Scripture: Luke 4:1-13; Philippians 2:6-8; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; Matthew 11:28-30 Series: Lent
A Lenten sermon on Jesus’ wilderness temptation (Luke 4:1-13) arguing that beyond particular, individual temptations lie two general ones—despair and pride—both of which are ultimately a loss of hope and the urge to be one’s own messiah. Using the image of ‘eating stones’ (wishing stones were bread, wishing for another life), the preacher notes Jesus was tempted from weakness, not strength, and that Jesus’ miracles complete and redeem rather than destroy. Against the false claim that God never gives more than we can handle, he insists God often does—but frees us from self-salvation through the cross (Bonhoeffer), calling us not to handle the world’s brokenness but to love within it. Comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1), we are freed to comfort others, since good news must be good news for everyone.
Illustrations: chewing-rocks, dodo-birds-eating-rocks, bacon-aversion, bonhoeffer-come-and-die
February 18, 2024
Luke 4:1-13
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 NRSV
Have you ever chewed rocks? There really is nothing like it. It happens if you don’t rinse your vegetables really well or you drop your food in a sandbox. You get a little sand in your mouth. Maybe a pebble. It hurts. It doesn’t feel good. It feels like your teeth are about to crack (and they may) Our bodies were not made to eat rocks. Dodo birds apparently ate rocks to help with digestion, and we see how far that got them. Given the option between rocks and food, most of us would choose food. It doesn’t matter the circumstance, if there is a way to get food, we go towards food. Especially if we are hungry. Especially if we are desperate. Especially when there do not seem to be any other options. Today we are going to think about temptation. Hunger and temptation go hand in hand. In the ancient world and in the modern one, hunger is used to describe desires of all kinds. You can be hungry for another job, a house, a person, as well as chocolate cake. We are tempted by our desires. Temptation is context based. Temptation is always tempting to you. That ‘to you’ part matters. It may seem redundant to say but it is totally necessary and often overlooked. We are all unique with unique desires. What is tempting for me is not tempting for you and vice versa. Bacon, for instance, is disgusting for me. I would rather eat rocks than bacon. This is not the case with most of society. There are stores that only sell Bacon. We could go on and on.
Temptations are also isolating. To share with someone that you are tempted by something is to admit weakness in a world that demands strength. I mean, you can flamboyantly talk about the temptation of chocolate cake, but something real is much more difficult. It is easy to slip into being judgmental or to fear others being judgmental. If I say that I am tempted by something, you may think I am judging you for liking something. So before we can really talk about temptations with anyone, we need solid relationships. Otherwise, temptations are private and lost to the ether. So the phenomenon of Eating Stones on one level is the fact that we as a society struggle to grapple with the challenge of temptation, the fact that Jesus was tempted. Do you have anyone in your life with whom you can talk about temptation? Do you have anyone whom you can say with a straight face, “l am tempted by x” and they will take you seriously? But eating stones gets to something greater as do Jesus’ temptations. Most of what is spoken of as temptation is what I call particular temptation. It is just that. It is particular. It is different for you as it is for me. This is what I meant The two general temptations I want to speak about today are despair and pride, they go hand in hand. By general, I mean that they can infect everyone, not that they always do.
Despair is literally a lack of hope. Despair is what the devil expects in the temptation narrative. Despair leads one to turn stones into bread, to call angels to rescue you, and to be king of the world. Pride also is an absence of hope, not because you can’t see it, but because you think you don’t need. The proud have no need for hope because they think they have what they need. or if they don’t have it, they possess the tools to acquire it. Despair and pride, a lack of hope and hope in yourself, each is self-destructive. Each destroys communities.
When we look back at the scripture for today, one of the temptations of the devil seems to prefigure the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus is told to turn a rock into stone. The difference is, With the miracle of the feeding the 5,000, the bread and fish don’t change, they multiply. The bread is not lost. When Jesus changes the water into wine, there is still water present. To change rocks into bread would be to destroy what was created. Jesus doesn’t destroy but complete, expand, redeem. The miracles of Jesus never change anyone: they make them whole.
