Luke 4:1-13
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where
for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those
days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him,
"If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of
bread." 4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, ‘One does not live by
bread alone.'" 5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant
all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, "To you I will
give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and
I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be
yours." 8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your
God, and serve only him.'" 9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and
placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the
Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will
command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' 11 and ‘On their hands they
will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.'" 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him
until an opportune time.
We were sitting in one of the
eastbound lanes of Interstate 20 somewhere between Dallas, Texas and
Shreveport, Louisiana; traffic was at a standstill. With the top down on my
roommate’s Jeep, the presence of the summer sun and the absence of clouds and sunscreen
became quickly obvious. Apparently, some miles up ahead a tractor-trailer had
overturned and was blocking all lanes heading east. We sat in that
interstate-turned-parking lot for what felt like hours before we decided to try
the four-wheel-drive and take to the shoulder for the next exit. When we pulled
into the nearest convenient store, Chris and I (yes, my college roommate’s name
was Chris) began contemplating what would have happened if we had taken a
different route. Would we be out of Louisiana by now? Would we make better time
had we gone a different way? Would there have been more to see? Would it have
been safer? Would we have saved gas taking a different route? In the end, would
it have mattered at all if we went a different way?
I’m sure you’ve been in a similar
situation at some point in your own life. Maybe you were on your way to work,
decided to take the so-called “shortcut,” and you got stuck behind that one guy
with his blinker on, going fifteen miles an hour under the speed limit; you
couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if you went a different way.
Or maybe you’ve been sitting behind your desk at work, the papers have piled
up, the phone is flashing at you because you’ve got at least a dozen voicemail
messages, your head is pounding, and it’s only nine o’clock! With your head in
your hands, you can’t help but wonder where you might be if you had just majored
in nursing like your mother suggested—if you had taken a different way. Or
maybe you’ve been struggling with the doctor’s recent diagnosis and all you can
do is wonder how things might be different if you hadn’t spent your twenties
and thirties with a pack-a-day habit, or if you had just laid off the salt,
butter, or bacon; you can’t help but wonder how things might be different if
you had taken another way.
It’s natural for us to wonder how things
might be if we had taken a different course. “What if…?” may be one of the most
asked questions in the history of humanity, especially when we reach the end of
a journey and aren’t necessarily satisfied with where we end up.
This morning, we are setting out on a journey of sorts, one many of us
have taken for years. It is a journey that many have taken for generations. It
is journey of reflection, a journey of contemplation, a journey that brings us
alongside the savior on his way to the cross and the subsequently vacant tomb
three days later. It is a journey we have come to call Lent. Lent is a
forty-day-long journey (not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter. It’s a
journey that shows us the way to the cross, the way to salvation, and it is a
journey we begin today in the wilderness with Jesus and his accuser “the
devil.”[1]
Now, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard this story before, and if you
haven’t, you’ve heard it here today. Jesus is tempted by the devil in the
wilderness. Jesus (with a stomach that is growling loudly no doubt, since he
had been forty days without food) is tempted to turn stones into bread: he refuses
and instead offers a response from Scripture (specifically Deuteronomy 8:3): “It
is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.” Then he is shown the
kingdoms of the world and is promised that he can rule them all if he would
just offer the devil one seemingly small act of reverence, but once again,
Jesus refuses with another great proof text from Scripture (well, it’s sort of
summary of Deuteronomy 6:13)[2]:
"It
is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'” Finally,
perhaps in some strange last-ditch effort to tempt the Son of God, the devil
takes Jesus up to the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem and dares him to jump,
consequently proving his divinity when angels catch him in some kind of holy
trust fall. Yet again, Jesus turns down the offer to show up even the devil in verse 12 with another quote from
Scripture (quoting from Deuteronomy again, this time chapter six, verse sixteen)[3]: "It
is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Then Luke
tells us in toned-down language in verse
13: “When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an
opportune time.” That was it. Jesus began his ministry, his journey
towards the cross—our journey of Lent—by shaking off the temptations of the
devil. But I can’t help but wonder…what if he had gone a different way?
Think about it. What if this whole scene in the wilderness had gone a
different way? Imagine it: Jesus, the Son of God, after having just come out of
the baptismal waters of the Jordan, after having just heard a voice from heaven
say to him (in chapter three, verse 22): “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am
well pleased,” is tempted—even taunted!—by the devil: "If
you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."
