When I mentioned that I was writing this sermon my husband asked what the subject was. I told him that it was about temptation which he thought was rather interesting. I asked him whether he could recall ever being tempted. He thought for a while and said “actually I have!” I was intrigued to know more. He said that there was something he had done many years ago which he still feels guilty about today. Getting more interested by the minute, I started to imagine all sorts of things. Had he robbed a bank or committed some other terrible deed. He then began to confess that once when he was out with a group of boys a similar age he did something which was quite wrong. He stole a white chocolate mouse from the corner shop!! I hasten to add that he was six at the time!
This got me thinking about temptation. Oscar Wilde famously said
“ I can resist anything but temptation” . A saying I think we can all relate to! It brings to mind a story I one heard about a clergyman's wife who had a penchant for buying expensive dresses. In fact, it became quite a problem as she would fritter away his meagre stipend, not being able to resist a good frock. One evening while they were talking the clergyman reprimanded his wife but she replied "but I can't help myself. I just have to buy them". Her husband was clear in his response, "you are being tempted by Satan. Next time you are in a shop and feel tempted that way, say "get behind me Satan". A week later she came back from the shops with another new dress. Her husband was very angry. "Did you not do as I suggested?" he asked, "I did" she replied "as I tried the dress on I said, "get behind me Satan". The only thing was, he said "it looks even nicer from behind"". (I promise that this story doesn’t relate to our vicar’s wife!)
The very nature of temptation is that it’s hard to resist - it’s designed to make you give in. When you think of temptation you really think of it in terms of being tempted to do something good. It is usually linked to someone doing something they shouldn’t or that is forbidden. Often when we picture someone being tempted we imagine someone with a small red devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Often the red devil has the louder voice.
In biblical thought “to tempt‟ means to test something or it can mean an attempt by Satan to invite a person to sin. The gospel passage we read today was about Jesus being led into the desert by the Holy Spirit in preparation for his ministry. We are told that Jesus withdrew to the desert and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. If you imagine spending nearly 6 weeks in the wilderness, a rocky and parched place where he will have eaten nothing. For Jesus as for many, the wilderness provided the open, silent space needed for seeking direction and purpose. Tradition has it that Jesus climbed into a high cave of Mt. Jordan
It is important to remember that this passage which describes the temptation of Christ is preceeded with his baptism in the river Jordon. Jesus now certain of being touched by the Holy Spirit. For in the baptism of Jesus - Jesus indeed submits to this baptism of repentance as a sign of his messianic vocation and calling to bring reconciliation between God and humanity. The voice from heaven proclaims his divine Sonship: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased'.
And so three times we are told Jesus is tempted to forget his call and to use his new power and popularity for personal comfort and gain, political influence and glory, and even free himself from suffering and death.
Faced with three temptations he had every opportunity to go against the will of God. To have turned the stones into bread would have been to betray the faith Jesus had in his father to provide for him in every way. Throwing himself off the temple and letting the angels catch him would have been to subject the Lord to some sort of test which is not the mark of a trusting Son. worshipping Satan would have represented the destruction of all the faithful obedience which Jesus wanted to show to his Father. He would have got what he knew was his: the worship of all the nations, but he would have sold his birthright in doing it. Three times Jesus turned his back on this dark tormentor and embraced a mission that would lead to his death.
We may have long term struggles with temptation and sin. But these struggles for me demonstrate that God has not given up on us. The fact that we feel tension when we think about acting against God’s will should reassure us that God is very close to us. If we did not belong to God then we would sin without remorse. The struggle is proof of who we are. There is no doubt that we will loose many of our battles as we strive to live Christian lives. When we fail God is ready to forgive. The truth is we are all God’s children. All to often we tend to allow confusion and guilt to rule and let our fears bargain for certainties which cannot be given. We trade love for short-term profits. We crave success rather than transformation and success becomes our mission even our obsession. Worldly wealth provides the measure of our worth, instead of our value as human beings. All this we do because, at all costs, we seek to avoid sacrifice, pain, inconvenience, failure, humiliation, and even death in order to maintain our own sense of control. This control. This way of power is rebuffed by Jesus who adopts a very different way of living.
And God surprises us in the midst of our failures and shortcomings by offering to us transforming love. God uses the reality of our lives as the media through which we find love, wholeness, and life. God
uses that which we avoid to provide that which we most deeply desire.
We are meant to love and to be loved. To be whole human beings and healthy communities. God wishes us to be fulfilled and fulfilling and the God who indwells us works only and solely to this end. We block the process with selfish and self destructive distractions. Pride. Envy. Greed. Malice. Anger. Loving of the trappings of living rather than loving life itself. When we look at life in the 21st century we see uncertainties and dishonesty. We live with the constant threats of terrorism, an economy which is faltering through greed and we have even seen dishonesty from those who represent us in government. We have replaced trust and service with an increased obsession with results and we are unforgiving of the sins of others.
But if we strip everything away we are just fragile and needy human beings who need to love and be loved. We, like Jesus, can choose to resist temptation. We can choose to listen for love, seek truth, and allow God to build trust. Listening and Learning that we have God within us and that the still small voice is holding us in balance as we walk life’s tight rope.
The passage from Matthew gives hope to all of those who face difficulty. Jesus went into the wilderness, but he did not go alone. Neither do we go alone as we walk in dangerous places. God is with us as we seek to walk in his ways. When we walk with Christ , the Spirit of Jesus comes with us to give us strength to make right choices and live in the knowledge that this mortal life is but a brief moment in God’s time. Our lives will be filled with many challenges, but we do not face these challenges alone – God walks with us. Amen
