Lent 1

Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was an expert at sleight of hand, a skeptic when it came to the spiritualists and other psychic phonies of his day, but he was best known for his ability to escape from what seemed to be impossible situations. Straitjackets, chains, ropes, jail cells, strange devices such as a milk pail filled with water — he managed to escape from one situation after another in full view of his audience.

What did him in, however, was the blow he never saw coming. While reclining on a couch backstage after a performance he was asked by a couple of college students if he could withstand a punch to the stomach. When he answered that he could, one of the stu­dents surprised him by actually punching him in the gut several times. These blows caught him off guard and seem to have ruptured an already aggravated appendix. Houdini died a week later.

The blow you never see coming is the one that can be the most dangerous. The temptation of Jesus might have been the blow he never saw coming.

In a way, it doesn’t seem fair. Jesus had shown he could be obedient even when it didn’t suit his wishes. He seems to have been surprised, for instance, when at the age of twelve his folks had been so worried about the fact he’d stayed behind to discuss the scriptures with the priests in the temple rather than follow them home after Passover. But follow them home he did.

The obedience of Jesus is also seen in his baptism. The hu­mility he shows in descending into the water is rewarded with a pronouncement from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).

He answered the call of the heavenly Father. He made the right choice.

When we make the right choices, do the right things for the right reasons, most of us feel that the world owes us a reward, or at least a little slack.

But in response to his obedience, Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days, and after this he was tempted. Couldn’t the temptation come at a time when he was stron­ger? Shouldn’t Jesus get a break?

The fact is that there is never a perfect time for us to face the temptations of this world. We’re never ready. In this time of Lent make no mistake: We will be tested — and it will never be the right time. We will be tempted to do things according to the way of the world, for a good cause, and it will be easy to ignore the means so we can achieve what we imagine are the goals of God.

The First Sunday in Lent reminds us of how vulnerable we can become to sin, how tempting it can be to cut corners and choose the easy road.

In some ways the first temptation seems harmless. Jesus is fam­ished. Why not turn a few stones into bread? It’s not like he’s go­ing to do it every day. After all, some may wonder, didn’t he mul­tiply the loaves and fishes? What was so wrong about turning one lousy stone into a loaf of bread? 

The difference is that in turning loaves and fishes to more loaves and fishes Jesus was quickening what was a natural process in order to feed others. The future kingdom of God, in which all will be filled, was demonstrated through this miracle.

Moreover, Jesus performed this miracle for others, because he had compassion on the people. The word compassion is reminis­cent of the words used for how Moses felt about the children of Israel in the desert. In quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3 Jesus delib­erately called to mind the words of Moses to the people in the wilderness:

The Lord…humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna…in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. — Deuteronomy 8:2-3

Knowing your Bible is very important. It means that people can’t misquote it to you. Some decades ago, a group of well-meaning pop singers came together to warble “We Are the World,” to raise money for children. One of the lines al­ways irked me — “As God has shown us by turning stones to bread.” Uh, that’s not what Jesus did. Someone had failed to check a Bible!

In contrast to the natural process of loaves and fishes beget­ting more of the same, turning a stone into bread is a dog and pony show. It’s a magic trick. And it would have meant Jesus had performed magic, if you will, to benefit himself and not to put others first.

The second temptation was the offer of a shortcut. It would be through the cross that Jesus came to his throne — so Satan shows him an easier way. He would be recognized as the ruler of all the kingdoms — if he will bow to the lord of darkness.

This is the temptation for all dictators. Think of the abuses of the communist governments during the late and unlamented Cold War. They proclaimed a vision of a worker’s paradise, where ev­eryone would receive according to their need, and everyone would work according to their ability.

But in order to establish such a glorious worldly vision it proved necessary to institute the gulags, to murder millions in prison camps, to rule by terror and deceit. And for all that, European communism almost melted away all at once at the end of the 1980s. They sold their souls to an imagined future and the devil’s vision of the kingdoms of the world turned out to be a mirage.

Nor is this just ancient history — what about the current state of fear that drives some to think that it is okay to torture and destroy civil rights in order to preserve civil rights? What claim do we have to being called a people of faith if we act faithlessly?

In response to Satan, Jesus echoes another passage from Deuteronomy:

The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear. — Deuteronomy 6:13

We serve only God. That means we abide by God’s command­ments. We dare not worship Satan.

In the final temptation, Satan seems to acknowledge the spe­cial protection that the Father has given to the Son. Jesus has only to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple, because, as scripture points out, God will send angels to bear him up and not allow him to be harmed.

Satan quotes Psalm 91:11: “He will command his angels concerning you to protect you.”

It seems obvious but it bears saying and then repeating — just because someone quotes scripture doesn’t mean they’re telling the truth. The false prophets of this world, the ones who try to tempt us with the easy way, can quote scripture as well as anyone.

When you hear someone quoting a verse and the result doesn’t sound consistent with what you know of God and scripture, re­member that the larger context of a passage is always important, and that we interpret what we read through the mind of Christ.

Jesus responds with a scripture passage — “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Deuteronomy 6:16). Note that the devil did not depart permanently, only “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).

When it comes to temptation, our own temptation, the trouble is that we see most clearly the things that tempt others — we deny the things that tempt us. Other peoples’ sins are more attractive as a target. But can we name and claim what tempts us?

Perhaps the temptations that attract Jesus, or others, have no lure for us. Well and good. But that should not make us feel smug. For each of us there is something, perhaps different than others we know, but something, that calls to us. How are we to resist?

First, recognize that we are most vulnerable when, like Jesus, we are stretched to our limits. Exhausted, hungry, weak, beaten down by deadlines, stressed out by the demands that pull us in every direction — if we cannot keep our lives in order, if we do not put Christ at the center of our lives, if we neglect the rest that God has given us in the sabbath, we’re asking for trouble. Even the King of kings and Lord of lords had to face temptation when he was famished and exhausted. Why should we think we’ll get a free pass?

Second, if you know what you are tempted by, flee those situ­ations. If you’re a diabetic, you can’t be tempted by the cheesecake in your freezer if there is no cheesecake in your freezer. If you have a yen for the Lotto, then don’t go to stores that sell lottery tickets, or only go in the company of a good friend who will give you strength to get through the checkout line.

Have we been hit with Satan’s best shot? Do we know if we can resist? We should not go out and seek temptation, but it never hurts to rehearse our response. Think it through in advance. Make a plan.

Harry Houdini, after he had been hit by the college student, insisted at the time that if he’d known the punch was coming, he would have strengthened his abdominal muscles and received the blow without damage. We know a blow is coming. We know that only rarely are our temptations presented as obviously evil. More often we’re tempted to imagine we might do good if we take a moral shortcut.

But don’t kid yourself. If Jesus wasn’t exempt, none of us will ride free. But as we learn from the temptation of Jesus, it won’t last forever.  And if you stand upon the rock of your salva­tion, you have a much better chance of weathering the storm.