Matthew 4:1-10
Soon after his baptism, the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness, to be tempted there. For forty days and nights he ate nothing and he became very hungry.
Then the Tempter showed up and tried to trick him into getting food by changing stones into loaves of bread. “It will prove you are the Son of God,” they said. But Jesus replied, “No! The Scriptures tell us that bread won’t feed souls -- the word of God is what we need.”
Then the Tempter took him to Jerusalem to the roof of the Temple and said, “Jump off and prove you are the Son of God, for the Scriptures declare, ‘God will send his angels to keep you from harm.’ Surely they will keep you from smashing on the rocks below.”
But Jesus retorted, “It also says not to put the Lord your God to a foolish test!”
Next the Tempter took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all their glory. “I’ll give it all to you,” he said, “if you will only kneel and worship me.”
“Get out of here,” Jesus told them. “The Scriptures say, ‘Worship and obey God – and only God.’”
Today is the last Sunday in Epiphany season for this year. This coming week Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Liturgically speaking, Epiphany connects Christmas with Lent -- thirty years of Jesus’ life leading up to his public ministry. And now we begin Jesus’ public life of teaching and healing.
The reading I chose for today I chose for two reasons: First, It seems the perfect reading for this shift in focus, taking place as it does immediately after Jesus’ baptism and his recognition by God, and just before he begins publicly preaching and teaching. The second reason is just that I don’t think I’ve ever preached on this reading before!
In the translation I read, Jesus’ tormenter is named as the Tempter, which is pretty self-explanatory. In other translations this Tempter is called satan, which is a Hebrew word meaning accuser or adversary. The idea of the satan as a singular living being is rarely found in Hebrew scripture. When it appears it is usually in ways meaning the adversary, the obstructionist, the slanderer – more of a philosophical concept than a living being. When we get to Christian scriptures it becomes a little more solidified as a Being, but this, I believe, is largely a matter of translations.
In today’s story, this Tempter or Adversary, tries in three ways to convince Jesus to doubt himself and give up his vision. Having just come from a place where he heard his Father’s voice affirming him and setting him on his mission, the satan wants Jesus to lose his faith in both his God and himself.
Three times Jesus is offered satisfaction and power if he will just admit his father’s voice was nothing but an aberration, a fantasy, and give up this silly idea of saving the world...and three times he refuses to be baited. And it is these three refusals that interest me today.
The first offer was to have all his hungers fed, hungers which could be physical or spiritual. “You’re the Son of God, after all – why should you go hungry?” But Jesus’ response was to quote scripture – “The word of God is what we need to feed us.”
The second offer was to rely on his status as Son of God to keep him safe from all harm. “Surely angels will take care of you – nothing can hurt you.” His response was “Stop with the foolish trick questions! I know where my faith lies and I don’t need to test it. Don’t try to test me, and don’t try to test God!”
The third offer was power and riches; all he had to do was bow down to the Tempter and it could all be his. This was maybe the easiest one, because these aren’t really the Tempter’s to give – doubt and slander and fear – not to mention greed – are surely powerful in this world, but ultimately, the world belongs to God. Jesus’ response was again to quote scripture, “I will worship and obey God – and only God.”
When we are hungry I suspect most of us think of pancakes or hamburgers or fried chicken (or some such) as the answer to that physical hunger, but do we ever think about other things that feed us? When we find ourselves transfixed by a scenic view, or a bird’s song, or ocean waves—what hunger is being fed in us? Or a line of poetry that touches our heart, a piece of music played in a way that reaches our soul? There are many hungers beyond those of our physical bodies. Jesus tells us that God’s word, in some way, feeds all those hungers.
The Tempter offered Jesus safety. Challenging established realms of power is never a safe thing to do. It requires sacrifice. The Tempter was mocking that sacrifice and stripping it of its power by reminding Jesus there was no “real” risk for him – his sacrifice would be fake, so why bother? Jesus told him to take his phony equivalences and, basically, “stuff it.” He knew his safety or heart and mind rested in God’s hands – nothing more was needed.
