Exam Day

Luke 4:1–13 ESV

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to 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 guard you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Scripture: Luke 4:1-13

Sermon Title: Exam Day

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, the luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz recently came out with a commercial for their new CLA. The commercial features a man in his late 20s/early 30s in an empty diner gazing out at a billboard going up for this car. All of a sudden William Dafoe appears sitting across from him, portraying the devil, and makes him the offer, “You can have the car, and everything that goes along with it,” while holding a pen to sign his life away. In an instant, the “what could be” life of the young man flashes before his eyes. Red carpet events with a beautiful model as his date, dancing with R&B star Usher at the center of a dance club then driving off to Vegas as fast as the car can go with other beautiful women, posing for pictures to be on the cover of popular international fashion and lifestyle magazines, being chased by dozens of screaming young women before finding himself at the front of the pack in an Indy car race. His daydreams come back to reality and the devilish character encourages him to take the deal, but as the man looks out the window at the sign one last time, the last piece is unrolled which reveals the “affordable” price of $29,900. He doesn’t have to sign his life away, and poof, the devil character is gone.

           I’m guessing that many of us have this type of imagery in our heads when we read about the temptation of Jesus. In some ways the commercial fits: the young man waiting for his meal is comparable with verse 2 which tells us that Jesus was hungry. The man’s vision of having the “what could be” life or what most Americans might call the “good” life flashes before the young man’s eyes seems to fit with the devil showing all of the kingdoms of the world to Jesus in an instant in verse 5. As this devil character disappears, so too the devil leaves Jesus in verse 13. We get it, don’t sell your soul to the devil, but there’s a little bit more to it than that.  This sermon is entitled “Exam Day,” because I want to offer the analogy of what happens in preparing for and taking a test. The analogy isn’t perfect because Jesus isn’t facing just one day of testing, we’re told he was tempted for 40 days.  As we look at the text, I invite you to join in considering what is actually happening with Jesus temptations and statements, and then to look at what we might learn for examining our lives in this season of Lent.

           The passage begins “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” Having been filled with the Spirit at his baptism, the Spirit prepares Jesus, nourishes him, enables him for his ministry, but first he must handle this testing.  Growing up most of you who are students today have probably heard parents and teachers tell you to get a good breakfast before school especially when you have tests; they want you to be healthy, but also because the research shows that students do better when they are not hungry. Jesus is full when he comes into the desert, into the place of barrenness. We can’t look at this as if Jesus goes on a nice retreat to gather his thoughts, having a pleasant fast, and when day 40 comes along, only then does the devil try to tempt him 3 times and then disappears having been defeated. Jesus is in the barren desert, that empty wilderness where there is no food, having been led there by the Spirit. The Scripture doesn’t tell us he grumbles or complains like others have, but rather Jesus takes his plight and must trust his heavenly Father to provide. When he isn’t given nourishment Jesus keeps trusting even through battling the devil the entire time. Day 40 arrives and Jesus should not be pictured as just really hungry and ready to begin his ministry, but Jesus is probably running on the fumes of that baptismal filling of the Spirit, and it would seem that his tank of existence should be on empty as well as his ability to trust God. Satan comes to him, ready to finally overtake him. 

           The first temptation attacks Jesus’ humanity and Trinitarian trust. On the surface, Satan appears just wanting to get rid of his hunger. It’s as if Satan is saying, “Why do this to yourself? Just eat already.” Jesus is probably barely hanging on at 40 days, verse 2 tells us that he’s hungry. Satan knows that this is God in the flesh, I think we can say that he assumes Jesus is about to begin ministering to the people, a ministry that will include words and signs. “If you are really the Son of God, turn the stones to bread.” It seems harmless, just do it Jesus, fill your physical needs. Jesus sees the devil’s lies, as we see in his answer. “Man does not live by bread alone,” and if we were to check out the parallel passage in Matt. 4 or the source of these words in Deut. 8:3, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus relies on the mouth that feeds him. He trusts not in substance of nourishment, but from who it comes. For Jesus, entering the place of barrenness where no food grows is not a coincidence; Jesus trusts that if his Father wanted him to eat, he’d have him food. For Jesus, to fill his hunger by turning what is not food into food, would have been to tell the Spirit, “You brought me into this desert to die.” To tell the Father, “You have completely forsaken me, I can’t trust you.” 

           The prince of lies recognizes that he has been outwitted, and we move on to the second temptation, that attacks Jesus’ understanding of the sovereignty of God and his earthly mission. Satan takes him up to a high place, probably a mountain, and reveals “all the kingdoms of the world.” If the imagery from the commercial doesn’t seem appropriate to you, then consider the scene from the Lion King when Mufasa shows Simba “the pride lands” all that will one day be his. This temptation is an attempt by Satan to lead Jesus into a lie, into making him believe that God is not sovereign over all things, but that Satan, the prince of the world and of darkness has the ultimate authority and can choose to give it up. Bow down and I’ll give it to you in all its glory and splendor. It’s also an attempt for who is worshiped, which I believe is part of Jesus’ mission. Jesus was born, lived an earthly life, is now looking ahead at the ministry to which he is called; his divinity has not been lost in his human state, he is still fully God, and he has come to explain God’s will for his people, to redeem the lost once and for all, and to guide God’s children to worship the Father rather than putting hope in the Law. Jesus mission directs worship to God, and no one else. Satan takes a shot at Jesus to see if he still sees his Father, the one who he looks to for his provision, as in control when he has been in emptiness yet all of the world seems fruitful. But Jesus fends him off recognizing that only God receives worship and his service. He will not bow to the devil, he will not sell his soul like the commercial portrays; he still believes truly that his Father is his master, the Ruler of all things and the only one worthy of all glory and honor.

