Lead Us Not...
Luke 4:1-13
In college I majored in English, which meant that I took a lot of courses in English and American literature. One of my favorite English courses, however, wasn’t in literature but in linguistics. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It’s not about learning how to speak a foreign language or learning grammar in a familiar language but rather studying how language works as a means of communication. Areas of study might be how sounds become words, how words are structured, the organization of words into phrases and sentences, or how the meaning and spelling of words can change over time.
One of my favorite linguistic topics was neologisms, a fancy word to describe new words. The English language is quite flexible when it comes to forming new words. For example, if you’re in a foul mood because you haven’t eaten in a while, then you’re not hungry and angry, you’re hangry. Be careful about clicking on that so-called news article with the sensationalistic headline, it’s probably just clickbait. The proliferation of text messaging has given us words like emoji and LOL. Yes, the dictionary now recognizes “LOL” as both an exclamation and a verb. When I heard the news, I literally LOL’d.
One of the newest neologisms is the term nepo baby, as in nepotism, the practice among those with power and influence of favoring family members and friends, especially for jobs. A nepo baby is the offspring of a famous person who has become successful themselves not solely of their own merit but because of their family connection. They exploit their relationship.
The temptation to exploit a family relationship lies at the center of today’s passage from the Gospel of Luke. The devil tempts Jesus to exploit his relationship to the Father to serve his own ends. If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the temple. Use your relationship with the Father to satisfy your needs and fulfill your desires.
We’ve been jumping all around the Gospel of Luke of late. Two weeks ago, in chapter 6, Jesus preached about loving our enemies. Last week, in chapter 9, Peter, James, and John had front-row seats to the Transfiguration. Today we go all the way back to the beginning of chapter 4. Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan River. He has yet to begin his public ministry. He hasn’t called any disciples. He hasn’t preached in his hometown synagogue. Before any of that happens, the Holy Spirit first leads him into the wilderness to be tested by the devil.
The same Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus in his baptism now leads him into a barren wasteland where he will spend 40 days fasting and facing off against all the lies, deceits, and empty promises with which the devil can test him. That Jesus is led by the Spirit into this wasteland is the first indication we have that his relationship to God the Father does not protect him from the devil’s devices. Quite the contrary. It’s because he is the Son of God that he must undergo this testing and indeed chooses to do so.
For 40 days Jesus fasts and prays. Forty days! That’s an entire Lent! On Ash Wednesday I fasted one meal, about 9 hours, which felt only slightly less than an eternity. “What? It’s only 2:30? Is that too early for dinner?”
One can only imagine the weakened physical state of Jesus after having fasted for 40 days. In perhaps the greatest understatement in all of Scripture, Luke writes, “He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.” I’m sure he was!
It’s when Jesus is at his weakest physically that the devil seizes the opportunity, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” There are a couple of things to keep in mind here. First, we must not hear this word “If” as an expression of doubt. The devil is not saying, If you are really the Son of God, prove it. Do something miraculous like turning this stone into bread. The devil knows with whom he’s dealing. That’s why he’s there. He’s there to do anything in his power to keep the Son of God from going to the cross and dying for our sins. The last thing the devil wants is for Jesus to succeed in his mission of salvation.
Nor is the devil attempting to place doubt in the mind of Jesus about his status as God’s Son. At his baptism, which occurred right before this scene in the wilderness, Jesus heard the voice of the Father say to him, “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Jesus knows who he is. He knows that he is the Son of God.
Rather than expressing doubt about Jesus’ identity, the devil is tempting Jesus to use his relationship to the Father to his advantage.
Jesus, you have been fasting for 40 days. How amazing! How remarkable! Well done! Surely your Father must be proud of you. By the way, where is he? I don’t see any sign of him. Doesn’t he know how hungry you are? I would think the least he could do would be to send you some bread. After all, that’s what he did for Elijah when he was alone in the wilderness. He did the same even for those ungrateful Israelites. When they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years, day after day he gave them manna from heaven to sustain them.
But what about you? Look around you. There’s nothing here but sand and stone. Ah, but if you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.