And finally, while there appear to be many in our world who are more than willing to worship wealth and fame and power, Jesus was entirely clear that he would worship only the one who was worthy of that worship – and he was not willing to trade that off for momentary glory.
Have we ever thought of this particular story as more than just a “Jesus story”? Maybe as something to applies to us every day? When the Tempter, in the form or the world around us, throws us roadblocks in the shape of doubts, or accusations, or fears, or lies, or adversity – all to get us to doubt ourselves and doubt God, how do we respond? Do we allow ourselves to be turned away from our goals, or do we—like Jesus in our reading today, just answer “Get out of here, Tempter!” I’m sticking with God!”
The reading I chose for today I chose for two reasons: First, It seems the perfect reading for this shift in focus, taking place as it does immediately after Jesus’ baptism and his recognition by God, and just before he begins publicly preaching and teaching. The second reason is just that I don’t think I’ve ever preached on this reading before!
In the translation I read, Jesus’ tormenter is named as the Tempter, which is pretty self-explanatory. In other translations this Tempter is called satan, which is a Hebrew word meaning accuser or adversary. The idea of the satan as a singular living being is rarely found in Hebrew scripture. When it appears it is usually in ways meaning the adversary, the obstructionist, the slanderer – more of a philosophical concept than a living being. When we get to Christian scriptures it becomes a little more solidified as a Being, but this, I believe, is largely a matter of translations.
In today’s story, this Tempter or Adversary, tries in three ways to convince Jesus to doubt himself and give up his vision. Having just come from a place where he heard his Father’s voice affirming him and setting him on his mission, the satan wants Jesus to lose his faith in both his God and himself.
Three times Jesus is offered satisfaction and power if he will just admit his father’s voice was nothing but an aberration, a fantasy, and give up this silly idea of saving the world...and three times he refuses to be baited. And it is these three refusals that interest me today.
The first offer was to have all his hungers fed, hungers which could be physical or spiritual. “You’re the Son of God, after all – why should you go hungry?” But Jesus’ response was to quote scripture – “The word of God is what we need to feed us.”
The second offer was to rely on his status as Son of God to keep him safe from all harm. “Surely angels will take care of you – nothing can hurt you.” His response was “Stop with the foolish trick questions! I know where my faith lies and I don’t need to test it. Don’t try to test me, and don’t try to test God!”
The third offer was power and riches; all he had to do was bow down to the Tempter and it could all be his. This was maybe the easiest one, because these aren’t really the Tempter’s to give – doubt and slander and fear – not to mention greed – are surely powerful in this world, but ultimately, the world belongs to God. Jesus’ response was again to quote scripture, “I will worship and obey God – and only God.”
When we are hungry I suspect most of us think of pancakes or hamburgers or fried chicken (or some such) as the answer to that physical hunger, but do we ever think about other things that feed us? When we find ourselves transfixed by a scenic view, or a bird’s song, or ocean waves—what hunger is being fed in us? Or a line of poetry that touches our heart, a piece of music played in a way that reaches our soul? There are many hungers beyond those of our physical bodies. Jesus tells us that God’s word, in some way, feeds all those hungers.
The Tempter offered Jesus safety. Challenging established realms of power is never a safe thing to do. It requires sacrifice. The Tempter was mocking that sacrifice and stripping it of its power by reminding Jesus there was no “real” risk for him – his sacrifice would be fake, so why bother? Jesus told him to take his phony equivalences and, basically, “stuff it.” He knew his safety or heart and mind rested in God’s hands – nothing more was needed.
And finally, while there appear to be many in our world who are more than willing to worship wealth and fame and power, Jesus was entirely clear that he would worship only the one who was worthy of that worship – and he was not willing to trade that off for momentary glory.
Have we ever thought of this particular story as more than just a “Jesus story”? Maybe as something to applies to us every day? When the Tempter, in the form or the world around us, throws us roadblocks in the shape of doubts, or accusations, or fears, or lies, or adversity – all to get us to doubt ourselves and doubt God, how do we respond? Do we allow ourselves to be turned away from our goals, or do we—like Jesus in our reading today, just answer “Get out of here, Tempter!” I’m sticking with God!”
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