Tempted in Every Way
Matthew 4:1-11 NRSV & Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV
Rev. Rhonda Blevins, pastor
March 5th, 2023
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
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Here we are on the second Sunday of Lent. The season of reflection. The time of year when we take inventory of our lives and hit the “reset” button to try to align our lives more intentionally in accordance with who God is calling us to become. One tradition during the 40 days of Lent is to fast . . . to “give something up” for Lent, like giving up meat on Fridays during Lent.
I heard about a Protestant guy named Sam who moved into a large Catholic neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, Sam went outside to grill up a big juicy filet mignon. Meanwhile, all of Sam’s neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday of Lent.
On the last Friday of Lent, the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about Sam. He was tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent, and they couldn’t take it anymore. They decided to try and convert Sam to Catholicism. They went over and talked to him. Sam, to their great delight, decided to join his neighbors and become Catholic.
They took him to church, and the priest sprinkled some water over him, and said:
“You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, and now you are a Catholic.”
The men were so relieved, now their biggest Lenten temptation was resolved.
The next year’s Lenten season rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came, and, just at supper time, when the neighborhood was settling down to their cold tuna fish dinner, the smell of filet mignon cooking on a grill came wafting into their homes. The neighborhood men could not believe their noses! WHAT WAS GOING ON? They called each other up and decided to meet over in Sam’s yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent.
The group arrived just in time to see Sam standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying:
“You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish.”
Let’s talk about temptation, shall we?
Let’s start with defining “temptation.” Temptation is the inclination to sin. Ok, then . . . what is sin? Sin is anything that causes a separation between us and oneness with our Creator.
A lot of traditions talk about “original sin,” that moment when, at the serpent’s urging, the woman ate from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden (of course it has to be a woman, right?). But remember, before there was “original sin,” there was “original blessing.” God created the world, God looked at creation and said, “It is GOOD.”
So what happened to us humans? Did one woman mess it up for all of humanity?
With a very literal reading of scripture, yes. That’s how I used to understand sin and temptation. That’s what I was taught in my conservative, evangelical seminary. And, I will say, reading the Bible through the lens of literalism is absolutely a steppingstone in the journey of faith. I don’t know a single Christian person who hasn’t hung out in biblical literalism. Some Christians stay there throughout their lives. But for others, it becomes untenable. Questions arise. Thinking people will recognize that many stories in the Bible don’t line up with how we know the world works. This can cause a crisis of faith.
When this happens, there are three basic approaches with three different outcomes:
1. A person buries his or her head in the sand. Refusing to ask the questions, they double-down on biblical literalism and there they remain throughout life. This, to me, is a very narrow approach that leads to “arrested development.”
2. They reject the faith entirely. They “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and decide that if they can’t be biblical literalists, they can’t be Christians. This, too, is a very narrow approach, the opposite side of the coin, the flip side of the biblical literalism approach. This, too, leads to “arrested development” for a person.
3. There’s a way to read scriptures out beyond literalism that opens up a new world of understanding and discovery. This approach begins to understand that so much of what we may have interpreted as literal, we misinterpreted, or at least we missed the fuller, deeper meaning of the text understood only through metaphor.
On Thursday I taught two sessions of my class in which I’m exploring the psychology of personality and its intersections with our Christian faith, and we explored this story of the devil tempting Jesus in the desert. After class, I got a text from someone making the transition from a literal understanding of scripture to a metaphorical understanding. This person asked me a question, and it’s a beautiful question:
“I have always wondered about ‘the devil.’ Do you think what Christianity calls ‘the devil’ is our ego?”
Would you like to know how I responded?
In a nutshell, I said, “Yes!” “Ego” is absolutely the modern language for “devil.” I offered a little more by explaining that the word translated as “devil” (diábolos is the Greek transliteration) can be translated as “accuser” or “slanderer” or “tempter”—something or someone that works to sever a relationship.
Now think back to Adam and Eve in the Garden. What did they do after they ate from the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” They hid. They covered themselves with fig leaves . . . the PERFECT metaphor for ego, false self, and severed relationship with the Creator.
This is heady stuff. Are you following me?
· Adam & Eve in perfect unity with God.
· Then temptation.
· Then sin.
· Then false self or ego represented by metaphorical fig leaves.
· And so we have the allegory that explains the arrival of “ego” for our species.
Jesus, the fully human Son of God, wasn’t immune to “ego.” Ego shows up big time in the desert. “The devil” wasn’t some guy in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork. “The devil” was the egoic self.
And the ego is a master at rationalizing self-serving temptations. Listen to how the “devil”/ Jesus’ ego tried to deceive his higher self:
· The first temptation was the most subtle: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus hadn’t eaten for 40 days, and there was no one around. No one would ever have to know. Besides, if he could turn stones into bread, he could feed the world. Maybe he could even end hunger. People everywhere would follow him. “Tell these stones to become bread.”
· “No? Then throw yourself down off this temple.” Wow, now that would be spectacular. If he could do that, just think how amazed the people would be. People everywhere would follow him, and think of all the good he could do then! “Throw yourself down from this temple, Jesus, if you are the son of God.”
· “No? Then here from this mountaintop . . . all the kingdoms of this world can be yours if you will just worship me.” No one would have to know he had given his allegiance over to Satan. And all power, all control, all sovereignty would be his. He would want for nothing. People everywhere would follow him. “It’s all yours, just bow down and worship me.”
See how subtle the tempter can be? The ego is a sneaky devil!
But you and I aren’t tempted to turn stones into bread (I’m sure if we could many of us would)! We’re not tempted to jump from a tall building (but if we could perform miracles and become famous, that might be fun!) We’re not tempted to bow down to Satan (but if we could own the world, oh my!)
Temptations of ego, for us, are far more subtle. Here’s how theologian Maryetta Anschutz describes what temptations look like for us:
Temptation comes to us in moments when we look at others and feel insecure about not having enough. Temptation comes in judgments we make about strangers or friends who make choices we do not understand. Temptation rules us, making us able to look away from those in need and to live our lives unaffected by poverty, hunger, and disease. Temptation rages in moments when we allow our temper to define our lives or when addiction to wealth, power, influence over others, vanity, or an inordinate need for control defines who we are. Temptation wins when we engage in the justification of little lies, small sins: a racist joke, a questionable business practice for the greater good, a criticism of a spouse or partner when he or she is not around . . . these are the faceless moments of evil that, while mundane, lurk in the recesses of our lives and our souls.[1]
See how subtle, how insidious the ego devil is? So enough of all this ego devil talk! Let’s get to the good part, best articulated in Hebrews 4:15-16:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Here’s the thing . . . at the end of the day, it’s not about how many temptations that got the best of us. It’s not about how far we have fallen. It’s not about how much we “missed the mark.” It’s not about our mistakes or our failures or our inability to arrive at perfection. At the end of the day . . . this whole Christian journey . . . isn’t about our weakness. It’s about Christ’s strength. In our weakness, Christ is strong. So yes, we can “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
As we approach the table to receive the bread and the wine, the body and the blood of Jesus, I invite you to let go of the tempter’s lies—both the lies to which you’ve fallen victim and the lies still playing on repeat in your mind. The insidious lies that tell you “you’re too far gone” or you’ll “never be enough.” The lies that remind you of your mistakes and your shortcomings and your inadequacies. Lies that tempt you toward despair or self-defeating behaviors. Lies from the pit of hell.
Let go of those snares and taste the bread of grace. Drink the cup of mercy. There is enough of both to “help us in our time of need.”
[1] Maryetta Anschutz, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 2.