The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke.
After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.'”
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “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.” Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'”
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “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.'”
Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. ( Luke 4:1-13 )
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When I was a young man, in olden times, I ran with a gang of guys, and some girls, all of whom were bored with our own town, so we would hire a bus and take off to some other town or city, to a dance hall where there would be new and we hoped, more exciting people.
Now the guys in this group were in all sorts of jobs. One was an engineering apprentice. Another a welder. One was a police cadet. Three of us worked for a steel company. One was a bricklayer’s apprentice, and one was a mechanic. Another was a miner, but in name only. He was Arthur Rowe, an Olympic silver medallist in the shot putt. He was on the payroll of the Coal Board, but just spent his time in training.
Some of these young men when they met a girl would spice up their resume, as it were, thinking that a better sounding job would more impress the girl. The mechanic always said he was a nuclear physicist. I guess he felt that if you are going to lie then you should lie big.
Another fellow told girls he was a company director and was looking for a new executive secretary. You get the idea.
Of course, the others of us knew this, so when we met on the dance floor – you did that in those days, dancing with your partner in a circling motion around the dance floor – and we saw one of the gang telling his dance partner some wild story, we would glide by and say, “ Hi there, Dave. How’s the job on the dustbins going?”
Or another good one would be, “Hi. How are the wife and kids?”
I suppose it didn’t really matter what they told their dance partner, since as it was in another town, they weren’t likely to see them again. But once, a friend of mine spun a really outrageous tale to a girl, then ended up getting serious, and had to finally admit to his subterfuge.
The lesson was, “Just be true to yourself. Be who you are.”
Jesus was full of the Spirit. He had been confirmed as the Son of God, in his baptism. He was the Messiah. His job was to reach the hearts of men and women and bring them to a reconciliation with God.
How was he to do this?
He went to the wilderness to be alone, to ponder his future. To plot his strategy. You don’t set out on such a large undertaking without a plan, do you?
He had a lot to think about.
He had been given powers beyond anything a human being would ever have.
He had also been given a task. A task that would see him being idolized by people. A task that would see him touch the lives and hearts of people in a special way.
He would be lauded as a healer, a preacher, a rabbi, a leader.
He would also face persecution. He would face resentment. There were those who would plot to kill him.
Finally, he would have to lay down his life.
But there could be another way.
He could use the gifts he had, to become a ‘real’ ruler. He could gather people around him and conquer the world. He could draw the attention of people by the miracles he could do. He could turn stones into bread, water into wine, mentally unstable people into people of reason, lepers, paralytics, the blind, the deaf mute, those with complaints that had confounded doctors – into the healed.
In his imagination he saw himself standing on the highest pinnacle of the Temple and jumping off, to land safely.
People would follow him in droves after a trick like that.
He saw himself as the ruler of the world – which lay at his feet.
What a heady, breathtaking, wonderful – temptation – that was.
All he had to do was become someone else. Deny his true self. Use his powers for his own good.
Oh as ruler of the world there would be much good that he could do. But he would be doing it for the wrong reason, and therefore would be sure to fail.
And the devil is impatient. He doesn’t like to wait too long for his pay-off.
Power for its own sake is the genesis of evil.
It makes you forget who you are.
Jesus was tempted with these thoughts and turned them down, refusing to be anything other than what, and who, he was.
(When you think about it I suppose, since Jesus himself was tempted then maybe being tempted isn’t wrong in itself.)
We are all tempted. Often.
Someone once asked, “Why is it that opportunity only knocks once, but temptation bangs on the door all the time?”
Being tempted isn’t bad. Giving in to temptation is the sin.
Giving in to being someone else than who you really are.
One time in my life, it may surprise you to know, I was a salesman. I was one of the best in the company. I could shoot a line about the product and bamboozle the poor customer so much that I nearly always made a sale.
They said I had ‘ the gift of the gab.’ It was a compliment.
Then one day I came to realise that I had become someone else. Instead of the Christian young man I had been brought up to be, I was a con man. I looked at people not as human beings, but as someone to take advantage of.
My boss loved me, and when I become a manager, my own salesmen thought I was the tops.
But I didn’t like me.
I had compromised all my principles. I had forgotten what I had been taught in church. And it spilled over into my private life. I wasn’t nearly the husband, or the father that I should have been.
So I got out.
I could have been a rich man today.
But not as rich as I really am – rich in the right way.
But it isn’t only worldly success that can lead you astray; trials and tribulations can make us forget that we are – children of God.
We can be tempted to turn our backs on a God who seems to have let us down.
Jesus, hanging on that cross, had his doubts: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me” ( Matthew 27:46 )
But be yourself. Stay true to yourself. Find the godliness within you and hang on to it.
If you are tempted; if you feel the pull of something that you know is bad for you, don’t feel guilty because of the thought. If you were heading the way that Satan wanted he wouldn’t be trying to trip you up, would he?
It’s a compliment that Satan thinks he needs to tempt you, and it’s a triumph to reject him.
Refuse to be drawn in. Reach out to Jesus in prayer. Pick up that anti-tank weapon – your Bible – and read it.
Most of all, know that you are one of God’s chosen ones. Chosen to be part of his plan for this world.
You have been given certain gifts to use in your part of His Plan. Isn’t that exciting?
You weren’t given those gifts to take advantage of others, to hurt others, to rob others, to lord it over others. But to help, to love, and to serve.
In fact you are part of His army charged with taking over the world in His Name.
Once a pastor said to a man who hadn’t attended church too often, “You are part of God’s army you know.”
The man said, “I know.”
The pastor said, “Well I haven’t seen you on parade for a long time.”
The other said, “ That’s because I am in the Secret Service.”
But there is no secret service in God’s army. We don’t have anything to hide.
We know who we are and what we are supposed to do, and we won’t let anyone or anything take us over.
This Lent, we have forty days, as Jesus did, to search our hearts and minds, and to wrestle with the temptations that might draw us away from our God-given task.
We are asked to be purposeful about it – to use the resources we have to hand to discern whether or not we are still on plan, be they – fasting, prayer, reading Holy Scripture, giving to the poor, and so on.
In short, being what God wants us to be. Doing what he wants us to do.
I wish you a holy and happy Lent, and I pray that God will lead you to wonderful and challenging new discoveries about yourself.
And who you are!