Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Temptation - February 18, 2007

Temptation

Mark 1

February 18, 2007

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

Today we conclude all the events of Jesus' life leading up to the start of His ministry.  Our journey began with His birth in Bethlehem, His dedication in the Temple when He was eight days old, the visit of the Magi two years later which led to the slaughter of the baby boys in and around Bethlehem and the escape of Jesus' family to Egypt.  We then followed Him back to the Temple where His parents found the missing twelve year old and then we jumped ahead thirty years to when He was baptized in the Jordan.

Today we focus on one last thing that happened to Him before He launched out on His brief three year ministry.  The last time I baptized a thirty year old man, it was exactly one year ago.  We had the ceremony right here at six O'clock when it was dark outside and the sanctuary was illuminated only by candlelight.  His parents were present and so was his twin sister and her husband.  Ann and I were here and so was one other person:  the person who had brought him to Jesus.  That person was the woman her married last Saturday, our daughter Kirsten.  That is why they chose to be married last Saturday:  because last Saturday was the one year anniversary of his baptism.  They had a unity candle on the altar, a unity candle that was different from any other unity candle I have ever seen.  It was Michael's wish to use his baptismal candle as their unity candle.

The night of his baptism was the first time Ann and I met his family.  So, after the baptism we took them all out to dinner to introduce ourselves to each other.  That is what a lot of people do after a Baptism these days:  they invite people for a special dinner to celebrate.

But when Jesus was baptized, the Gospel of Mark says that, "At once the Spirit sent Him out into the desert, and He was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.  He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him."

That's how Mark puts it.  Nice and neat:  he simply says that Jesus was in the desert for forty days.  Well, the Gospel of Luke fills that in just a little bit when it says,"...for forty days...He ate nothing...and at the end of them He was hungry."  Ya THINK?!  When most of us have a baptism, it's to the banquet.  When Jesus was baptized, it was to forty days of starvation!

But I want to get back to Mark's version for a moment.  He said, "Immediately, the Spirit sent Him into the wilderness being tempted by Satan."  Two things there get my attention.  First off, it's that word "immediately".  I know a little bit what that's like:  I asked Ann to marry me one night and eight hours later the United States Army activated me with two hours to be at the airport to depart for basic training.  I hardly had time to pack.  One moment I am bathed in love and then immediately Uncle Sam sends me into the wilderness.

One moment Jesus is bathed in the love of the Father who proclaims, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased" and then immediately it is the Holy Spirit itself which sends Jesus into the wilderness, first to be starved nearly to death, and then to be tempted by Satan.  That is the second thing that grabs me:  it was THE HOLY SPIRIT who drove Jesus into all this trouble!

This event is the pivot point between the thirty years which led up to Jesus' ministry and the three years that will follow.  Now obviously I cannot read the Father's mind so I cannot pretend to suggest why He did this to Jesus.  But I DO know this.  When Jesus was at His worst in the wilderness, Satan came at Him three times and offered Him a way out with this taunt:  "IF You really are the Son of God [do what I tell you and I will give You what I know you want.]"   IF you really are the Son of God...

And I know something else.  When Jesus was hanging on the cross three years later, He heard that very same temptation:  "...save yourself!  Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"  It was His enemies who were mouthing those words, but I think I recognize who was really doing the talking.  Jesus first heard that temptation in the wilderness just before He started His ministry and now He hears those same words just as He is concluding His ministry.  The wilderness was where He first overcame that temptation.  Now on the cross our entire eternity hangs in the balance of how He will deal with that same temptation one last time.

"IF He is the Son of God?  Of course He is the Son of God!  Want bread?  Of course He want Bread!  If He is the Son of God?  Of course He is the Son of God!  IF He want to come down off the cross?  Of course He want to come down off that cross!  Starting this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we are going to meditate on what I am calling "Seven Choices of Christ" - times when He could have cut and run but chose to stay the course for our sake.

No wonder it was Jesus himself who taught us to pray to God, "lead us NOT into temptation, but deliver us from evil."  He knows whereof He speaks.  Each of us who has been baptized has also been led into the wilderness of temptation.  Maybe to prepare us as well for the mission God has given us.  Is it possible that the Father uses Satan and his temptations with us the same way He did with Jesus?  Maybe the tests themselves are holy.  It was the apostle Paul who said that, "To keep me from becoming conceited...there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."  (2 Cor 12).

The Good News is that we are tied at the soul to the One who has already defeated the Tempter.  That was why that same Paul assures us that, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."  (1 Cor 10:13)

The temptations are always there.  So is Jesus.  And He is strong.  Lean on HIM!