Faithful Temptation

Deuteronomy 26.1-11

Luke 4.1-15

Faithful temptation

The New Testament and Old Testament reading this week compliment each other well. Deuteronomy 26.1-11 is part of the farewell speeches attributed to Moses before his departure. In these particular versus Moses is giving instruction on The Feast of Weeks, more specifically the liturgy of First Fruits therein. This instruction includes remembering how God called them from Egypt, through the wilderness and eventually into the land flowing with Milk and honey. It includes a call to repentance and of course an offering of the firstfruits as a response to Gods faithfulness. This liturgical act of worship highlights the faithfulness of God to a people who were powerless, a God who delivers a barren people to abundance and an oppressed people to freedom. This theme has an important connection to the New Testament reading from this week.

It is fair to say that many people read the temptation of Jesus and relate this to temptation in their own lives. This then flows on to Jesus being an ultimate example of enduring in the face of temptation. The story of Christ's temptation is full of rich symbology. We are told that this temptation took place in the wilderness. The wilderness is used throughout scripture as a place of barrenness but also as a place where people encounter and are supported by God. It is the place to which the scapegoat was sent out from the tents of the people of Israel, as well as the place Moses and many of the prophets heard the voice of God. It is fitting that the temptation of Christ happens in such a place. The narrative tells of a hungry and exhausted Jesus who has come to the end of his temptation. His adversary (the devil) holds all of the power in this scenario and decides when it begins and when it will end. He begins by appealing to his hunger and offering him bread. Jesus declines his request, and dismissing his own hunger, instead quotes from scripture (Deuteronomy). This temptation is followed by the offer of all the kingdoms of the world and a relationship with the devil in exchange for his identity as Gods son. Jesus rejects this request and instead reminds himself of his call to worship. The final temptation takes place on the Temple of Jerusalem. This time the devil leads with a quotation of his own from Psalm 91. Jesus refuses to take the devils offer to put God to the test. The devil decides to end the temptations and leaves Jesus alone to be filled by the Spirit.

This story does two important things for us this week. Firstly it shows Christ's unique willingness and ability to take on the title of the Son of God, something only prescribed to him in Lukes Gospel to this point. Secondly, it is a perfect example of faithfulness to God.

This scene is not so much about temptation as it is about faithfulness.

The reading from Deuteronomy is a reminder of Gods never-failing faithfulness to Gods people. This is such an important part of Judeo-Christian faith that is is written into an ancient liturgy and continues to be in modern liturgies of many forms. Gods faithfulness shines in and through all things, filling creation with Grace. The Gospel reading is an ultimate example of faith in God. This is a truly divine dance between God and creation, faith flowing both ways.

Of course, we can only ever aspire to the type of faithfulness Christ exhibits in Lukes Gospel. Temptation is all around us, every second of every day. Temptation will look different for each person and it is up to us to decide what is life-giving and what is not. The temptation to put our identity in Christ aside can be felt whenever we are tempted to place economic “sensibleness” before generosity, convenience before environmental sustainability, party politics before caring for our neighbor, and judgement before acceptance. We can find ourselves doing mental gymnastics to justify almost anything, especially if it means we don't have to question our solid identity. Faithfulness means doing the tough yet important work of stripping away our ego in order to let wisdom guide us.

The beautiful lesson in these scriptures is that if we fail in faithfulness (and at times we will) we can be assured that the faithfulness of God will offer us the grace to get back up and try again.