The Tempter

A Sermon Preached by

The Rev. Paul Debenport

March 7, 2010

Hear God’s Word from Matthew 4: 1—11:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.  The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written, `One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, `He will command his angels concerning you,” and `On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”  Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, `Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”  Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

The Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

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          Temptation is my theme this Lent; this is my second sermon in the series.  But while the topic is temptation, the spiritual issue is “sanctification”—the theological word for the processes God uses to help us become more and more who and what we are to be as beloved children of God and as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.  If we are to develop spiritually as God intends, we must follow Jesus into this wilderness to struggle with, overcome and renounce [often over and over again] these three temptations.  They are not the only way to a closer spiritual relationship God, but they a most significant way.[1]

          So far I’ve noted that temptation itself is not evil and that the process of temptation is how both character and faithfulness are forged.  I also noted that Jesus is in the wilderness of temptation not because he has departed from God’s will, nor because “the Devil made him do it,” but rather because God’s Spirit led him there to be tested.  Hence, most often those most seeking to follow Jesus are the ones most struggling with temptation to evil.  Theologian Fred Craddock put it more bluntly, saying:  “Take a poll among the churches, and you will find that it’s usually the obedient and not the disobedient who are struggling, being opposed and tested.  The disobedient seem to have a knack for locating the cushions.”[2]  So strange as it sounds, struggling with these temptations, though difficult and painful, is a way to sanctification, a way to our spiritual home with God.

          So let’s start where Jesus started, with encountering the devil.  A while back, Newsweek ran a cover story entitled Whatever Happened to Satan? which was similar to Dr. Karl Menniger’s earlier book Whatever Became of Sin?  Both noted that what used to be dealt with as theological issues, now have been secularized and treated more as legal, medical, and psychological “conditions.”  The Newsweek article noted that most Americans answered a poll that they didn’t believe in Satan.  This can remind us that how the question is asked determines to a great degree the outcome of a poll.  If they had asked “do you believe there is a power or force of evil active in the world,” surely most would have checked “yes.”  For can anyone in their right mind deny the reality and power of evil in this world?  After experiencing the 9-11 terrorists’ attacks here, after watching suicide bombers kill and maim innocents for years now, after the genocides of Darfur, the Jews in Europe in the twentieth century, our own Native American populations in the nineteenth century, and on and on back in time, can we really deny that there is another team on the field besides God’s?

With all the wreckage of marriages and families from adultery and drug, alcohol, and spousal and child abuse, can we casually dismiss the idea of the demonic?  With how unchecked greed and lust for power contaminate and pollute not only our earth, but also our very best institutions: banks, education, business, government, charities and even the church, can we really not believe in evil, the Devil, Satan, the Tempter?   

          So let’s not miss the dark truth by arguing over terminology.  Call it evil, or the demonic, as I prefer, or personify it and call it the Devil, Satan, or The Tempter, as today’s passage does.  Call it “the Prince of Darkness Grim,” as Luther did in our hymn today.  Or even call it “Voldemort” or “He-who-must-not-be-named,” but call it something, for we must name it and not pretend it doesn’t exist.  We must take the Tempter seriously, if we are ever more to resist and renounce its power in our world and in ourselves, for:  Evil is.  Satan is.  The Devil is.  The Tempter is and is powerfully at work in our world and in each and every one of us, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  It’s not as powerful as God, and God shall be triumphant in the fullness of time, as Easter demonstrates, but evil must be identified, resisted and renounced by all of us if we are to be ever more faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, who was tempted in every way as we are.

          But identifying evil is not as simple as we would like to think.  Evil is a mystery, as is good.  So a note of caution must be sounded.  Through the centuries, much evil has been done by good Christian individuals, by nations, and by the church in the name of doing good,

as in The Inquisitions, the Witch Hunts of Salem, racial and gender prejudice and discrimination and the like.  Note that in today’s passage, the Tempter could quote scripture quite seductively.  And it’s the same for us individually.  Few choose to do evil intentionally.  We often do evil because we do not recognize it as evil; likewise, often we fail to do good because we do not recognize it as imperatively good.  Both good and evil have properties that deceive us.  Especially evil.  Most often evil glitters and attracts.  It plays on our desires, our wants, even our needs.  Most often evil does not present itself as repulsive; more frequently it is fascinating.  In fact, one of the classical names for the Devil is Lucifer, from the Latin for light.  In ancient mythology, Lucifer is described as shining.  So evil has this paradoxical quality of being hideous in its outcomes, yet appearing attractive.[3]  The synonyms for temptation make this clear:  allure, entice, seduce, tantalize, beguile, entrap, snare, captivate, charm, lure, impress, beckon.  The Tempter, hence temptation, is deceptive in nature, shining and appealing.  When we combine this with the fact that we humans have enormous ability to deceive ourselves—psychologists call it rationalization, justification, and denial—we can see why identifying evil as evil, while critical, is difficult for us.

          “Good” is deceptive as well, though in the opposite way.  Often goodness has no initial or immediate appeal.  It usually involves delay or denial of immediate or even long term gratification of our wants, desires, or needs.  Good seems to lack attractiveness because it restricts us or imposes limits on us.  Evil attracts because it doesn’t seem to impose any limits on us.  It makes the alluring appeal that life without boundaries is good, fun, exciting, when in reality life without boundaries is chaos, with all the destruction that comes with it.  Remember that the original temptation narrative in the garden of Eden was to live life without God’s good boundaries.  So, being alert both to the deceptiveness of the Evil One and the propensity to self-deception in us is a good beginning to identifying, resisting, and renouncing evil in our lives.

          These same confusing dynamics forced themselves on Jesus during his crisis struggle with the Tempter in the desert.  Here Jesus is wrestling with the long-term will of God verses his own short-term human desires, wants, and basic needs.  For here Jesus is not being called to renounce something that is overtly bad; rather, he is being called to renounce something which is good.  All three of Jesus temptations—the temptation of material goods, the temptation of security, and the temptation of prestige and power—are not evil in and of themselves.  All are good and even needed, but in their goodness is our tendency to worship them, serve them, be seduced by them; hence, is the struggle for our souls and our callings, as they were for Jesus’ soul and calling.

          O.K.  Like the old movie sequels of my childhood, I must flash a “To Be Continued” on this sermon screen, as I’m out of time for today.  But I have some homework for you:  spend some time this week discerning when you have been tempted by what initially looked and felt good, but turned out to be evil in destructive disguise.  And conversely, when something good, got out of bounds and became evil.  Consciously and intentionally struggle with the seductive appeal of the wonders of the material, physical world that glitter around and in us.  If you have experiences or insights you can and wish to share with me, please email me or come to my class Wednesday at noon. 

Amen.