I recently heard an account of a young man who’d gone out shopping with his wife. They were
standing at a news kiosk when an attractive young woman walked by in a tight dress. The man’s
eyes followed her movements at length, with considerable interest. Without looking up from her
magazine, his wife asked blandly, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?”
Temptation is a universal feature of being human. We each have our own pet temptations, but
temptations we do have. And as the young wife’s words indicate, giving in even in a small way to
temptation can be problematic. Webster’s Dictionary defines the verb “tempt” as “to entice to do
wrong by promise of pleasure or gain.” Perhaps it’s because we so often lose our sparring matches
with temptation that we tend to give the whole thing a dismissive wink. It’s kind of a defense—if we
can’t defeat it we diminish its importance. We trivialize it with cute images of a devil on our left
shoulder and an angel on our right. But Jesus regarded the whole thing seriously enough that he
included the words “lead us not into temptation” in the only prayer he ever prescribed for all of his
followers.
Today’s account of the temptation of Christ from the Gospel of Mark is a pretty sparse one, but St.
Matthew develops it in more detail in his Gospel. In both accounts Jesus was tempted over a 40-day
period in the wilderness. As we enter into our 40 days of Lenten introspection, I think we would do
well to pay attention to some basic features of this narrative.
The first fact that it may help us to acknowledge is that Jesus was tempted by Satan in the first
place. We’re brought up hearing the firm and ancient Christian doctrine that Jesus is both fully God
and fully man. There’s a basic mistake we can fall into when we accept this complex and mysterious
reality. That mistake is to conclude, “Well, He’s God! It’s easy for him! I certainly don’t have that
advantage.” We forget half the formula—that he was human as well as divine. Jesus was wired like
we are. He was subject to the same pains, pleasures and possibilities as any one of us. But on top
of that, I can’t help from thinking that His temptations far surpassed any one of ours, because of His
power and His status as the Son of God.
I mean, can you imagine having that much power? In Matthew’s version of the temptation account
Satan says, “Hey, I know how hungry you must be. But you know what, you have the power to turn
the stones into bread. Why don’t you just do that and curtail this unnecessary suffering?” (I can
almost hear the hissing as he pronounces the S’s.) But when Satan said this, he knew full well that
Jesus could do that very thing. He could turn the rocks into rolls.
And speaking of rock and roll…I don’t know how many U2 fans there are here this morning. But a
few years ago they put out a song called “Vertigo,” which is all about the reality of temptation. The
lead singer, Bono, conjures up the image of Jesus being tempted on top of a high mountain. The
song goes, “I’m in a place called vertigo; it’s everything I wish I didn’t know.” And then one place in
the song Satan whispers seductively, “All of this, all of this can be yours. All of this, all of this can be
yours. Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt.” This is kind of a street version of Matthew’s
account in which he writes, “Again, the devil took Jesus 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.” And then Jesus says, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship
the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
(Just a little forewarning: if you’re not familiar w/ U2 and rush home and decide to look them up
online and listen to “Vertigo,” this isn’t gentle, easygoing music. It’s not Vivaldi—so, don’t say I didn’t
warn you!) But Bono had it exactly right: what Satan wants is for us to give in to his enticements.
So Jesus knew what it was like to be tempted. The Letter to the Hebrews says, “We do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” Now when the text says that he was
tempted in every way, I don’t think we need to conclude that he was assailed by every imaginable
temptation or combination of temptations, but rather that he experienced all categories of temptation
common to human beings. Rage. Lust. Greed. Doubt. And so forth. He was assailed by all of
these in one form or another, but never gave in to the point of committing a sin.
Is that distinction clear? Temptation does not equal sin. Temptation is the contemplation of sin, and
sin is the consummation of temptation. Temptation is inevitable. Sin is not. And there’s a reason
why it’s not. The reason that sin is not inevitable for us as believers is that Jesus, here and now, is
able to help those who are tempted. That passage from Hebrews has another important sentence.
Right after the writer says Jesus was without sin, he adds these words: “Let us then approach the
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need.”
Mercy and grace. Mercy and grace rescue us when we fall into sin, but they’re also the power of
God to help us not to fall into sin in the first place. It’s easy to underestimate the importance of this.
But the fact of the matter is that Jesus’ ability and disposition to help us when we’re tempted has to
do with the Incarnation itself. St. Athanasius once confronted those who didn’t believe that Jesus
really was human, by saying, “That which God did not become, he did not redeem.” In other words,
in order to redeem us, God became one of us in Jesus.
