March 9, 2025
When You are Tempted…
Luke 4:1-13
Rev. David Germer
During the season of Lent, we will be in The Gospel According to Luke… which we’ve actually already been in, for several weeks. Next week, and for the remainder of the season, we’ll be doing a deep dive into the texts of Holy Week. Those events and stories are so rich, and often it feels like too much to cram into our Holy Week services. So we’re spreading them out, so that we can really soak them in.
But first – today – a more traditional beginning to the season of Lent: the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. There are lots of unique features to Luke; without it we’d lose some of our most treasured Jesus stories: the parables of The Good Samaritan and lost sheep and lost coin and prodigal son; much of the Christmas story; the Emmaus Road encounter; the ascension. Luke’s portrait of Jesus is essential. I want to draw your attention, this morning, not to a unique story, but to a unique formatting choice. And this is relevant to and helps set the stage for our Lenten Journey, a series we’re calling: As We Turn to Face the Cross.
Both Matthew and Luke give us a genealogy of Jesus… but Matthew’s comes right at the beginning of his gospel, and provides Jesus’ lineage beginning with Abraham, the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, the father of Judah, and so on. Luke does something different – he interrupts the narrative flow of Jesus’ baptism-right-to-the-wilderness-temptation (found in both Matthew and Mark)… and Luke inserts Jesus’ genealogy in between the baptism and temptation… and he gives the lineage starting with Jesus, son of Joseph, son of Heli, going backwards, tracing it all the way back to Adam, son of God. And it is right after that – linking Jesus’ to the first human, to all humanity, that we get this:
Luke 4:1-13. Listen for God’s Word.
“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.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Trashy romance novels.
Too much chocolate cake.
Internet pornography.
A third glass of wine.
“Come on, do it, nobody’s looking.”
Culturally, we’ve been trained to think of “bad things” when we think of temptation. I don’t mean to equate the things on that short list, but they could all fit that description, on different levels. Things we know are bad – bad for us to consume or want or watch or give in to – and yet for some reason we have this urge to enjoy them anyway. That’s temptation.
How many of you are familiar with the show Temptation Island?
Well, you’re better for it; good for you… or, you don’t want anyone to know.
It was created back when I was in college – 20 something years ago, and it lasted a few years before being cancelled. Four couples traveled to an island in order to have their fidelity to one another tested – they were voluntarily opting in, to be separated for two weeks and have people handpicked by the producers who would be the most tempting to them – physically, emotionally, intellectually… but mostly physically – to attempt to allure them into affairs, knowing the same was happening to their significant other just down the road, to see if their faithfulness to each other could withstand such temptation…. I guess proving… they really love each other and should be together? Spoiler though: roughly 2/3 of the couples don’t remain together, often because… sure enough, they gave into temptation.
What a disgusting concept for a show… which had a long hiatus but was brought back for several more seasons from 2019 until 2023, and it was just announced that now Netflix is going to pick up the show for another season. Temptation Island I think kinda captures what many of us think of, when we think of temptation.
Let’s broaden our picture of temptation.
We can see these three temptations in the story in various ways, but no matter how we do, we have to see them as true temptations – that is, we have to see them beckoning Jesus to things about which much good could be said; otherwise, this would be no test at all – not tempting in the least. He’s not tempted to kill someone who cut him off in traffic or eat the whole plate of cookies while nobody’s looking, or turn down enticing women throwing themselves at him every second of the day.
And… we have to use them as a mirror to better and truly see ourselves. That’s why Luke so deftly constructs his narrative so that we see that temptation is part of the story for all humanity.
Let’s look at and think about these three temptations:
1) Stone to bread, 2) authority over all kingdoms of the world, 3) leap from the temple.
Author Henri Nouwen, in his book In the Name of Jesus, calls these the temptations to be relevant, to be powerful, to be spectacular.
—Turning stones to bread is tempting because Jesus’ was famished… so on that level it was deeply personal and physical. But also, this was a social temptation. If Jesus gave in to the desire to turn stones into bread… think of all the hungry people Jesus could feed. I’m sure he thought of it. Being relevant, being able to do real, tangible, actual good in the world! This is not a bad thing… unless it supersedes our desire to be faithful. We could also call this the temptation to be effective. The temptation to short cut God’s long, slow work, to get good, tangible results more quickly. The temptation for instant gratification – personally, or for others. Relatable, yes?
—The second temptation: Authority over all earthly kingdoms, if Jesus would simply bow down and worship the devil. If the first temptation is a personal and social temptation, this one is a political temptation. To take control. Bring world peace. The oppressed, freed. Large-scale national injustice… ended. Like that. Do you see why this would be tempting? Who says “no” to that? I mean, to have power to sway important decisions and to right significant wrongs?! To call the shots?! Come on! We could use that authority right about now, right?
