First Sunday of Lent
(C - cycle)  February  21,  2010

The temptation of Jesus is a great story. Unfortunately, it loses a lot of its power and its ability to instruct us if we think the test was too easy. I mean,  if the devil suggested I jump off a high building, I would tell him to go jump in the lake. I would brush him off without hesitation. Any of us would. For that we should get high marks? For this should Jesus get high marks?

First of all, we should realize we’re dealing with a vision here, and visions typically are filled with symbols, worshipping Satan to become king of the world is about power. Changing stones into bread, leaping off the Temple unscathed are about fame and glory.

Now I’m going to say something really profound. A temptation is not a temptation unless it’s tempting. Remember, you heard it here first. So Jesus must have found fame and glory and power really tempting.. Think of him growing up in a small town in a captive nation. From his parents he heard the heroic stories of Israel’s past---how God through Moses had liberated the Jews from Egypt. how David had slain Goliath and conquered all of Israel’s enemies during his glorious reign. He delighted in the story of how only a century or so before, a Jewish general named Judas Machabeus freed Israel from Greek domination that went back to Alexander the Great, a victory the Jews still celebrate at Chanukah.

Jesus knew he had exceptional ability, the power to inspire people and attract followers. I think he thought he could be another Moses, another David, another Judas Mackabeus. He wanted power and glory not out of selfishness but out of his hunger to free his people. He was conscious from his baptism that he was the long-awaited savior, the Messiah who, he thought, would mount the throne of David with Israel’s enemies at his feet.

This was his dream, but the dream had to die. Before long, God made it clear he wanted not a glorious king or a heroic general, but a suffering servant. He would save his people all right----he would save the world--- but only by dying along with the dream.

If you want to appreciate how hard it was for Jesus to resist his temptations, go to the garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died. There it was only through blood and sweat and tears that he was able to say, “Father not my will but yours be done.” In his agony we see how costly it was for him to accept the dying of the dream.

Jesus was racked by temptation, as we sometimes are. He understands how wrenching it can be. He’s been there, and he’s there for us and with us as we struggle to do God’s will. In the words of the Letter to the Hebrews: “We have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness, because he has been tested as we are…So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and timely help.” Heb. 4, 15-16.