March 9, 2025 Sermon
Sermon Title: “The Temptation of Jesus”
Scripture: Luke 4:1-13
(Other lectionary suggestions include Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Psalm 91. and Romans 10:8-13.)
Luke 4:1-13
The Temptation of Jesus
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where 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. 3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone’ ” 5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And 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. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” 9Then 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, 10for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Today’s Scripture reading is a great one, in my humble opinion, because, in the first place, Jesus is SENT into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted. Now this is the same Jesus who teaches us to pray in what we call the Lord’s Prayer....“and lead us not into temptation.” But here the Holy Spirit of God SENDS Jesus to be tempted. Our God certainly works in strange ways, doesn’t SHE? Okay, I get it. If Jesus is to be the Savior of the World, he is going to have to know what it is like to be tempted, the same as WE know what it’s like to be tempted. So, he is given three temptations and fights off the devil “until a more opportune time,” as we are told at the end of the passage. That’s a good reminder: we may resist temptation NOW, but we always know that the devil would be back. (Remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie in which he says, “I’ll be back”? So will the Tempter be back, too!)
Look at the first temptation. Jesus has been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. So, he would have been a little bit hungry by that time! But what does he say? “Man does not live by bread alone.” What he means is that we need food, and God knows that. But Jesus realizes that we humans need MORE than simply food in our stomachs. We need meaning, too. We need jobs that fulfill us. I hope that in your jobs you felt fulfilled. We all want good, well-paying jobs, but if you hated your job, I’m sorry.. That was not God’s will for you. Jesus came so that we might have life, and have it more abundantly, as it says in the Gospel of John. While there is no perfect job, I hope your experience has been one of fulfillment. You need bread, and you work to get that bread. But man doesn’t live by bread alone, so I hope you had some fun and joy as you fed yourself and your family. I must say that I have been fortunate in having jobs that I liked. I have been richly blessed, and I hope you can feel that you have been, too.
Something else I want to add before I go on to the next temptation. While God wants us to have an abundant life, there is still something to consider. I have heard a minister say that when Jesus saw all those rocks, they LOOKED like loaves of bread! Especially if he were starving! But you and I need to be serious for a moment: aren’t we really turning rocks into bread when we work for a living? And I wonder if the Gospel writer knew this: unless you are a Trust Fund baby, you have to work for a living! Our job can be and should be fun and fulfilling. In fact, my high school minister said our job should be a VOCATION or CALLING. But whatever it is, we NEED to do it, and by doing it, we are essentially turning rocks into bread. That’s not a bad thing, if you enjoy it. But maybe that was one of the temptations of Jesus: just let me have a job, even if it means turning rocks into bread. Could that have been one of the temptations? “Just let me lead a normal life.” Maybe. But let’s go on to another temptation.
Then we are told that the devil or Tempter showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and all he had to do was worship the devil. Well, how do you do that? Jesus responded with scripture: “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” What did he mean? I think he meant that he was tempted to bend the rules just a little bit. Just like some of the politicians we have heard about. They’re not bad, but if they only bent the rules a little bit, who would be hurt? Some politicians have used inside information to make a killing in the stock market. What’s so bad about that? It’s bad enough that there are bills in Congress that forbid Senators and Representatives from owning stocks. That’s NOT a bad idea, in my opinion! Not everybody agrees, and that’s why we have a democracy in which people can agree or disagree. But we believe in fairness, and one group shouldn’t have an advantage over the other!
Last temptation: the devil took him to the top of the temple, and told Jesus to fling himself down, because we all know - says so in the Bible! - that God’s angels will bear him up, lest he dash his foot against a stone. If you wonder where it says that, look at Psalm 91:12. I think Jesus was tempted to come down from the Cross. Think how many people would have believed had he done that! But he realized that if he was fully man as well as fully God, he could not do that. And he told the devil, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Okay. Now let’s talk about SEX! Seriously, don’t you think it’s odd that we are not told anything about what Jesus may have desired as a man? It could be that the subject of sex was as hot a potato then as it is now. And for virtually all cultures, sex has always been a tough topic to deal with. But the Biblical writers don’t want to seem to talk about it, except to say that So-and-so begat So-and-so while So-and-so begat So-and-so.
For almost 2000 years Christian writers did not want to tackle the idea of a Jesus who may have had natural sexual desires. The Bible says nothing about them - but isn’t it strange that the person we proclaim as fully God and fully man never had a girlfriend or wife....as far as we know? Let me say again what I have said before: there is SO MUCH that we DON’T KNOW about Jesus, the early church, and the Gospels. But I want to mention that the 20th century Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, who wrote “Zorba the Greek,” which was made into a movie, also wrote “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and as I recall, Jesus does dream about having a family as he drifts in and out of consciousness while he is dying on the Cross. The book is a novel and certainly not “Biblical.” But Kazantzakis does permit himself to raise the issue of whether Jesus might have wanted some children and/or grandchildren on his knee! The Roman Catholic Church has sort of ignored the fact that Jesus had younger siblings, even though they are referred to in the Book of Acts and elsewhere. The person known as James the Just, a brother of Jesus and a leader in the Jerusalem church, was martyred in the church’s early days. But what the Catholics have done is to say that Mary never had sex after Jesus was born, and that is highly unlikely! How do you think Joseph would have liked hearing from his young bride, who had ALREADY gotten pregnant in an “unnatural” way, “Joseph, Honey - No sex, because I must be the ever-blessed, Virgin Mary.”? I think then he might have considered divorce!
So, what do you think? Was Jesus ever tempted to be a “normal” guy and have kids? Maybe that goes back to the first temptation about turning stones into bread. Maybe Jesus was tempted to be a regular guy, have a job, turn stones into bread, and have kids. Maybe. Maybe not. What do you think? Amen.
Pastor Skip