—The third temptation: Leap from the temple, which most find the oddest temptation. But what if we saw this as a religious temptation. Think of all the skeptics and doubters to whom this one single act could prove the majestic reality of God. Nouwen calls this the temptation to be spectacular, to enhance God’s name and glory! The temptation to have influence. The temptation to wield certainty, to eliminate doubt. Think of the freedom that would come with proving it, even to ourselves.
The thing about all these temptations – effectiveness and relevance, power and control, influence and honor and belief in God’s sovereignty – is that none of those things are in themselves bad. In fact, they could be very good. That’s why they are tempting. That’s why these whispers – that Jesus heard, in the story, from the devil (which remember is just how the biblical authors describe the force and powers in our world that resist and counter God’s good work and voice)… and that we also hear and have, pulling us away from the faithful path, the way of Jesus. That’s why they are so seductive: because most often they are telling us things that either sound true, or at times even are true. They just aren’t the whole truth.
They’re reasonable things to want. But taking them, getting them, like this… would short-circuit and demean the way of God in the world. The ends don’t justify the means, in the kingdom of God. These temptations are resisted by Jesus because they would rob him of everything that he is about to show and teach and demonstrate, in his life, death and resurrection.
OK, but we aren’t Jesus. Are we expected to turn from these things? Are these things really even the things that tempt us?
Many of us, in our Koinonia groups, have begun reading a Lenten devotional book by NT Wright, and this very story was the subject of Friday’s reading. Wright says this: “The temptations we all face, day by day and at critical moments of decision and vocation in our lives, may be very different from those of Jesus, but they have exactly the same point. They are not simply trying to entice us into committing this or that sin. They are trying to distract us, to turn us aside, from the path of servanthood to which our baptism has commissioned us.”
My Koinonia group talked about some of the things that Christians today – that we – might be truly tempted by, things that distract us from real servanthood. We had our own list of three.
1) The temptation of Chronological snobbery (a phrase coined by C.S. Lewis), which is thinking that our time and situations are unlike anything that anyone has faced before. [Pause to let that sink in] We are in a crisis mode, because “nobody else in history has ever dealt with corrupt empires that at various levels seem to run and hold up values that are the exact opposite of those of the kingdom of God.” [with a bit of sarcasm] It’s tempting because it gives a weightiness to our time: inflated importance to our lives and sense of purpose. WE are the ones who need to stop this. And this most often ultimately leads either to all those other temptations – power and influence at all costs – and then ultimately, when we discover we still haven’t brought about God’s kingdom by our efforts: despair. Sometimes we bypass the rest and jump right to despair. And I want to be clear: I’m not saying that everything we are seeing right now is normal. We just aren’t the first people of faith in history to face massive challenges and scary times.
2) The flip side of that temptation is Pollyanna principle: we stick our heads in the sand. Do you remember the movie The Lion King? (Good. More of you have seen that than Temptation Island.) Simba learns to sing Hakuna Matata, forgetting his worries… while all he loves – places and traditions and loved ones – are destroyed or oppressed. This is the temptation to say: “God’s bigger than today’s problems, so stop worrying, because everything is going to be fine.” Well. Read the prophets. Read the gospels. Read Revelation. This is not God’s way. God’s way is faithful work, with realism about what we can’t accomplish… but also what we are called to do.
3) The third temptation we identified: Blame. Some of you are Brene Brown fans. I am, but hadn’t heard this. She tells a story of sitting at her kitchen counter one morning, dressed and ready for a big day at work, with a pristine pink shirt and pressed white pants, enjoying a cup of coffee… when suddenly the cup slips from her hands, shattering into a million pieces on the floor coffee splashing up all over her clothes. She says that instantly, the first words out of her mouth are an expletive followed by her husband’s name. But… she was alone in her home. [pause] She then describes the amazing mental gymnastics happening in her mind, in that instant. The night before, she’d texted her husband, who was playing water polo, asking him to be home by 10, “because you know how I have such a hard time going to sleep when you aren’t right next to me, and I have this presentation tomorrow so really need to get to sleep;” and he wasn’t home at 10; and so she didn’t get to sleep on time; and so she had to have a second cup of coffee to get her going in the morning; and so the whole dropped coffee all over the presentation outfit was his fault.
You’re smiling and laughing because you have this skill, I bet. I do. We do this.
