Wesley Chapel Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
First Sunday in Lent/Year C/
March 6, 2022
Gospel: Luke 4:1-13
Our gospel passage begins with the newly-baptized Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, a place of Jesus’ testing for 40 days by the devil. The testing of Jesus, the location of the wilderness, the specific amount of time and his fasting are all significant because these details underscore Jesus’ connection to the larger story of God’s unfolding plan of salvation—God’s divine purpose for humankind.
Of the many questions for which human beings seek answers, there are two are the biggies: Who am I, and why am I here? One question is about identity and the other about purpose. The author of Luke positions the account of the temptation of Jesus, in between Jesus’ baptism—his identity—and the initiation of Jesus’ Galilean ministry—his purpose.
In the previous chapter, Jesus heard the voice of God which said to him, “You are my son, the Beloved” (Lk 3:22)—identity. Jesus’ baptism was immediately followed by 15 verses on the ancestry of Jesus in which the genealogy of Jesus was traced from Mary’s husband Joseph down to the first man, Adam, also identified as “son of God” (Lk 3:28). From the birth narrative through John the Baptist’s proclamation about the coming of the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, Luke wasted no time establishing who Jesus was, and why he was sent by God, so that by the time he was tempted by the devil, there is no ambiguity or question about Jesus’ identity and purpose.
In this text, Jesus was engaged in spiritual combat with the devil in three different settings—from the wilderness, to a high place, to the highest place—the pinnacle of the temple. Just as the sites of the temptations escalated in risk, so did the devil’s temptations posed to Jesus.
The devil tempted a famished Jesus to bypass his suffering caused by hunger, by changing stones into bread. But, Jesus understood that his purpose was to glorify God in all things, even in his suffering. Performing such a miracle would have been self-serving and would not have served to glorify God. Self-preservation is the opposite of the nature of God—a nature which is only self-giving.
The temptation for Jesus to have all of the worldly kingdoms and authority in exchange for worshiping the devil reminds me of our Lenten series last year on the seven deadly sins—specifically the vice of avarice.
Avarice, closely related to greed, is a vice of excess in acquiring money and possessions. There are two glaring reasons why this second temptation was incapable of fulfillment. First, Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. In fact, Jesus was, himself, the kingdom of God that had come near to humankind (which is repeated in this gospel, “The kingdom of God has come near to you”). Second, because everything belongs to God, the devil was powerless to give what he could never possess.
When, for the third time, the devil tempted Jesus to put himself in mortal danger by throwing himself from the pinnacle of the temple, the devil taunted Jesus with the sin of pride, also one of the seven deadly sins. “If you are the Son of God…,” said the devil, prove it—prove just how special you are. The devil even quoted Psalm 91:11, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you.”
Acting in accordance with the devil’s will, wrapped in the human vices of self-preservation, avarice and pride, would have stained Jesus with sin. Jesus, the one who was like us in every way, yet without sin, would have collaborated in the denial of his life’s purpose—to die on the cross for the sins of the whole world.
Just as suffering is an inescapable part of the human condition, so, too is temptation. And, because Jesus was human, he was neither immune to suffering nor temptation. While the devil made his appeals to Jesus’ human nature, he could not penetrate Jesus’ divine nature. The undivided dual nature of Jesus—fully-human, fully-divine—was impenetrable. The powerful weapon against the devil’s testing was Jesus’ identity itself.
On Ash Wednesday I said that Lent is a time to tend to the challenging work of spiritual triage—to mend the brokenness of the heart and spirit within the wilderness of one’s own soul. We do ourselves a great disservice if we seek tempters, and temptations, outside of ourselves.
Temptation is unique to each human soul; that which may tempt one person may not tempt another. Because the testing of the human will happens on the soil of the human soul, we do well to be alert and truthful with ourselves when we are complicit in being led away from God as the focus of our lives. The life-long struggle is real, and it doesn’t happen somewhere “out there;” it happens “in here.”
Parker Palmer in his book, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life1, wrote, “The powers and principalities would hold less sway over our lives if we refused to collaborate with them. But refusal is risky, so we…betray our identities. And yet the soul persistently calls us back to our birthright form, back to lives that are grounded, connected and whole.”
Jesus refused to collaborate with the devil in his schemes. The temptations that plague human nature—survival at all costs, power grabs, and possession grabs—are all anchored by pride in ourselves, and in this created, temporal world—both of which are passing away. Like Jesus, the temptations of this world will come at us hard and fast. In order to overcome them, God’s faithful people must have clarity about our identity as children of God, and have clarity of purpose as evangelists and kingdom builders.
There is power in wholeness, and the restoration of the soul can only be found in unity with God through Jesus Christ. Throughout this season of Lent, risk being led by the Holy Spirit through the wilderness of your soul, as the Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness. Refuse to collaborate with the powers and principalities which persistently call you to betray your identity. Collaborate with that which is deep within your soul that calls you back to your birthright as a child of God.
May you emerge from this Lenten season with a heightened connection with God, and an experienced wholeness in God, through our Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
1Parker Palmer. A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life (Jossey-Bass: San Francisco), p. 34.
