SERMON FOR MARCH 6, 2022  THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS  (LUKE)     TEXT: LUKE 4:1-13
     Luke is clearly inviting us to compare the testing of the first Adam with that of the second. In chapter 3 he tells the story of Jesus’ baptism by John: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’” (3:21-22). Luke then concludes the chapter with a listing of Jesus’ ancestors. This genealogy includes 75 generations, working its way through David, son of Jesse, on down to Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, then further to Shem, son of Noah, and later Methuselah, son of Enoch, then reaching back ancestor by ancestor to Enos, son of Seth, all the way to the final entry, Adam, son of God. 
     Chapter 4 begins immediately thereafter with the statement:  “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.” The evil one sought to come between Adam and God. He created uncertainty in this son’s mind and caused him to question God’s good intention. So Adam reached for the power the tempter offered him and thereby overreached himself. “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise; she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her and he ate” (Genesis 3: 4-6).
     Now we come to Jesus, the second Adam, led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to confront the one who enticed the first Adam to disobedience. “If you are the Son of God” would be better translated “since you are the Son of God.” The devil knows exactly who he is up against. Jesus’ status as the Son of God is not in question. But the kind of son he will be is. How will he carry out the work entrusted to him by his Father? How will he represent his Father to the world? Luke repeatedly emphasizes that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit; how will he use this power in his ministry? 
     The devil tries to mold him through this testing. He is looking for a point of weakness or insecurity in Jesus. He plays the same game he did in Eden, persistently appealing to the man’s pride. You have been fasting for forty days; you must be starving; turn these stones into bread. Put your own needs, your own well-being first. Take matters into your own hands, Jesus turns instead to the words of Scripture: “One does not live by bread alone.”  Well, then, consider this offer: I can give you something God would deny you. To Adam it was the knowledge of good and evil that would make him like God. To Jesus it is unbounded power over all the nations of the earth:  “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Is he seeking to dupe Jesus with a lie? Are the kingdoms of the world really his to give? Once again, Jesus refuses to engage the offer. He cuts the devil short, citing the scriptural commandment to worship the Lord your God and serve only him. 
     The devil comes at him a third time with what seems an appeal to sheer vanity. He brings Jesus out of the wilderness to the holy city Jerusalem, to the pinnacle of the temple, the center of religious life for the Jews. There could be no better place for Jesus to dazzle the people with a miraculous demonstration of his exalted status. And now the devil seems almost to mock Jesus by turning the tables and citing scripture at him: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you.’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Show the world how powerful your God is; isn’t that what the Son is supposed to do — represent his Father in all his glory? Show us how special you are in His sight! Yet Jesus counters him with a simple scriptural command, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” 
     Then the devil departs from him until “an opportune time.” And that time comes at the beginning of Holy Week, when, Luke tells us: “Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who . . . went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray Jesus to them” (22:3-4). There is more at stake in this final temptation than Jesus’ refusal to show off for the crowd. It is a foreshadowing of what is to come, of the faithful obedience he will sustain when his life is truly at stake, when, dying on the cross, he is taunted by the soldiers and the people (Luke 23: 35-37): “He saved others, let him save himself If he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one! If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” Surely he could have, but he does not. Jesus makes it clear from the beginning what kind of son he will be and how, full of the Holy Spirit, he will use the power given him by God. Then he remains true to himself and to his father until the moment of his death.
     The story of the Jesus’ 40-day-long temptation recalls the tragic fall of the first Adam. It also reminds us of Israel’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land after the rescue from Egypt. The people faced temptation and they experienced the saving presence of God in this unknown territory. Jesus cites the book of Deuteronomy in all three of his responses to the devil (8:3, 6:13 ,6:16). The verses he uses were originally spoken by Moses to challenge and encourage his disheartened and weary people. They did not always heed him, and even when they listened, they did not always succeed in keeping faith with God. They doubted; they complained; they took matters into their own hands; they tested God repeatedly. They were driven by fear and despair as much as by pride and selfishness. 
     We are no different from our forebears; we know from experience how hard it is to stand in the time of trial. But, as the author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “ . . . we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (4:15). Amen.