There’s an old story of a woman who locked her keys in her car. She was in a rough part of town, didn’t see any obvious source of help and very much wanted to get into her car. Looking around, she spotted an old coat hanger lying nearby. So she grabbed it and tried to use it to break into her car. She worked at it for a while, but despite her best efforts she was still locked out. She was beginning to feel desperate. So she prayed, “Dear God, please send someone to help me.” A few minutes later, an old, rusty car pulled into the lonely parking lot. The driver got out and started to walk toward her. He was bearded, tattooed, wearing a Harley Davidson doo rag—altogether a rough looking fella. The woman thought, “Holy cow! This can’t be who God sent to help me?” But the man asked if she needed help. Desperate, she said, “Yes. I’m locked out of my car. Can you break into it for me?”
“Sure can,” he replied. “I’m pretty good at that.” He asked her for the coat hanger, walked up to her car door, and in less than a minute he had the car unlocked and the door open.
The grateful woman gave him a big hug. “Thank you so much,” she said. “You are such a nice man.”
But the man shook his head. “Lady,” he replied, “I’m not a nice man. I just got out of prison about an hour ago. I served two years for stealing cars.”
With great enthusiasm, the woman hugged the man again and exclaimed, “Thank you, God, for sending me a professional!".
As we begin the season of Lent, with its focus on repentance, and as we ponder our Gospel reading and the prevalence of temptation in our lives, we might very well give thanks to God for sending us a professional named Jesus.
In our scripture, Jesus, having just been baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, has been led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to fast and pray in preparation for his ministry. While he is there, he is tempted by the devil. Our scripture recounts an occasion on which Jesus was tempted three times. However, the second verse suggests he was tempted on a daily basis for the entire forty days he was in the wilderness.
Though most of us have heard this story from scripture multiple times, it may seem strange to think of Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the World, being tempted. But when we stop and think about it, Jesus’ experience makes sense and it tells us a lot about who he is and what he was sent to do.
Back at Christmas we celebrated the incarnation—God becoming human in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. As John’s Gospel declares, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God moved into our neighborhood, as it was. God became one of us and experienced human life. As Jessica LaGrone puts it, “When God took on flesh in the person of Jesus, God moved into a whole new neighborhood and set of experiences.” Now Jesus, God in the flesh, is beginning his ministry and it begins with something very human, something we can all relate to: temptation.
Jesus’ specific temptations are about his ministry and identity. None of the temptations are to do bad things, per se. They are more about doing good things for the wrong reasons. Bread is good, because our bodies need food, and Jesus hadn’t eaten in forty days. More than that, if he can feed himself in such a manner, he could certainly feed others. But there is more to Jesus ministry than satisfying physical needs (though he will certainly do this). Humans are more than just material beings. We have spiritual needs which also must be met: purpose, meaning, community, love.
Similarly, ruling the world is what Jesus is destined to do. Gabriel had told Mary that her son would be the heir to David’s throne and his kingdom would have no end. But there are right ways and wrong ways to do this. One cannot establish God’s just kingdom using the world’s ways of violence and exploitation. God’s reign comes through self-giving love.
The final test is to prove his identity as the Son of God. Jesus is tempted to do so dramatically with a great show of power. This would be an act of self-glorification. But, Jesus will prove his identity by his obedience to God and his willingness to sacrifice himself for our sakes.
Jesus resists all of these temptations and fully embraces his identity and mission as the Messiah, the Son of God.
That’s pretty elevated stuff, not exactly a scenario we are likely to encounter. But Nancy Koester demonstrates how Jesus’ three temptations are, at core, similar to the temptations that face us. “First,” she writes, “Satan tempted Jesus to unbelief: “God is not taking care of you, so take care of yourself and turn these stones into bread….” Next Satan tempted Jesus to despair: “Satan is in charge, not God, so play for the winning team.” Jesus did not f so Satan tried one last temptation. If Jesus would not surrender his faith, he might possibly misuse it.” Since Jesus trusted in God, he should put God to the test and demonstrate God’s power and Jesus’ identity as God’s son for all to see.
Unbelief, despair, the misuse of our faith for personal gain—surely these are all temptations which we have faced, or will face. How easy it is to experience unbelief, a lack of faith in God. Sometimes, when life gets overwhelming, God seems absent, salvation from the difficulties of life seems far off. We wonder if God really cares or even if God really exists. As for despair, there is plenty in the world to tempt us to give up. Sometimes it seems evil is winning. Violent, selfish men have their way and the innocent suffer. “Right forever on the scaffold; wrong forever on the throne,” as the old hymn says. And the temptation to misuse our faith, to turn our religion into a means of personal advancement or gain is all too easy to fall into. Sometimes we want to draw attention to ourselves, to have people know how great we are, what we have done or can do. Yes, Jesus’ temptations seem pretty familiar.
As Shively Smith observes, we live in a world “obsessed with instant remedies, dominance and self-gratification” but God calls us to be “patient, equitable, and altruistic.” This is no small task. The temptations of our society are constant and strong. We inevitably give in. We too often choose to trust ourselves, or technology, or politicians, or wealth and possessions, instead of trusting God. We think the solution to our problems is power and control, when it is actually love, the Christ-like love which creates community. We seek to meet our own needs, often justifying selfishness with appeals to our religion, instead of heeding God’s call to compassion and grace.
We fall to temptation, but Jesus does not. He remains faithful. He maintains his trust in God, because ultimately, that’s what all these temptations are about: do we trust God or do we put our trust in someone or something else? Jesus remains faithful to God and to his calling. That is why he is our Savior—he does what we cannot. He overcomes temptation and shows us what humans are called to be: faithful, loving, compassionate, children of God.
There is Good News here: Jesus is able to sympathize with us because he too has endured temptation. He knows what we go through. He knows how hard it is to be faithful; how hard it is to choose and do what is right, how hard it is sometimes to even discern what is good and right. Having been tested as we are, he is gracious towards us. He offers us a forgiving, helping hand in order to lead is in the right path.
So, as we begin our Lenten journey this year, and continue our life-long Christian journey, let us give thanks that God has sent us a professional, one who has experienced temptation and overcome it. Let us recall that in Christ God has moved into our neighborhood and even journeyed through the wilderness so that our plight is not alien to God. Let us trust that God is good and at work in our lives and world. Let us trust that the Holy Spirit is present to lead us, even through the wildernesses of trial and temptation. Let us rejoice, because as Jessica LaGrone declares, even though we will inevitably walk “through desert times of loneliness, emptiness, and temptation to sin….we have a Savior who has promised to walk beside us every step” of the way.