           It’s been 39 hard days on Jesus, and after 2 temptations today we have to think he’s as weary as one can be. If we can get in the mind of the devil, I think we hear, “Alright, fine, you understand your humanity and you trust in God, I’ll give you that Jesus. You also still know that God has ultimate control and why you’ve been sent; now you’re getting annoying. I got one last trick up my sleeve, and that’s to test the purity of Jesus’ motives.” So Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and tells him to jump, no strings attached, no safety net at the bottom. The Psalm says, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will life you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”  I imagine Jesus being frail, ready to collapse; maybe Satan’s temptation sounds good, “He’s right, I could just fall off and the angels will save me.” Many commentators point to doing this as a publicity stunt. Not only would the angels save him, but who can turn down a guy who says he’s the Messiah when they’ve seen him jump and not even hit the ground? Jesus has this opportunity to make a scene, and he could even make it for the glory of God, but it comes at the command of the devil and is done to force God into action. Jesus could choose at this moment to make his ministry about his own flair and charisma, about personal glory and be the exciting revolutionary that the Jews expected, but he knows it is not the time, it’s not his purpose, and his choice to continue denying the excessive and the extravagant and to continue trusting in the necessities that can only come from above. Finally Satan has had enough and leaves and the angels at the will of God come and attend. 

           These three temptations: stones to bread, worshiping the devil under the false pretense of receiving all authority, glory, and splendor of the world’s kingdoms, and jumping off the temple to show who he was. The themes of Jesus’ humanity and trust in the Trinity, his understanding of sovereignty and his earthly mission, and the purity of his motives. All of these point to Jesus sending a message that it’s not about his personal glory; Acts 17:25, when Paul is addressing the scholars of Athens concerning the idol to an unknown God, says that it is this God who, “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” Jesus came and he lived, he was filled by the Spirit (he had a great breakfast), and then he was led by the Counselor to endure that 40 day test in which he was emptied of everything except for life. He didn’t get any breaks or anyone to stand in for him so he could get a bite to eat, he didn’t grumble and complain in his situation as is seen elsewhere in Scripture; Jesus took what was given to him and he trusted the will of God. He proved that he needed nothing and that no one could take from him what he was sent to do. Jesus as God in the flesh is not served by human hands nor does he seek to serve himself, but he is the ultimate gracious giver and his experience of self-denial for 40 days reveals that he fully trusts the purpose given to him.   

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Church throughout the centuries has invited Christians to participate in a fast throughout the season of Lent. It’s not something done to add up brownie points on your ticket to heaven or to show you’re a better Christian than your neighbor; we are invited to fast from something to receive a glimpse of Jesus’ self-denial in preparation for Easter. We’ve experienced the growing season in the liturgical calendar, we’ve been fed all year long by the Spirit, now for 40 days we’re invited to be emptied of something that we hold dear, something that has become part of who we are. If you have chosen to give something up in this season of Lent, you are prone to temptation. If we’re serious about our fast for the purpose of self-denial and for repentance of the way these things detract from our worship of God, then we need to devote ourselves to being filled in the midst of our examination, in the midst of our temptation. If we don’t allow the Spirit to fill that void for us, then we’re open to attack. The message preached from this passage is appropriate for Lent and appropriate to those who fast, but it’s also appropriate for the entire year and to all parts of our lives. When the devil comes looking for us he hits both when we’re most filled by the Spirit as any competitor always wants to go after the champion, and when we’re weakest, when suffering vulnerability. As Satan comes to Jesus and points out his obvious issue of hunger, so too all of us have those weak spots, those points of entry that may be disguised as curiosity, as blending in with the crowd, of doing something that doesn’t seem so bad when looking at what someone else has done. The devil encourages us to just do it this one time, underneath the lie of everything will be alright. 

Our safety as Christians in the day-to-day life is the living Word of God that comes in the Bible, in prayer, and in discernment as we see Jesus quote Scripture; he tells us he loves us, he has redeemed us, and that he will provide. If you check the footnotes for where Jesus’ answers come from, you’ll find that they all come from Deuteronomy, where God speaks to his children Israel for how they are to live in the Promised Land. We have these great promises, we claim them to be true for us every week when we come together, but we want success, the big house, the perfect family image, the best education, the scenic office, the perfect car; we will chase after these things at all costs, thinking we’re the kings of our lives, forgetting that we have been created and bought at a price by God. God’s sovereignty stretches over all parts of our life; our reward is not in these earthly kingdoms of health and wealth but the treasures that await us in the new heaven and the new earth. We have the safety against temptation in the living and abiding Word of God, yet we often fail to use it don’t we? 

Brothers and sisters, whatever kingdom the devil has put before you, don’t put your trust there. The greatest news that we have is that our safety has a backup, and it’s not one that we operate. The safety I’m talking about is what this temptation prepares Jesus for, that is the ministry which culminates in a perfect person being led to the execution of the cross. Jesus ministry was not one of temptation or coercion; he didn’t force the people to do anything. He was willing to die for them though, to give up everything again, experiencing the barrenness of the sins of everyone who ever lived. The story lives on though with his resurrection, was filled by the Spirit, he was tested in the death of the world’s sin, and he rose to life, made full and whole on that third day. That’s what we look forward to in this season, in repenting and denying ourselves luxury, we anticipate and we celebrate together the life that has been won, the salvation which is claimed for us by God through Jesus Christ. It is in this eager anticipation of Christ’s second coming that we celebrate the feast of Christ each Sunday throughout this season. Our hope is not in this life, it is not in the things of this world, and it is surely not in our ability to tell God what to do. Don’t wait for the opportune time to commit yourself to him, come to him whether in weakness or strength, and trust that he will attend to all of your needs. The weaknesses we experience, brothers and sisters, are not more than we can handle, but even when we fall, we fall into the saving graces of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.