SERMON PREACHED BY
THE REVEREND NATHAN A. RUGH, CURATE
CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
ON THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT
25 FEBRUARY 2007

 

 

I think that there are two types of temptations, or at least a spectrum of what it means to be tempted. There is the kind temptation that we are most familiar with and this is the type of temptation to do something we know is wrong and harmful. It is the temptation to eat the extra pint of ice cream, to cheat on our taxes, to cheat on our significants, or to run off and become a circus clown.

 

Some of these temptations seem to be more or less serious in the grand scheme of things and more or less tragic if we succumb to their lure. The extra pint of ice cream hopefully not a big deal in the long run, where succumbing to the temptation to kill or steal or whatnot can begin a long process of irrevocable damage to one's own life and to the lives of others.

 

And as a rule, these types of temptations are a wrestling with one's own conscience about what one knows one should not do. We know better than not do it. And while there are all sorts of psychological and philosophical nuance that I probably should add to this I hope you will grant me the point.

 

Being tempted to do something that we know will have ultimate negative consequences is one sort of temptation.

 

I want to suggest that there is another type. There is the temptation to do the seemingly "right thing". It is the temptation that comes from doing something what seems really right and would be right under certain circumstances, but just is not under the present circumstances.

 

It is the temptation to come to someone's aid when that person needs to fall on their own. It is the temptation to give to someone in want when that giving undermines their sense of self. It is the temptation to give someone the benefit of the doubt one more time, when they need for your patience to have run out.

 

This second type of temptation is very insidious and it is harder to realize when we have succumbed to it. Ultimately, this type of temptation threatens moral principles too, but it does so usually grounded in other moral principles.

 

It is this second type of temptation that Jesus is facing in today's reading. If Jesus was to succumb seemingly good things would happen, but it would undermine his whole mission and identity.

 

Jesus has just come from being inaugurated in his baptism and he has been sent out into the wilderness to fast and to pray and to discover what it means to have been empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

In the wilderness he is met by the devil. In his first temptation he is met with a choice. The devil asks him to use his powers to feed himself, to take care of himself in his own time of need.

 

In the future, Jesus will go on to feed others, why not feed himself now? And we might ask, why not? After all, he is hungry out in the middle of nowhere and he has the means and the power.

 

To succumb to this temptation would seem to have hurt no one. No one would suffer by his act; no one would go without, even himself. But Jesus resists the temptation to use his power to take care of himself. He resists using the power he was given for his own gain and his own self-aggrandizement.

 

This resistance shows us the radical nature of his ministry and his call to be the one who is Lord of all by serving, by giving, by emptying himself. To be the Christ means not using his own power for his own gain, rather it means living into the radical self-giving of the kingdom of God.

 

What of the second temptation? We say Jesus is Lord, here and now, and not just in the age to come. With his offer the devil is merely offering a short cut. Sure it does involve some idolatry, which is certainly not good, and sure Jesus does not correct him to say that the kingdoms of this world are not really the devil's to give.

 

But look, it could have been short cut for Jesus to declare himself as universal monarch right then and there. Talk about a benevolent dictator. And from that place where peace could have reigned Jesus could have backed out of his deal and gone back to worshiping God.

 

But Jesus resists being just another of the world's rulers who maintains power through violence and coercion. Instead, he becomes the ruler of the world by hanging from a cross.

 

He does not succumb to the devil's way, and as such he shows us another way to be a community and a people. He shows us that the kingdom of God is not use coercive force to achieve its ends, but rather self-offering love.

 

And then there is the third temptation. It pits scriptural interpretation versus scriptural interpretation. The devil draws from a significant Biblical theme of God's promise to help and protect God's people. This promise of aid is the promise of a covenant. A plain reading of scripture suggests that God will never abandon God's messiah and will protect the Davidic line unflinchingly.

 

The devil draws on this interpretation to tempt Jesus. If it had worked, and maybe there is a big if there, but if it had worked it would have done a great deal to secure the success of Jesus' proclamation. It would have been told of far and wide and in flinging himself from the top of the temple and living he would have garnered instant support from the high priests and the temple authorities.

 

As a rebuttal to the devil, Jesus offers an obscure verse out of context. His fate is not glory and prestige, but rejection, shame, torture, and death. The path of messiah is not ultimately the path of astounding wonders, but rather it is the way of the cross. It is Jesus pouring out his life for the life of the world.

 

This is a messianic list of temptations, fit for an anointed one. They act as an early guide for us in the Gospel of Luke to show us what it means when we say Jesus is the Christ. He will not be working for his own glory. He will not be a ruler who relies on force and coercion to accomplish his ends. His way is not the way of spectacular deeds to puff himself up, But instead he will go to Jerusalem to give himself for the whole world.

 

If Jesus would have succumbed to one of these temptations, it would have been the end of his mission. And we should not underestimate how appealing those temptations must have been for Jesus. But he did not succumb.

 

Unfortunately, I believe it might be harder for us to discern our path in the face. Of the temptations that appeal to what is best in us. And yet, we have not been abandoned. We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

During this Lenten season, let us strive to be open to that Spirit. Let us listen for the Spirit's voice in all our deliberations, especially, when we are faced with those temptations that appeal to our best natures.

 

Amen