Once again, the writer to the Hebrews puts it this way: “Jesus had to be made like his brothers in
every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and
that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was
tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” I think it was Tracey Zanon who said that
she was once told that when temptation knocks, we shouldn’t answer the door. Instead we should
say, “Jesus, would you get that?”
So the final point to be made regarding temptation is that the Lord provides both power and mercy.
It’s His win-win response to temptation. Sometimes I’ve heard people remark that God is tempting
them. But the scriptures say that God does not tempt people. St. James writes in his letter: “No
one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and
he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it…”
So it’s never God who tempts us. But He does retain the ability and the inclination to interfere on
our behalf when our own desires or Satan and his minions try to tip us over the edge. Listen closely
to what Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says, “No temptation has seized you except what is
common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But
when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Paul first normalizes the phenomenon of temptation. He says it’s universal—common to all people.
But he also says that God won’t let us be tested or tempted beyond what we can bear. Instead, He’ll
provide an escape route. There’s something implicit here that’s important for us to heed. That is
that God won’t allow us to be overwhelmed, but we still have to put one foot in front of the other
when he gives us the escape route. He doesn’t simply wave his hands and teleport us away.
So how do we stand up under temptation? We recognize God’s power to help us, then call on Him
to do exactly that. Then, we look for the escape route away from the temptation, set our faces
forward and follow it to safety. God gives us either the power to stand firm or the means by which to
escape the temptation altogether. And the doubly good news is that not only does God empower us
and give us a way out, but He’s also there to love and forgive us when we fall. Power and mercy. In
fact, it’s this very security that helps inspire us not to fall. I don’t know about you, but I find that once
I receive and begin to understand the depth and breadth of God’s love and forgiveness, it motivates
me to obey more than anything else ever could.
For all of us Christians, the reality is that temptation is the battlefield of the human soul. But as we
stay in close touch with the God whose nature is mercy and grace, He equips us for the battle. So
may we indeed approach the throne of grace with boldness, knowing that he is an ever present help
in the time of need, and that forgiveness is ours for the asking, for his mercy endures forever.
Amen.
standing at a news kiosk when an attractive young woman walked by in a tight dress. The man’s
eyes followed her movements at length, with considerable interest. Without looking up from her
magazine, his wife asked blandly, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?”
Temptation is a universal feature of being human. We each have our own pet temptations, but
temptations we do have. And as the young wife’s words indicate, giving in even in a small way to
temptation can be problematic. Webster’s Dictionary defines the verb “tempt” as “to entice to do
wrong by promise of pleasure or gain.” Perhaps it’s because we so often lose our sparring matches
with temptation that we tend to give the whole thing a dismissive wink. It’s kind of a defense—if we
can’t defeat it we diminish its importance. We trivialize it with cute images of a devil on our left
shoulder and an angel on our right. But Jesus regarded the whole thing seriously enough that he
included the words “lead us not into temptation” in the only prayer he ever prescribed for all of his
followers.
Today’s account of the temptation of Christ from the Gospel of Mark is a pretty sparse one, but St.
Matthew develops it in more detail in his Gospel. In both accounts Jesus was tempted over a 40-day
period in the wilderness. As we enter into our 40 days of Lenten introspection, I think we would do
well to pay attention to some basic features of this narrative.
The first fact that it may help us to acknowledge is that Jesus was tempted by Satan in the first
place. We’re brought up hearing the firm and ancient Christian doctrine that Jesus is both fully God
and fully man. There’s a basic mistake we can fall into when we accept this complex and mysterious
reality. That mistake is to conclude, “Well, He’s God! It’s easy for him! I certainly don’t have that
advantage.” We forget half the formula—that he was human as well as divine. Jesus was wired like
we are. He was subject to the same pains, pleasures and possibilities as any one of us. But on top
of that, I can’t help from thinking that His temptations far surpassed any one of ours, because of His
power and His status as the Son of God.
I mean, can you imagine having that much power? In Matthew’s version of the temptation account
Satan says, “Hey, I know how hungry you must be. But you know what, you have the power to turn
the stones into bread. Why don’t you just do that and curtail this unnecessary suffering?” (I can
almost hear the hissing as he pronounces the S’s.) But when Satan said this, he knew full well that
Jesus could do that very thing. He could turn the rocks into rolls.