Jesus is famished, starving. He’s been assured by the voice from heaven that he
is indeed the Son of God. Here he has the opportunity to prove it by turning a
stone into bread, simultaneously satisfying his hunger. Not only that, but
think about: if Jesus could turn one stone into a loaf of bread, what could
stop him from turning every stone into a loaf of bread?! Every poor and hungry
mouth in the Ancient Near East could have been fed! The land was littered with
stones, so Jesus could set up shop and turn a mountain into a bakery! There’d
be no need for soup kitchens, no need for food stamps, no need for children to
go to bed hungry at night! Not only would Jesus prove to this tempter his
divine sonship, he would quiet the growling of his own stomach and bring an end
to world hunger!
But he doesn’t
do it: “One does not live by bread alone.”
But what about this second temptation; what if Jesus had gone a different
way there? With his stomach still growling with hunger, the devil prods him a
second time after showing him the kingdoms of the earth: "To you I will give their
glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it
to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."
Imagine if Jesus had played along with the devil’s little game, if he had
called the devil’s misguided bluff. Jesus, the Son of God, would have been
given the authority over all the kingdoms of the world—authority over the
hearts and minds of kings and emperors. He could have driven out the Roman
oppressors from Judea! He could have instituted a global, God-centered
government. Never mind monuments to the Ten Commandments in courthouses, oh no!
The Law would be carried out to its fullest! There would be systems of care for
the poor, the orphans, and the widows. The year of Jubilee would be recognized
around the world. People would have to love their neighbors because it would be
the universal law. There’d be no war, because every nation would be under the
authority of the Prince of Peace!
But Jesus doesn’t do it: “Worship the Lord your God, and
serve only him.”
Well, what about that third temptation? The devil dares Jesus to jump
from the pinnacle of the Temple, quoting his own bit of Scripture from Psalm 91[4]:"If
you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He
will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and ‘On their hands
they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
What if Jesus had jumped? He would have proved to the devil that he was no
chump! He was the Son of God, and if he had jumped angels would have filled the
skies, gravity would have been switched off, or Jesus may have even given the
devil a glimpse of his ascension right there on the spot! He would have proved
to the devil that he was indeed the Son of God and not one to be trifled with
by the likes of some accuser. Jesus would have shown the devil that God was
indeed on Jesus’ side and the devil didn’t stand a chance.
But again,
Jesus doesn’t do it: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
What if he had taken a
different way? What if Jesus had shown the devil that he was indeed the Son of
God there in the wilderness? Would it have been so bad to turn stones into
bread, to feed so many that were hungry? Over the last two millennia one can’t
help but wonder where the world would be if Jesus had taken a different way in
the wilderness. Would it have been all that terrible if Jesus had taken the
authority over all the nations of the earth, creating a unified system of
divine government, a world-wide theocracy? What would have been so awful about
Jesus showing up the devil by swan diving off the Temple into the angelic
safety net waiting below? After all, if it had been me, there in the
wilderness, with a tired mind and empty stomach, I would have put him in his
place. I would have shown the devil once and for all that I am who I said I am.
I would have not only turned that stone into bread, I would have turned into
the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich! I would have taken the authority he
wrongly assumed he held in the first place, and showed him how to organize the
empires of the world to live in harmony and community. I would have jumped off
the top of the Temple, laughing and summersaulting all the way, just to prove
how confident I was in God’s power to rescue me. I would have taken a different
way.
But thanks be
to God it wasn’t me in the wilderness.
As we set out on this journey we call Lent, we begin in the wilderness
with Jesus for a very good reason. You see, the wilderness, Jesus’ temptations,
teach us a very important lesson about the journey: We may wonder what it might
be like if we took another way, but we can rest in the reality that the Lord’s
way is far greater than any way we may ever chose to take on our own. We have
to learn that lesson on this journey, for the way isn’t always easy. It leads
through temptations. It runs along the paths of pain, and rivers of rejection.
This journey travels the way of heartbreak, despair, and even doubt. It is a
journey that leads through the pain of cold, iron nail and the splinters of a
rough, wooden cross. It is a journey that will often make us stop and wonder,
“What if I took another way?” But the temptations, the pain, the despair, they
are not the end of this journey, for this journey (that begins in the
wilderness) leads through the cross, on to the endless joy, hope, and love of
Easter Sunday’s empty tomb!
This journey leads to the full truth that authority to rule empires
already rests with the one who was crucified by Roman officials at the urging
of religious leaders. This journey leads to the reality that God doesn’t have
to prove God’s presence to anyone, yet he has shown his ever-present love to us
in the flesh and blood of his Son. This journey leads us through the hunger
pains of life to show us that we can only be satisfied by the Bread of Heaven,
and without him all else is just breadcrumbs.
Won’t you join Jesus on this journey? It won’t be easy. It won’t always
seem like the way you’d take, but in the end, it is the only way that leads to
all God has for you. Won’t you join the journey as we set out from the
wilderness today?
Let us pray…
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