“Lead Us Not Into Temptation” March 9m 2025
“Lead Us Not Into Temptation” (1(
For all of those here today who own a cell phone or have a bank account or do any sort of business online, then you are probably familiar with some of the new and creative methods these companies have come up with to verify your identity. My favorite has to be the “secret question” method. You know what I mean-when you first sign up the institution will supply you with a choice of questions asking that you answer one of those. Your answer will then be recorded secretly for all time so that they can ask it of you at a later date trusting that you alone know the answer. They are memorable questions; questions like, “What was your first car? Your mother’s maiden name? the name of your first pet?- questions to which you will undoubtedly know the answer. My favorite question has to be, “What is your pet peeve?” The problem is that I don’t remember what it was that I might have answered when I was asked. “What is your pet peeve?” I’m guessing that I might have more than one.
Anyway, we can have a lot of fun with this one. There is an assurance of confidentiality which can tempt us to wander over to the dark side if we’re not careful. So as I was thinking about the crazy story of Jesus tempted in the wilderness, it dawned on me that the perfect answer to
“what is your pet peeve?” would be “ My pet peeve are those rare times that our God leads us into temptation. As Luke tells us in the very first verse of chapter 4: “ Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan River, being urged by the Spirit out into the barren wastelands of Judea, where Satan tempted him for forty days. He ate nothing all that time and was very hungry.” Now, I’ll grant that this was a unique situation,
but I can’t help but think that this is a classic example of being led into (2) temptation, don’t you think? My only problem with this line of thinking, and also my new pet peeve, is that this puzzles me a bit. It puzzles me because I have never needed any help or direction to find temptation. In fact, I’m very capable of stumbling onto the temptations of this world all by myself, thank you very much. So really, It’s a bit insulting to think that our loving God, the God of mercy and grace, is the force that has been behind this temptation business all along. No, I’m not buying that. If I have learned anything about the nature of our God is that God doesn’t do things to us, he does things for us.
So what is the point here? We are encouraged to read the story of the temptation of Christ in the wilderness every year at this time on the 1st Sunday of Lent. Why is that? How is this rather unusual story going to bolster us to find a better understanding of this particular season: to help us experience a meaningful Lent? So let’s have a look, shall we?
First of all, Let’s be clear that Jesus was not snookered into entering the wilderness where he would be tempted by none other than Satan himself. He knew full well what he was getting himself into. He knew it was a set up, But he went anyway. What is surprising is how he dealt with it. Now if I could rewrite this story then I would tell of how Jesus, full of righteous anger, grabbed a hold of this creature that we consider to be the embodiment of evil, and threw him from the top of the temple to smash him on the ground. I mean, that would be far more dramatic.
But Jesus kept his cool, and for each individual temptation that was offered to him, he quoted scripture explaining why he wouldn’t do this thing that Satan wanted him to do, even though it was very tempting.
If you’ve been following the news lately, then you’ve probably heard 3)
about the young soldiers from Lewis McCord army/ air force base in Tacoma that were caught giving military secrets to the Chinese government. In all actuality, however, they weren’t giving military secrets to the Chinese. They weren’t giving anything away . I mean, normally these men wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing; it’s just wrong and goes against all of their training and sense of devotion to the nation that they represent. But when they were offered large sums of money for this information, that is where the temptation came into play, and now they are facing a future that can never be made right by a few thousand dollars. As Jesus said, “, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘Other things in life are much more important than bread!” It looks to me like the hippies had it right when they referred to money as “bread.”
So, what is the greater point to the story of the temptation of Christ? Is it That we must suffer? I don’t think so. Or could it be that God will indeed lead us astray; that we have to be on our toes because in addition to all the temptations the world has to offer, we have this divine entity steering us into trouble every chance he can get? Yeah, right.
A few years ago, a song came out that it seemed like every singer and quartet and choir in the whole world was singing. The song is titled simply “Hallelujah” and it was written by a singer/ songwriter named Leonard Cohen not long before his death. It is a haunting and beautiful piece that has plenty of biblical references as did many of Mr. Cohen’s works. But the temptation of Christ story didn’t prompt me to think about Mr. Cohen’s music. Instead, it caused me to think back on an interview with Mr. Cohen that I read somewhere- probably Rolling Stone magazine some time ago.
It was just an ordinary interview like so many others except for one (4)
thing: I was totally flabbergasted once I started to read this interview, when I came to realize that Mr. Cohen was answering all of the questions with direct quotes from the Torah, which is basically the first five books of the Bible. It was fascinating and as I read through it a second time, I had a newfound respect for this brilliant man. I mean, imagine being able to do such a thing. Imagine being so well versed in scripture that you are always able to recall the right message at the right time, knowing full well there is no occasion or situation or dilemma that the word of God does not address.
Well, there are those who might disagree with me, I’m sure, but this seems to be the main message we might obtain from this story of Christ in the wilderness: our knowledge and our understanding of scripture is important. We pray for wisdom and we pray for guidance, but far too many of us go about it uninformed. We may know some of the good stories, stories like Jesus walking on water or feeding thousands of people from nothing. Stories about the apostles or Moses or Elijah. We even pick up on a few of the parables of Christ, but is that it? Is that enough? Well, it seems to me that when the extent of our knowledge of scripture comes from the coloring books we used in Sunday school, then- no; that’s not enough. We need to wrestle with scripture. We need to argue, to disagree, and if we find ourselves baffled, we need to pick it up and dive back in . In our reading today from Paul’s letter to the Romans, he reminds us: “11 For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed. 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him
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for them. 13 Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
So, if you find yourself thinking about the temptation of Christ, try not to dwell on the hardships that he endured for those 40 days. This scripture is, In some ways, a wonderful description and comparison of the humanity of Christ and the divinity of Christ. Jesus, in his humanity, was made to suffer. Yet, the divine of an eternal God rose above this suffering
We have to admit that Jesus was offered some awfully sweet deals that day and if his humanity had come to the forefront, there’s no telling what he might have done, especially in his condition. But instead, for every enticement that Satan threw at him, Jesus didn’t argue; he didn’t bargain or negotiate. No, he quoted scripture and by doing this, Jesus Christ the Messiah made it clear what it was that guided his every move: the word of God. This perhaps might be the message that we can take away from the temptation story. And as we begin the season of Lent, the season of penance and renewal, maybe we might step up our game a little . After all, the scriptures have been around much longer than we have and they will surely be around long after we are gone.
So I’d like to tempt you today by asking that you choose a book of the Bible to be your companion throughout this Lenten season, be it one of the gospels or the Psalms or if you are brave, one of the prophets. Leave it laying around to pick up at your leisure. I’ve always thought of Proverbs as being great bathroom material. Let’s give it a whirl And as the Apostle Paul tells us, “you won’t be disappointed.” Welcome to the holy season of Lent. Amen & Shalom
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