And speaking of rock and roll…I don’t know how many U2 fans there are here this morning. But a
few years ago they put out a song called “Vertigo,” which is all about the reality of temptation. The
lead singer, Bono, conjures up the image of Jesus being tempted on top of a high mountain. The
song goes, “I’m in a place called vertigo; it’s everything I wish I didn’t know.” And then one place in
the song Satan whispers seductively, “All of this, all of this can be yours. All of this, all of this can be
yours. Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt.” This is kind of a street version of Matthew’s
account in which he writes, “Again, the devil took Jesus 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.” And then Jesus says, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship
the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
(Just a little forewarning: if you’re not familiar w/ U2 and rush home and decide to look them up
online and listen to “Vertigo,” this isn’t gentle, easygoing music. It’s not Vivaldi—so, don’t say I didn’t
warn you!) But Bono had it exactly right: what Satan wants is for us to give in to his enticements.
So Jesus knew what it was like to be tempted. The Letter to the Hebrews says, “We do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” Now when the text says that he was
tempted in every way, I don’t think we need to conclude that he was assailed by every imaginable
temptation or combination of temptations, but rather that he experienced all categories of temptation
common to human beings. Rage. Lust. Greed. Doubt. And so forth. He was assailed by all of
these in one form or another, but never gave in to the point of committing a sin.
Is that distinction clear? Temptation does not equal sin. Temptation is the contemplation of sin, and
sin is the consummation of temptation. Temptation is inevitable. Sin is not. And there’s a reason
why it’s not. The reason that sin is not inevitable for us as believers is that Jesus, here and now, is
able to help those who are tempted. That passage from Hebrews has another important sentence.
Right after the writer says Jesus was without sin, he adds these words: “Let us then approach the
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need.”
Mercy and grace. Mercy and grace rescue us when we fall into sin, but they’re also the power of
God to help us not to fall into sin in the first place. It’s easy to underestimate the importance of this.
But the fact of the matter is that Jesus’ ability and disposition to help us when we’re tempted has to
do with the Incarnation itself. St. Athanasius once confronted those who didn’t believe that Jesus
really was human, by saying, “That which God did not become, he did not redeem.” In other words,
in order to redeem us, God became one of us in Jesus.
Once again, the writer to the Hebrews puts it this way: “Jesus had to be made like his brothers in
every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and
that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was
tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” I think it was Tracey Zanon who said that
she was once told that when temptation knocks, we shouldn’t answer the door. Instead we should
say, “Jesus, would you get that?”
So the final point to be made regarding temptation is that the Lord provides both power and mercy.
It’s His win-win response to temptation. Sometimes I’ve heard people remark that God is tempting
them. But the scriptures say that God does not tempt people. St. James writes in his letter: “No
one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and
he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it…”
So it’s never God who tempts us. But He does retain the ability and the inclination to interfere on
our behalf when our own desires or Satan and his minions try to tip us over the edge. Listen closely
to what Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says, “No temptation has seized you except what is
common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But
when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
Paul first normalizes the phenomenon of temptation. He says it’s universal—common to all people.
But he also says that God won’t let us be tested or tempted beyond what we can bear. Instead, He’ll
provide an escape route. There’s something implicit here that’s important for us to heed. That is
that God won’t allow us to be overwhelmed, but we still have to put one foot in front of the other
when he gives us the escape route. He doesn’t simply wave his hands and teleport us away.
So how do we stand up under temptation? We recognize God’s power to help us, then call on Him
to do exactly that. Then, we look for the escape route away from the temptation, set our faces
forward and follow it to safety. God gives us either the power to stand firm or the means by which to
escape the temptation altogether. And the doubly good news is that not only does God empower us
and give us a way out, but He’s also there to love and forgive us when we fall. Power and mercy. In
fact, it’s this very security that helps inspire us not to fall. I don’t know about you, but I find that once
I receive and begin to understand the depth and breadth of God’s love and forgiveness, it motivates
me to obey more than anything else ever could.
For all of us Christians, the reality is that temptation is the battlefield of the human soul. But as we
stay in close touch with the God whose nature is mercy and grace, He equips us for the battle. So
may we indeed approach the throne of grace with boldness, knowing that he is an ever present help
in the time of need, and that forgiveness is ours for the asking, for his mercy endures forever.
Amen.
Temptation
First Sunday in Lent
First Sunday in Lent
March 1, 2009
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton
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