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William Allberry Lent 1 (B) 1st March 2009 The Three Temptations |
| He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. |
| As always, St Mark in his gospel rushes us from one incident, one place, to another, and here in just a few short verses we have his baptism, the 40 days wandering in the desert, and the start of his ministry in the Galilee. But let’s stay for a moment with the three temptations that appear in the other gospel accounts of the Temptation. |
| We might be forgiven for thinking that the temptations of Jesus don’t have much to do with us. We might be tempted to do lots of things, but turning stones into bread definitely isn’t one of them. Nor is the devil likely to offer any of us the chance of ruling the world provided we worship him. Nor have many of us, I hope, been tempted to throw ourselves off the top of a high building. So what are the temptations of Jesus really saying to us? |
| You notice, when Jesus replies to the Devil, each time he quotes a verse of the Old Testament: |
| “Will you turn these stones into bread?” NO. “Man does not live by bread alone” |
| “Will you fall at my feet and worship me?” NO. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve”. |
| “Will you throw yourself down from the temple?” NO. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” |
| If you look up those quotations you find they all come from Deuteronomy, from the part where we hear how the Israelites were tested in the desert for forty years. The theological point of this story is that Jesus is re-experiencing and correcting what happened to Israel. His three temptations are the same three temptations that they faced in the desert. Let’s remind ourselves what the original temptations were. |
| In the first place, not long after they escaped from Egypt, the Israelites started grumbling about food, and saying that even if they were slaves in Egypt, at least they had enough to eat. So you remember God sent them manna from heaven, which kept them going for a bit; but soon they got bored with manna, and started grumbling again - |
| And they lamented saying, “Would that we had meat to eat! For we remember the meat we had in Egypt, and the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks; but now our strength is dried up, for we are sick to death of this manna.” |
| And so, because they grumbled about the manna, the Lord sent them flocks of quails. But because God was annoyed with them, and God in the Old Testament can have a rather nasty sense of humour, he sent them huge numbers of quails, heaps of them two cubits high, which promptly rotted and gave them plague, so that half the Israelites died. And they called the place where they buried them Kibroth Hattavah: The Graves of Appetite. |
| So that was Israel’s first big temptation: the Temptation of Appetite. And that was the first temptation Jesus conquered: “Man does not live by bread alone”. |
| The Second Temptation of the Israelites happened when they got to Mount Sinai. Moses went up Mount Sinai to get the Law from God, and because he took so long the people got fed up and thought he’d gone for good. And they began to wonder whether they had chosen the right God. It was all very well being Yahweh’s chosen people, but it hadn’t done much for their quality of life. |
| So once Moses was out of the way, they thought they’d try another God. They melted down all their rings and bangles, and made a gold calf, which was one of the local fertility gods. And when they made it, they set about worshipping it and … doing the sorts of things that fertility gods like to see. But then, while they were in the middle of it Moses came back, and he broke the calf and ground it to powder and mixed it with water and made everybody who worshipped it drink it. And everyone who drunk it was struck down and died. And they called the place Beth-Awen, the Temple of Destruction. |
| So that was Israel’s second temptation: Idolatry. Choosing a different god in the hope of a nicer life. And that was the second temptation Jesus conquered: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve”. |
| Temptation number 3 came along when what was left of the Israelites came to a place called the Plains of Rephidim, which means the Flat Lands. And there they despaired. They were still missing Egypt; there was no end of their journey in sight; and all round them was a flat, waterless emptiness, and they were dying of thirst. And so they gave up. They’d had enough. They cried out against Moses and Yahweh saying, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children in the wilderness?” And they sat down in the desert and refused to move, and they willed themselves to die. And that place was called Massah - Meribah, which means the place of bitter testing, because that was where Israel despaired, and put God to the test by preferring to die. |
| And that was the third temptation Jesus conquered: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”. |
| So those were the 3 temptations of Israel. But I’d suggest they are more than that; and that pretty well all our temptations come under those headings too. |
| The Temptations of Appetite – we all know about those. They are the ‘naughty but nice’ temptations – to grab too much of what we like. Appetite isn’t just for food of course. It can be any kind of sensual gratification which goes beyond the limits. The thing about temptations of appetite is that they depend on things that are pleasurable and good in themselves, but if we use them in the wrong way or overdo them, they can take over and mess up our lives. Appetite. And when that happens the real danger is that they turn into the second sort of temptation, the temptation of idolatry. |
| Now you might think Idolatry is no problem for us at all. We’re not likely to be tempted to worship Satan or a golden calf. But an idol can be anything we allow to take over our lives and take the place of God. All the appetites can turn into idolatries, because they are all potentially addictive, and whether we realize it or not, whatever we allow to control us becomes our God. Sometimes it’s easy to see it happening. Most of us know somebody who started off as a bit of a drinker, or took to the bottle to get through a rough patch, but then suddenly they can’t stop or live without it. But it’s not only the obvious things like drink and drugs. You can idolize another person, your own family, your possessions, status, power - whatever really runs you, the thing you’re really living for: that’s your God. Idolatry. |
| The third temptation is Despair, and it’s the last because it usually comes when we’ve tried all the others first. Appetite can get you to Despair when all the pleasure’s gone and only the craving remains. Your idol can get you to Despair when it proves to have feet of clay, and there seems nothing left to live for. To fall into despair you don’t have to do anything at all, you no longer want to do anything, and that’s its great power. The way into despair passes from pessimism to cynicism, self-absorption, self-hatred – and ultimately suicide. In the end you say to God what Israel said to him in the plains of Rephidim: “God, even if you’re there, I’ve had enough I’d rather die.” |
| And you might think that’s a rare thing, but I don’t think so. Over the years it’s been quite a surprise to find how many people, young and old, battle every day with despair, and find it a real temptation to end it all. In fact I suspect it comes to all of us at some time, as it clearly came to Jesus. |
| But he won; and it’s important to see that all the temptations he faced, not just in the desert but all through his life, really are the same temptations we face from day to day. Appetite, Idolatry, Despair. They are archetypal tests, not just of ancient Israel but of all humanity. And for Jesus truly to be human, he had to face them too. |
| So: this Lent, let’s go with him into the wilderness. Let’s tell him about the appetites we know we’ve not got under control. Tell him about our idolatries, the things we’re hooked on, and the stupid priorities we live by. Tell him about the despair that always lurks beneath the cheery surface, the little voice that whispers, “There’s no point. Give up”. He knows about it, he’s been there too. |
| As the Letter to the Hebrews says, “He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin, so that he can save those who are being tempted now”. |
| Footnote: I am indebted to the Very Revd Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, for the clear thinking behind this sermon, and grateful for his permission to publish it here. |
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