,
Jesus came down to the river, Jordan, and he was baptized by John. He goes under
the water and when he comes up there are those words that we heard last week at
the Transfiguration; “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well
pleased.” As soon as this happens, he is led into the wilderness and is tempted
by the Devil.
It is a story that we have heard
many times before. The Devil asks him to turn stones into bread so he can eat.
Jesus says, “no.” Takes him to the pinnacle and says throw yourself off. Again,
Jesus says, “No.” And then there is the promise of the Kingdom. All he has to
do is bow down to Satan. Jesus says, “Away with you Satan!”
In the first two temptations, the
Devil says, “If you are the Son of God.” Here is a shocker. I believe the Devil
already knew who Jesus was. If not, why would he ask? Did the Devil get luck
that after his Baptism he just happened to, randomly, pick this Jesus? No, He
knew Jesus was the Son of God. What we have here is an opportunist in the
Devil. He figured that Jesus must be weak after his fasting so the Devil would
wait and then move in on that time of weakness.
We can relate to this moment in
Jesus life. We have things that tempt us and you know what they are; they are
those things that turn us away from God. They can be things that cause us to
overlook the path that we are on; and they can draw us away from God. They can
range from things as small as ditching the rest of the service and going out
for breakfast to wondering why we even bother coming…wasting an hour of our
time to sing, read, and hear people. Temptations can be as small or as big…but
they are those things that cause us to put our faith, beliefs, God off to the
side. It is those things that can cause us to look out for our self-interests
and “who cares about anyone or anything else.”
I am sure that we have all had those
times but I think we can look at this story from a different perspective. Think
about this, there are plenty of opportunities for Jesus to give into
temptation. He could have acted in his own self-interest. He could have bowed
down and worshipped, but he didn’t, he could’ve turned the rocks into bread and
ate till he was full, but he didn’t. Instead, he used scripture to strengthen
his obedience to God…Jesus stayed focused on what God was calling him to do
rather than what was what he might have wanted.
I think it would be an interesting
challenge for all of us to do something. We know what it is that can draw us
away from God…away from our path. What if we looked at those things that get in
the way of our experience? To put it another way, what is it that can make me
push God to the side, ignore God’s word, assume that I already know so I don’t
have to do this anymore?
Truth is that we can all get
sidetracked and wander off the path. We are constantly bombarded with things
that are made to distract us and get us wanting the latest and greatest
electronics, cars, jobs, power, etc. There are so many things out there and we
hear those magic words, “you can have it all!” And you probably can; if you sacrifice
this or that, if you spend all your time focusing on something. A couple of
days ago, Michael Phelps was testifying before a Congressional Subcommittee and
the issue was about using enhanced performance drugs. So, they wanted to hear
from a “hero.” He said that he found out, “most athletes don’t practice on
Sunday. Most of them are not at the pool on Sunday and so he figured out that I
could go to the pool on Sunday and spend all day practicing and that gave me an
advantage of 52 days more of practice.” I cringed at the message that may send
to every athlete that looked up to him. I don’t know if he is a religious
person, but on its face value, it just made me think of the impact that message
may have.
You see, you might be able to have
it all, but there is a price to pay. Some times that price is a broken
relationship, so much time away from the path that we are on that it will feel
too uncomfortable to get back on that journey of faith, sometimes it is a
medical condition with all the stress of wanting things so bad that that
becomes your main focus, and sometimes it is just trying to maintain the doing
what we want that it ends, or we run out of energy.
I am reminded of a song by Lady
Gaga. I will play the first verse and refrain because it repeats quite a bit.
(Play Million Reasons). In this song, there are millions of reasons to leave.
While I don’t think, this song is about Jesus’ Temptation, it is highly
relevant to our society and to our life of faith and the church. Her last line
in the refrain, “give me one good reason to stay.” It is relevant and I think
Jesus gives us many good reasons to stay: This journey that he is taking is
putting his own self-interests aside. He is not on his way to the cross to gain
fame. Jesus is doing this for us…you and me! Jesus goes out and heals to help
the afflicted, and feeds the hungry, and dies for us to show us how valuable we
all are to God.
This also applies to our church. I
will give you some good reasons to stay; when it all comes down to the nitty
gritty, we are here for each other. We try to lift one another up as much, and
we celebrate together our good times and share our challenges. I have heard it
said that “we are like family.” We are family in that we try to help out each
other, praying for each other, sharing God’s love together, and when we haven’t
seen each other in a long time, we celebrate the reunion. AND, we will be here
for each other through thick and thin.
As we begin this first full week of
Lent, think about those things that can draw us away from God, what is it that
can be so tempting? Why? But, then, think about what it is that makes you want
to get right back on that path again; and focus on that, then see if you can
find another reason to get back on the path.
Amen!
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