(Luke 4.1-14) Lent 1
10 March 2019 – © Neil Millar
Deserts are beautiful places. A few years ago, when backpacking in Morocco, I had an opportunity to enter the Sahara Desert and sleep in a Bedouin camp, to climb one of those amazing sand dunes on a moonlit night and sit on the lip gazing towards Algeria. The wonder and stark beauty of the place is etched deep in my memory. More recently, I had the privilege of accompanying John Cavanaugh, an East Arrente aboriginal elder, on his ancestral country bordering the Simpson desert. Once again, I was struck by the stunning landscape – the rocky red hills, the sandy dry river beds, the vast, sparsely vegetated plains. Deserts are beautiful places. And they’re also confronting and difficult places. Desert country is harsh, desert climates are extreme. If you spend time in these places it will inevitably affect you. If you’re naive and unprepared it can kill you – death is everywhere present in the desert. At the same time, if you’re ready, willing to persist, immersion in this harsh yet beautiful terrain can be profoundly formative.
The first Sunday in Lent is a desert day. Each year, on this day, the lectionary directs us to read the story of Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. It’s a story that, like my Sahara experience, is etched deeply in the Christian psyche.
As we turn to reflect on Luke’s version of that story today, I want to begin by placing it context. At this point in the bigger story, Jesus on the cusp of commencing his public ministry. Immediately prior to that beginning, Luke records two experiences that complete his Jesus’ preparation – his baptism in the river Jordan and this time in the wilderness. At his baptism, Jesus is anointed and affirmed, in the wilderness, he is tried and tested. And, importantly, I note, God’s Spirit has a key role on both occasions. After the baptism, while Jesus is praying, the heavens open and the Spirit descends upon him in bodily form as a dove. He is anointed with power for the mission, and, given this, we might expect that God would immediately thrust him into the work. I mean, there’s a world in need out there (and he’s already been waiting thirty years), surely there’s no more time to waste – time to get going, to do something! But strikingly, the thing he’s led to do, is to get out into the desert.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. (4.1)
What’s this about? Well, let’s think a bit more about where Jesus might be at – he’s just had a profound spiritual experience, but how is this to be integrated, appropriated? He’s been anointed as Messiah, but what kind of Messiah will he be? There’s a lot to process here. What if we think of the forty days as a kind of desert retreat, a period of withdrawal and solitude for Jesus to clarify and deepen his sense of what he is called to be and do?
OK, that makes sense, but what’s all this talk of the devil and temptation – it sounds very dramatic? Well, although it’s the case that a retreat can be a time of growing awareness, clarity and insight, it can also be a time when we struggle with our demons. When we slow down and become quiet, we can become conscious of troubling thoughts and feelings – compulsions, fears and insecurities, resentments, condemnations. These remain somewhat hidden when we’re rushing around busy and distracted, but on retreat, when there’s nothing else to do, they surface, and this can be hard. During his time in the wilderness, Jesus no doubt experienced times of deep peace and connection – with creation, himself, and his heavenly Father. Mark gives a taste of this in his version of this story (he mentions Jesus’ connection with wild animals, for example, and also writes of ‘the angels waiting on him’). But Jesus also had times of struggle, times when he was assailed, and this is what Luke focuses on.
In essence, Luke seems interested in how Jesus will handle the spiritual power he’s received at his baptism. Power can corrupt and be misused. If Jesus is to live up to his high calling, he must exercise his power humbly, handle its temptations with discipline and integrity. Luke portrays his time in the wilderness as an intense and extended spiritual struggle around this issue. Getting to the heart of it, he focusses on three specific temptations or tests. In each case, Jesus is presented with a devilish view of what the Spirit-empowered Son of God should do, and in each case, this view is exposed and corrected. It is a battle of wit and will.
In the first test, Jesus is tempted to use his power to ease his hunger. The proposal is plausible, not only because he’s famished, but because of biblical precedent: God’s provision of manna back in Exodus. If God did it in then, and since you are the powerful Son of God, Jesus, why not do it again? Come on, take some initiative, cut yourself some slack. It makes sense to act, but Jesus refuses. Drawing on wisdom forged in Israel’s 40-year struggle in the wilderness, he quotes from the book of Deuteronomy (8.3): ‘one does not live by bread alone’. In Deuteronomy, the verse continues, ‘but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord’.
Jesus is wrestling with whether he’ll use his power without reference to God, meet his needs by taking matters into his own hands – grasp at immediate satisfaction, without attending to what a deeper faithfulness, a deeper obedience might entail. This grasping for immediate satisfaction is a dangerous attitude for powerful people, one that involves often great cost to others – witness the findings of the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse. We know from the gospel stories that Jesus is no puritan, no punishing ascetic, and he will one day feed a crowd of hungry people. But this day he discerns that the true exercise of his power lies in disciplining his desire for bread and in waiting in trust on the provision of God. When the insidious thought, the temptation to take matters into his own hands arises, he lets it go.
But the distractions don’t end there. Next, he’s given a picture of what it would be like to have the admiration and respect (‘glory’ and ‘authority’) of all kingdoms of the world. Imagine it, the entire world united under one rule! Think of what could be achieved – wealth distributed fairly, forces combined to eradicate social ill. Wow, the possibilities are unlimited! And, the only thing I ask in return is your allegiance. Come on, one small condition (an ‘expedient’ compromise), surely, it’s worth it!
We don’t know exactly what went on for Jesus, but in a moment of desert clarity he sees through it – the idea it could be that simple is an illusion. Maybe he also remembered the story of the people dancing before the golden calf in Exodus – taking matters into their own hands!!
No, for all their appeal, devilish deals never achieve greater good. It takes more time, and it’s costly, but in the end, it’s untiring, consistent, sacrificial allegiance to the truth that changes the world – not dodgy deals. He will inaugurate the reign of justice and peace, but when thoughts come to take compromising shortcuts, he lets them go.
Yet, still they come – these distracting thoughts. In the third test, Jesus is taken (in his imagination) to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. The temptation is to jump off, in order to induce his Father’s miraculous protection. It is all the more compelling because it is packed with a reference from Psalm 91 (11-12) – a promise that God will command angels to save him. In essence, it’s the temptation to do something impressive in order to enhance his reputation. It makes sense as a political stunt, crowds love the sensational stuff. But Jesus sees through it and responds with a scripture of his own: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ (4:12). He’s discerned that God’s way, the way of true authority, is not via cheap tricks and flashy entertainment. Rather, it’s the lowly path of faithful, patient, vulnerable love. Those entrusted with power, must discipline the egoic appetite to impress, the neurotic need to be applauded. If they can’t, they will always be diverted and will never achieve anything worthwhile. When the desire to impress assails him, he lets it go.
Well, at the end of this time, Jesus emerges firm and strong, ready to engage faithfully in the public sphere – ‘filled with the power of the Spirit’. And these devilish thoughts leave him, for a time. It’s a relief, but, of course, these tempting distractions never really go away. It’s part of the human condition that people with power will wrestle with this stuff. We must remain alert and vigilant.
I said at the beginning, that deserts were beautiful and difficult places. So too, the desert times of our lives can be difficult periods of testing, in which we feel sorely oppressed by temptations to compromise or take an easy way out. But as this story affirms, if we stay with it and keep entrusting ourselves to God, clarity, authority and integrity can be forged in these times. This too is beautiful, and a necessary gift for the world
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