TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

 “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.”  (Luke 4:2)

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”  (1 John 2:15-17)

 I was reflecting on the temptation of Jesus this morning when I suddenly had a flash of recognition.  You know how that happens.  You are thinking about one thing and all of a sudden your brain makes a connection with something else.  Sometimes that’s the Holy Spirit showing you something.

So I was thinking about the various temptations Satan brought to our Lord in the wilderness.  Jesus had been fasting for forty days and was hungry and Satan tempted him to end his fast miraculously by turning stones into bread.  Then Satan “took him up” somewhere and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and offered him all riches and power.  Finally, Satan transported Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem and tempted him to jump and force God to save him with an intervention of angels.  It hit me!  “Make these stones bread”; desires of the flesh.  “It will all be yours”; desires of the eyes.  “Make God save you”; pride of life.  It really amazed me to see that John’s “categories” of temptation paralleled the temptations of Jesus exactly.  Just a little reflection should show us that we can actually anticipate the kinds of temptations Satan will throw at us!  We can be prepared!

Speaking of being prepared… Did you notice the first clause of Luke 4:2?  “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…”  As Jesus walked out into the wilderness he was filled with the Holy Spirit!  Think about that a second.  The Son of God filled with the Holy Spirit!  This tells us something about the humanity of Jesus.  He was able to be filled with the Spirit and he experienced temptation as a human being, depending on the Spirit.  How are we best prepared to meet with temptation?  Be filled with the Spirit, as Paul says.

Just a note… Many people seem to think that Satan came and tempted Jesus three times at the end of his forty-day fast.  If you look carefully at the text you will see that he was being tempted throughout the forty days.  The three temptations mentioned are only three that he endured.

Can I just add one more reflection?  Luke records Satan’s departure from Jesus in 4:13.  “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”  This verse further demonstrates the broad extent of Satan’s temptation of Jesus.  It says, “When the devil had ended every temptation.”  Also, Satan left Jesus to wait for an opportune time.  Ah ha!  Satan looks for opportune times to attack his targets!  It would be foolish for us to think that this only applies to the temptation of Jesus!  He looks for opportune times to tempt us too!  What are those opportune times?

In answer to that question, something very interesting occurred to me.  Satan must have thought that he was coming to Jesus at an “opportune time.”  Apparently he was unable to see that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit”!  It seems that Satan can’t tell if we are filled with the Spirit.  He may be able to see what we do or neglect to do.  He may be able to see if we are praying or reading our Bibles.  But he doesn’t seem to be able to look into our souls and identify the working of the Holy Spirit in us.  He thought he had Jesus in a good place and misread the situation.  All the more reason for us to carefully seek to be in step with the Spirit!

ON WORLDLY ATTACHMENTS

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²² Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.²³ And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”   Mark 10:17-24

A very familiar passage, The Rich Young Ruler.  He has become representative of so many kinds of people.  He is the example of the person who has lived his life legalistically.  He is the person who is sincere and sincerely wrong.  He is most often, the man who loved his wealth more than he wanted eternal life.  I found myself reflecting on his encounter with Jesus.

Here is a person who wants to be sure that he has done what is necessary to have eternal life.  He makes it plain to Jesus that he has tried to live by the law.  Even before his bar-mitzvah he was already trying to keep the commandments.  His entire adult life he has lived according to the teaching of the rabbis.  Still, it seems he finds himself still unsure of having eternal life.  Maybe he came to Jesus because it was possible that Jesus could give him something additional to do.  Maybe he was trying to cover his bases, as it were.  Or maybe he had an uncomfortable spiritual sense of shortcoming.  After all, he had tried to keep the law but he knew he had not done so perfectly.

One thing really convicted me when I thought about this.  Jesus looked at the man and loved him!  I realized that this is not the kind of person I am naturally attracted to.  He strikes me as being privileged and self-righteous.  He is also extremely wealthy.  I confess that I have a tendency to look down my own self-righteous nose at wealthy people who seem to have it all together.  But Jesus loved him!  And he loved him with agape love!  Who do I think I am to judge people whom Jesus loves?

When the rich man dejectedly walks away from Jesus’ offer it is easy to feel superior and justified.  “See?  He just couldn’t give up his wealth to follow Christ!”  Jesus teaches his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 

Why is it so hard for the rich to enter the kingdom?  It seems that Peter understood.  In verse 28 he says, “We have left everything to follow you!”  Yes, that is what is required.  For Christ we give up this world and everything in it.  We die to this world.  We shun the things of the world in order to embrace our Lord.  As long as we have attachments to the world and its things we will not be able to be fully attached to Jesus and his kingdom.

Why do I feel so self-righteous in comparison to this poor man who came to Jesus?  When I look at myself I see far too many worldly attachments.  Jesus was speaking about most of us in America when he said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom.  I need to listen and wait on the Lord to put his finger on the attachments that may be hindering my journey with him.