A newly married sailor was told by the Navy that he was going to be stationed for a whole year a long way from home on a remote Island in the Pacific.
It was only a few days after he arrived that he began to miss his new wife. So he wrote her a letter.
‘My love’, he wrote, ‘we are going to be apart for a very long time.
Already I’m starting to miss you and there’s not much to do here in the evenings. We are also constantly surrounded by young attractive native girls.
Do you think if I had a hobby of some kind I would not be tempted?’
His wife sent a letter back, enclosing a harmonica saying, ‘Why don’t you learn to play this?’
Eventually his tour of duty came to an end. He rushed home to his wife. ‘Darling’, he said, ‘I can’t wait to see you and have a cuddle’.
She kissed him, then said: ‘First, let’s hear you play that harmonica’.
Temptation is the theme of the first Sunday of Lent year after year.
Today we are told about the temptations of Christ. In the wilderness, in a solitary, deserted place. No shelter from the searing sun. Or respite from the dry heat of the desert
Struggling to find food and water. Sharing an inhospitable place with other predators. Living with an endless horizon of sand, where only the most hardened could survive.
In this barren desert, he would try to find God.
Find God, in the middle of nothingness.
Find God in a place where little on earth lived.
Find God at the extremes.
What would be wrong with turning stones into bread? Later he would turn 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into a feast for 5,000.
What would be wrong with relying on Jewish scriptures? Relying on them so much that he trusts the angels to protect him? Later Jesus would walk on water. Surely that is no harder than floating on air.
What would be wrong with Jesus, God’s Son taking control of the kingdoms of the world? Don’t we look to him to do this at the end of time? What would be wrong with doing all of this?
On one level – nothing. And on another level – everything.
The Son of God using superhuman powers to save himself, to give himself glory, to take away his humanity. Yes – everything would be wrong.
It’s a constant debate: Jesus – human or divine? It kept the church arguing for centuries. Even now we struggle with the same problem. Was this Son of God so divine that he lost sight of human emotion? Would he have had sexual thoughts? Fantasised about marrying Mary Magdalene? Shades of Da Vinci Code, and The Last Temptation of Christ spring to mind.
And yet, in this reading we have the evidence. The truth that Jesus was in all ways tempted, yet was without sin.
I wonder what tempts you? Probably not turning stones to bread or jumping off a cliff.
I am usually tempted by good things, not evil.
I can happily say no to things we all agree are wrong. My struggle is between the good and the best. I am so often satisfied with the status quo.
Tempted to let others speak out against social evils.
Tempted to do nothing about world poverty.
Tempted to go with the flow, rather than be a voice that makes a difference.
But then I remember the famous line: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’. Even if our temptation is to do nothing, we are in danger of being caught by evil. ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’ at once becomes a necessary, vibrant, living reality. Something that we need to have at the front rather than the back of our minds.
Perhaps we need to be blessed with discomfort when we hear easy answers or half truths.
Blessed with anger at injustice and exploitation.
Blessed with tears for those who suffer.
Blessed with foolishness that says we can make a difference.
Blessed with all of these things rather than being tempted to go with the flow, to do nothing.
Our reading this morning gives us hope.
It shows us once more that we are not alone in our struggle.
We know that Jesus struggled too; that he wrestled with evil, that in the middle of that wilderness he too must have questioned, reasoned, argued, shouted, and cried out to God.
And yet, we are left with his final words to Satan: ‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him’.
We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing living or dead, high or low
angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, thinkable or unthinkable, absolutely nothing can come between us and God’s love in Christ Jesus.
And that is good news.
Questions for Discussion
1. What is the most comforting thing for you about the temptation of Jesus?
2. And what might you find troubling or perplexing?
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