Sermons for the Month
No Opportune Time To Test Jesus
DATE: February 29th, 2004
SERVICE: First Sunday In Lent
TEXT: Luke 4:1-13“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
I've always been captivated by the closing words of today's Gospel lesson. "When the devil had finished every test, he departed from Jesus until an opportune time."
An opportune time is a moment that is favorable for a particular action, and it seems to me that tempting someone who has been in the desert alone and without food for 40 days is indeed an opportune time. No doubt the Devil thought that to be true as well.
The scripture is clear. After his baptism Jesus goes into the wilderness at the Spirit's bidding. We are not told why it was God's will that he go, but for 40 days he fasted, eating nothing. Then when he was famished, when he was weak, at what seemed to be an opportune time, temptation came.
This year I find myself looking at this text from a new perspective, having just spent some time in the desert. During the long-weekend off that I just enjoyed I went to visit my cousin Gerry and his wife Linda in Phoenix, Arizona. On Friday we decided to go for a hike in the desert.
It was a perfect day for such activity, 60 degrees and overcast - which is unusual for Arizona. The guidebook said that this particular three and one-half mile hike would take three hours. We thought it was a misprint; we were wrong. Even without the sun and heat there were challenges as we climbed up dusty hills and into rocky canyons. By the time we were half-way through the hike I had twice drawn blood.
The first time my right foot slid on tiny rocks causing me to come down hard on my right wrist and left knee. My cousin, a MD, said he had vision of broken wrists and torn ligaments as he helplessly watched me hit the ground. But, being of sturdy stock, I continued hiking only to put my palm down hard on a jagged rock, leaving some skin behind. Still, what's a little skin?
We trudged on, stopping for water and snacks every now and then, until 2 hours and 45 minutes later the parking lot was in sight. We had one more uphill climb; I longed to be sitting in the car. It was about then that my foot caught on a rock, spinning me backward. The only thing that prevented me from falling into a cactus or off the path was that I was able to catch hold of another rock and steady myself.
Let me tell you something, and I'm only kidding around a bit, that would have been an opportune time for the Devil to tempt me with food or the ability to fly. I was worn down and worn out, and I had the benefit of cool temperatures, no sun, water, food and encouragement.
So, I think about Jesus in the desert of Palestine, the sun beating down on him, no food, no supportive companions and the devil shows up to tempt him. It certainly was an opportune time to do so, as far as I can tell.
First Jesus is tempted to use his position as the Son of God to meet the most basic of needs. Surely God does not expect him to be deprived of food! There are lots of stones lying around, why not transform one of them into a loaf of bread? What can be the harm of one loaf of bread? This is a subtle temptation, but Jesus stands firm and does not veer from the path God set before him by taking matters into his own hands.
So, the devil moves on to more dramatic temptations, the second of which is to worship something other than God. After all, with all the glory and authority of the kingdoms of the world, just think of the good Jesus could do. Once again Jesus will not detour from God's will; he is not exempt from the most basic demand of God that God alone be worshipped.
So, we come to the third temptation, which is to test God's love for him. You'll note that Jesus used scripture to counter the first two temptations, so the devil now couches his words in Biblical language. God will protect the faithful, so why not see what it's like to fly? This is tricky - the devil tempts Jesus to be unfaithful to God by putting God to the test. Jesus is not easily taken in; he does not allow the power of evil to set the agenda for his life.
As it turns out, this was not an opportune time for temptation. If anything, Jesus has come to trust God more. Did you note that the passage begins with the comment that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit as he goes into the wilderness? And, the verse that follows our reading indicates that the desert experience only increased his spiritual power. It says, "Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding countryside."
The most important thing about this account is that it reminds us who Jesus is; that the power of God overcomes the power of evil. It gives us glimpse of how the story of Jesus will end, reminding us that although he will face suffering greater than his 40 days in the wilderness, he will not turn away from God's will for him. And, although it will seem that the devil has found an opportune time to test him as he hangs on the cross, ultimately The power of sin will be defeated.
Do we ever need to remember that as we face the opportune times of temptation in our lives! Did you notice that it usually happens when we are weak or distracted? We haven't gotten enough sleep, we're not eating right, there's a lot of stress in our lives, perhaps we are facing an illness or an injury or our emotional needs are not being met. Maybe we're bored, we're lonely and we are overwhelmed. It's as if we're in the wilderness - tired, weak and unfocused - and BAM, the opportune time arrives.
So, we decide to trust someone or something more than God. We turn away from our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. We make unhealthy decisions. We isolate ourselves from people who can help us. We abuse substances. We worry a lot. We get into unhealthy relationships. We pretend to have all the answers and to be in control. Before you know it, the opportune time for temptation becomes the norm rather than an occasional challenge.
We forget that what was true for Jesus is true for us. We are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, and the guiding principle of our lives is that God wins.
Oh, we still have the ability to make choices, that's what free-will is all about. Even Jesus - in his humanness - could have chosen a different way than God's way. As one writer put it, had he done so the devil would have been in the driver's seat, and Jesus would have been along for the ride. Scripture makes it clear, however, that Jesus draws on two things to survive temptation. The first is the Holy Spirit and the second is scripture.
These same "tools" are available to us. We also can draw strength from the Spirit of God within us, a gift of our baptism. And, scripture is readily available in book form, tapes, CD's and software, all offered in translations we all can understand. The fact is that too many of us are Biblically illiterate even though Biblical knowledge helps us face temptation and crisis.
I will never forget a woman I met the retirement community where I last did ministry. She knew every inch of the Bible, and had memorized much of it. If I could not find a passage I'd simply give her a call, comment on the gist of what I wanted to locate, and she would tell me where to look. She never let me down. Is it any wonder then, that she was one of the most humble and serene people I have ever met? This was in spite of the fact that she faced major family problems - an addicted daughter and a grandson in prison - and she was going blind. If there was an opportune time for her to be tempted, she filled it up with God's word and asked the Holy Spirit for strength. And, I bet if you asked her about it, she would quietly point out that she was only imitating her Lord.
So it is that in spite of the fact that the devil departed from Jesus until an opportune time, such a time was never found. Because of that, when the power of evil is looking around for opportune times, it is possible - by the power of the Holy Spirit - for that to be an unsuccessful quest in our lives as well - for which we say, "Thank-you Lord".
AMEN