February 16, 2003
The First Temptation and the Last Temptation
Riley E. Jensen

We are quickly approaching that time of year when we resurrect a word that is seldom part of our vocabulary the rest of the year -- the big T -- temptation.  With the spate of reality TV what we used to think of in terms of a private struggle has developed into public voyeurism.  Is nothing sacred anymore, even temptation?

Of course, I want to argue that temptation is alive-and-well for each of us, and how we respond will go a long way to determining how we live our lives and whether we find that kind of purpose and meaning in life for which we all seek.  Last summer I clipped out an article appearing on the front page of the June 26 issue of USA Today.  The headline read, “Many CEO’s bend the rules of golf; 82% admit to being less than honest on their scorecards.”

Being the golfer that I am, I was horrified that this game (based upon an honor code) is being undermined in such a wholesale way.  Is nothing sacred anymore?  Has our moral fiber deteriorated to such an extent that we continually give in in our battle with our best selves?  Are we purposely leaving out the “lead us not into temptation” part of the Lord’s Prayer and giving in without a struggle to the permissiveness of our society?

This story of the temptation of Jesus is the classic one for this time of year as we prepare for the Lenten season and identify with our Lord on the road to the Cross.  While this identification is illustrated in some traditions by giving up something for Lent, we have to know that when the Bible talks about temptation; it has nothing to do with giving up key lime pie and choc/olate fudge.

I.  The First Temptation Asks What Am I Going to Do With

     My Life?

This story of Jesus being tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness stands right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as it is told by Matthew and Luke.  It is filled with symbolism which the early Hebrews would not have missed for their two other great prophets -- Moses and Elijah both had 40-day and 40-night experiences.

These parallels bring out the fact that what is happening here is much stronger than what we normally associate with temptation, a kind of seduction into sin.  Rather the word literally means “to test”.  It’s better for us to think of this as Jesus’ final test before beginning his ministry.  And what a test it was.  This was not one of those multiple-choice jobs.  This was a test of the spirit.

We know that if metal is to be used in an engineering project, it is tested at stresses and strains far beyond those it is likely to have to bear.  Perhaps you saw the television piece a few months back on the training of Navy seals in preparation for war deployment.  The washout rate was unusually high, and of course designed to be so.  One of their final exercises was to send them into a dive with 100 pounds of equipment.  Then having detached the life support and spreading the equipment on sea bottom, they had to reassemble it all and surface blindfolded.

While very few passed that final test, it was said that those who did carried with them a confidence that from that time forward they could survive anything.  That’s what we have going on here.  This is strictly pass/fail.  When Jesus walked out of the wilderness after having undergone this excruciating test with Satan, he was going to have answered the most basic question of all – what am I going to do with my life?

You see, fundamentally, temptation is not about the question, “Would you like to do something wrong?”  When Adam and Eve were in the garden, the voice of the tempter said, “Would you like to be as God?”  The voice did not say, “Would you like to live like the devil?”  Rather, “Would you like to be as God?”  And what’s wrong with that?  Isn’t that what we are about?

From our point of view these temptations listed in Matthew 4 are a bit bizarre, but there is nothing sinful about them.  Sure he had a chance to flip off a miracle by turning stones into bread, and to execute a pretty spectacular bungee jump from the top of the temple, and who hasn’t had dreams of great ambition.  You see, these weren’t the classic temptations of having the piece of paper in the pocket with the answers to the test, or the half pint hidden in the tool chest.

The question that Jesus had to answer for himself before walking out of the wilderness was, “What am I going to do with my life?”  What direction is it going to take?  Where am I going to find my meaning and purpose?

There are at least three things about this test that are worth noting because they apply to all of us when we enter those dark nights of the soul to struggle with the great questions of life and death.

First, it is a lonely time.  There is that soulful Lenten dirge that not only says it so well, but like all great music it takes you there – “Jesus walked this lonesome valley; he had to walk it by himself; oh nobody else could walk it for him; he had to walk it by himself.”  And then it reminds us that it is not just about Jesus for it goes on, “You must walk the lonesome valley, you have to walk it by yourself. Oh nobody else can walk it for you.  You have to walk it by yourself.”

I preached a sermon on loneliness once, and it must have been a good one because the people literally had to drag themselves out of the sanctuary that morning.  I took them to the slough of despondency and left them there -- mired in the gray place -- struggling to get out.  I won’t do that to you this morning except to state the obvious; there are some decisions only you can make, and answering the question “What will I do with my life is the most important.”