We spend so much time raging and trying to figure out whose fault something is… because this helps us make sense of the world in a way that our human brains need, but often reduces complex situations into good guys and bad guys. Has it ever been easier to blame someone for everything wrong in the world?
Actually think about that for a second. I think the answer is: no. It has never been easier. To blame one specific person… or to blame a group of people… for everything that is going wrong. Or maybe 2 or 3. Or maybe 77 million. Are you with me? It makes me think of that line from Jesus in the sermon on the mount: “Verily I say unto you, identify who is at fault and publicly shame or call them out, for that always works – changing both their heart and yours.” Do you remember that line? No. Jesus didn’t say that, or anything remotely like it, because it never works. It doesn’t lead to change: for the people we’re trying to change, and, as importantly, it doesn’t lead to change in us… who we reveal, when we do this, we believe are fine as we are… which Scripture and Jesus consistently teach us: no, we are not.
We are people who blame. Who put our heads in the sand. Who despair. Who are tempted by power, influence, relevance. And who are tempted also by some of the things that are only fleetingly and superficially good – that list I began with – refined sugars and alcohol and escapist pleasure and trashy stories. And unlike Jesus, at times we give in to our temptations.
I want you to think for a minute about what one or two of the things are that are most tempting to you, from any of those categories. The things that are most likely to draw you away from faithfully walking the beautiful but challenging path of God, the way of Jesus. You could write them down if you wanted… or just hold them in your mind and heart.
So, what do we do with those. How do we not give in to temptation? Jesus’ temptation story shows us. Our primary defense and weapon against temptation is not our own willpower, but God’s Word.
Word, not will. What do I mean? The things that draw us away from walking in the way of Jesus, of living holy, humble, Godward lives, are the kinds of things we can’t root out of our lives by sheer power of will.
Do you remember the Sirens, from Greek mythology? They would sing these enchanting songs that would seduce sailors toward the rocks where their ships would crash and they would die. The hero Odysseus had to pass by the Sirens, and do you remember how he made it through? He plugged up the ears of all his crew members with wax, and then he had them bind him to the mast of the ship. And so the Sirens sang their song, and the crew had been made immune, and Odysseus’ willpower was NOT strong enough. He tried to get the crew to untie him, but they didn’t do it, and so they made it.
Now sometimes, when we identify things that are truly temptations for us, this kind of approach has some merit. Sometimes that’s the necessary way. Sometimes we just have to do whatever it takes not give into the temptation. Exercise all the willpower you have not to sin. Tie yourself to the mast.
But we also know that anything that truly takes us away from the way of Jesus, anything that is a force that resists or works against God, anything that misses God’s mark and is sin… begins in the heart.. And we can pull out every trick in the book to keep ourselves from sinning – tying ourselves to the mast… and ultimately never experience a changed heart.
There’s another character from Greek mythology named Orpheus, and he had to travel the same course as Odysseus, right past the Sirens. And like Odysseus, Orpheus also succeeded in making it past the Sirens. But not by plugging his ears or tying himself to the mast… he did it by playing his own music on his harp that was much better and much more beautiful than the song of the Sirens. And so his sailors simply ignored the seduction of the Sirens’ song, because Orpheus’ song was far more glorious.
It changed the desire of the sailors. They didn’t want to go after the Sirens’ song because the best music was right there on their ship. Friends, that’s what we need. We need to replace those desires, those temptations, with better music, better desires. And Church, the best music is on our ship.
We need to recognize that better than any of the things we thought of or wrote down, is a life of intimate relationship with Jesus, who loves you – a life of prayer, and forgiveness, Scripture and worship. A life of reflection about what God is doing in our lives, maybe by journaling every night. Maybe by meeting weekly with a group of people to share what God is doing and to pray for one another. Maybe by doing exactly what Jesus did: he didn’t meet temptation with will, he met it with God’s Word. My Lenten practice this year, and I invite you to join me in it, is to take all the time I normally spend doom scrolling in the morning, or finding a quick escape in the afternoon with funny Instagram reels (staying informed and momentarily escaping aren’t BAD things… but if I’m honest they DO distract me from faithful servanthood) and replace it with a more beautiful song, something better. A walk outside. Writing a letter to a friend. Memorizing passages of Scripture that I desperately need to work their way into my mind and heart so that when I am tempted by anything else, the truth of the gospel – God’s love for me and care for the world – are never far away. That’s what I’ll be doing, beginning maybe with Psalm 91, which Isla read earlier. Again, you might do this with me, or something similar.
I want to close by praying a prayer that Henri Nouwen wrote, reflecting on this temptation passage, and his own journey through Lent.
“God, I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me this season to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life. Amen.”