When we are in the desert, and we see stones, it is so tempting to wish they were bread. It is so tempting to wish for another life, another place. It is so tempting to wish to be somewhere else, someone else. The horizon of despair is immediate. We can’t think of how to change our reality, so we want to get away from it, What does it matter? Why should I try to live my faith? Why should I try to stay here? Why should I get up on Sunday mornings when I can just as easily sleep in? Why don’t people visit me? Why do people visit me so much? Why does pastor ask me to do so many things? Why am I not asked to do these things? Why am I included? Why am I excluded? Yet these are all valid questions. I am not complaining about people. I am saying that we are tempted to despair. And all these questions could be concerned with pride. Why should I try to live my faith? (I am already doing great) Why should I try to stay here? (you all aren’t worth it me) Why should I get up on Sunday mornings? (my time is more valuable than yours). Despair and pride. They manifest for each of us in different ways but they are tempting. Despair makes us feel like we are in the deep end. What is interesting about the Gospel reading today is that Jesus doesn’t respond to temptation from a moment of strength but weakness. We all need to remember that. Most temptations do not come to us at our best but at our worst. They usually occur after a confluence of events usually outside of our control. Jesus is tempted after not eating for forty days.
Stuff happens. So much happens. So much is happening right now in your lives. It is unbearable. The Bible is often misquoted in saying that God never gives you more than you can handle. That is false. The Bible says that we are never tempted more than we can handle. There is an important distinction there. God often gives us more than we can handle. If you thought faith or being a Christian was about having an easy life, Jesus has some words for you about picking up your cross. I am going to preach about it next week, in fact.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer lays this out starkly:”When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
In Christ, we are freed from despair and pride because we are freed from trying to save ourselves. Thai is greatest temptation of the world: the desire to be your own messiah. But this desire comes up against the wall of life. There is a lot in life we can’t handle. As Jesus says, The rain falls on the just as well as the unjust. Some people are horrible and ugly, sinful, stealing, and they are never punished and they seem to prosper. Children are abused. Innocent, beautiful children are abused, and it is horrible. There is brokenness in this world. There is too much for us to handle. I cannot handle it. I am sorry to say it, but I don’t think you can either. God never tells us that we can handle anything. God tells us that we don’t have to.
Lay your burdens down, Jesus says, take up my yoke and follow me. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. To take up the yoke of Jesus is to put down our own.
There is too much to handle in this world. We are tempted to give up. There is too much to handle in this world, we are tempted to deny it. We are in the deep end as a church, as individuals, as the human race. It is all too much to handle. People die. Loved ones die or get sick who don’t deserve it. It is all too much to handle.
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
The full quote from Bonhoeffer is helpful
“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” In this broken world that we can’t handle, we are not asked to handle it, but to love. To love despite the brokenness. To not have all the answers but to still fight for justice. To not give up but our hope is not in our selves but in the one whom, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8 ESV https://www.bible.com/59/php.2.6-8.esv The path is narrow that leads to life. The path of temptation is broad. The path of complacency is broad and easy and the inertia of the modern world drops us into it but you are free. We are free. Temptation does not rule us, be it to despair or pride, We are free to not sell our soul. We are free to eat stones. Yet we are not alone nor can we stay alone. This deep end is not just for us. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Have you been comforted? Can you now comfort others? Have you been lost and now found? God offers freedom not just to you or me. If you have been comforted, you are not the only one. If you were blind, if you were lost, you are not the only one. Good news is either good news for everyone or it is not good news, In this broken world, we are not asked to handle it but to point to the one who has and who does and who will again. You are loved. The deep end is not a sign of God’s displeasure. God is with us here. We can be free.
Let us pray, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your presence with us amidst all the lonely valleys of this life. During this season of Lent, may we pursue the path of Christ together and stay close to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.