Secondly, temptation is personal.  That’s what this business of being tempted by the devil is all about.  This isn’t about some abstract philosophical quest.  This isn’t a time for us to debate whether there really is a devil with a couple of horns and a tail.  In Hebrew Satan simply means adversary or opponent.  One’s adversary is his or her Satan.  Then there were those who embellished the idea so that we could claim that “the devil made me do it”.

This story shows us that the devil didn’t and couldn’t make Jesus do anything, but rather it shows us how personal the struggle is.  Yet another word for Devil is the “Diabolical One” or “el Diablo” from a verb that means to confuse, destabilize, or upset, and it is the polite equivalent of dis-information and dirty tricks.

We know that the wilderness experiences of our lives upset us, destabilize us, and confuse us.  It does no good to try to distance ourselves through denial and intellectualizing.  This is an intensely personal battle we are fighting.  Even the Lord’s Prayer recognizes the continuous presence of an opponent when we are taught to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” or more correctly translated “the evil one”.

II.  The Last Temptation

The final thing that we can know about temptation or testing (as we learn it from this amazing story) is that it is redemptive.  There is a Bible verse I learned as a teenager from which I have received great comfort and strength over many years.  It is found in I Corinthians 10:13 and I learned it in the old King James Version: “There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man, but God is faithful and just who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able.”  With apologies for the lack of inclusive language I can testify to the abiding truth of those words.

I suppose there was a time when I thought life would get easier; that there would be a time when I could say I have passed the tests -- I have received the credentials, I have practiced the skills, I have accumulated experience, and now I can rest on my laurels and coast to the finish line.  You know, it just doesn’t happen like that, and if you haven’t lived long enough to know it, look at the life of Jesus.

For Jesus this account in Matthew, Chapter 4, is not the final test.  It is more like getting your driver’s permit.  After all he is only just wet behind the ears from his baptism, a time when the Spirit came upon him and his messianic role was confirmed.  It was for him as it is for many of us -- a high and holy moment when the presence of God is felt in power and we feel that we can do anything.  Then comes some initial test, different for each of us.  We have said we want to give our life to God.  Now are we ready to live for God.

Because Jesus passed this initial test with flying colors, one might think that it would be all down hill from there.  The Devil had been put in his place.  But, of course, for Jesus (as for us) the struggles continued to the end.  If this first set of temptations added up to the question, “What will I do with my life”; then we can look at the last temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane as being, “What have I done with my life?”

Do you remember Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film, “The Last Temptation of Christ”?  It hit the religious community then much like the play “Corpus Christi” is offending sensibilities now.  Charges of blasphemy were leveled, protesters carried their signs, and ministers damned those who would see it with eternal consequences.

Unfortunately I was not able to see Corpus Christi, but I have read the play and I find that there are certain parallels not only of reaction but also of content.  Both try to introduce us to the true humanity of a Christ who identifies with our condition.  In “The Last Temptation” he is tempted by the love of a woman; in Corpus Christi, he is a homosexual male who experiences all of the persecution that entails in our society.

The irony in the controversy of both is that they try to take the humanity of Jesus seriously.  What temptations, what tests, what violations would a truly human Jesus face in our world.  The irony is found, of course, in the fact that our orthodox confession of faith affirms Jesus to be fully human as well as fully divine.

Scorsese, a devout Roman Catholic, indicates an intent that was not blasphemous but rather to help us to understand the dimensions of this One who agonized with fear and doubt in the same way we do.  At one point he defended the orthodoxy of his goal by saying, “I believe that Jesus is fully divine, but the teaching of my Catholic schools placed such an emphasis on the divine side that if Jesus walked into the room you would know he was God because he glowed in the dark.

In fact the last temptation in the Scorsese film is in parallel to the first temptations of Matthew 4.  As Jesus prepared for his ministry the question before him was, “What will I do with my life?” (even as the devil tried to tempt him with alternatives).  In the film as he reaches his final decision point we can identify with the agony of his decision as he is tempted to leave the Cross for the life of an ordinary man who marries and has a family.

You see, the last temptation is not unlike the first.  From birth-to-death, the continuing question of a faithful people in the midst of many competing alternatives trying to seduce us into triviality, is what will I do with my life, what am I doing with my life, and what have I done with my life.  Even if you feel that you have messed up your life, even if you feel that you have made the wrong choices, it is still not too late to offer your life to God saying, “not my will but thine be done”.