Understand where the temptation lies. The temptation is not about the devil doubting that Jesus is the Son of God so that Jesus might prove himself. Nor is the devil trying to place doubt in Jesus’ mind about who he is. Rather, the temptation is an invitation. The devil invites Jesus to use his relationship with the Father to serve his own interests. If he is the Son of God, then he can manipulate matter by turning stone into bread. What’s the harm in eating a bit of bread after you haven’t eaten anything for 40 days?
But if Jesus were to do so, he would be turning away from the very thing he was sent by the Father to do. He would be turning away from the cross. By resisting this temptation, Jesus refuses to serve his own interests. He remains committed to the cross.
The second temptation expands on the first. This time the devil tempts Jesus to serve himself by hiding it in the guise of serving humanity. The devil leads him to a high place and shows him all the kingdoms of the world. “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, 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.”
Your Father wants you to empty yourself of power, but I, Jesus, I will give you power. Power like you have never before experienced. The power of the sword. The power of kings the world over. With that kind of power, you could send the Romans packing and restore the glory of Israel. I will give you the power to make Israel great again. Greater even than it was under David or Solomon. If you are the Son of God, if you are the king of kings, then rule like a king!
Plus, think of all the good you could do as king. All the hungry mouths you could feed. All the lame and the sick you could heal. All the poor you could lift up. As king, you will be celebrated as a hero. Wouldn’t you rather be crowned as a king than crucified as a criminal? Because, you know, Jesus, that if you reject power, then all that’s left for you is the cross.
In some ways, I think this second temptation is the most difficult to resist. For one, by offering worldly power the devil plays on Jesus’ innate goodness and desire to serve humanity. The devil wants Jesus to think about all the good he could accomplish if he wielded power. Why would anyone reject the power to make the world a better place?
The devil wants Jesus to use his relationship with the Father
not in service to the world but in service to himself.
The promise of power can also be used to tempt the church. We are especially vulnerable given the decline in church attendance and societal influence over the past several decades. But we must be on guard against any promise of power, as if power were not something that Jesus entirely rejected. The church’s power lies not in any worldly measure but in its witness to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who emptied himself of power to die on a cross.
The flip side to the temptation to pursue power is that, again, Jesus would be foregoing the cross. The choice is binary: Jesus can wield power or he can empty himself of power and go the way of the cross. He can rule in power or he can be die in utter powerlessness. It’s one or the other.
For the third temptation the devil leads Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem. Luke writes that he placed him on the pinnacle and said, “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.’” That’s from Psalm 91, which shows that even the devil can quote Scripture.
Jesus, how can you call yourself a rabbi without any disciples? If you want to gather disciples, if you want to attract followers who will hear your message, then use your relationship to the Father to show them that you are the Son. Create a spectacle! Throw yourself from the top of the temple and allow God’s angels to catch you. Trust me, that will attract a following! You will have your pick of disciples from the best and the brightest in all of Jerusalem.
Here again for the third time the devil tempts Jesus to use his relationship with the Father to serve himself. The devil invites Jesus to make an ostentatious display of his status as the Son of God. Show them who you are, Jesus! The devil knows that people want a spectacle. They want to see something unforgettable. But Jesus has not come to put on a show. He has come to show the world God’s mercy by forgiving sins. And forgiveness is not flashy. Forgiveness won’t sell many tickets. Forgiveness won’t draw high ratings. As much as we want flash, what we need is forgiveness.
Every tactic that the devil employs in these three temptations is put toward one purpose—to keep Jesus from the cross. The devil wants Jesus to use his relationship with the Father not in service to the world but in service to himself. And so he lies. God doesn’t care about you, so you’d better look out for number one. If you want to serve the world, you must first serve yourself. The more followers you have, the greater your truth.
It’s funny. Jesus taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation,” even while he was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to face temptation. Yet again, Jesus does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. But what we can do, amid all the lies— the lies that we whisper to ourselves (“God will never forgive me”), the lies of our consumer society (“You can buy happiness”), and the tsunami-sized flood of falsehoods in our politics—is cling to the unchanging truth of Jesus Christ, “who did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited” (Phil. 2:6).