“The Greatest Temptation”

Luke 4:1-13
February 25, 2007

St. Paul United Methodist Church of Little Rock

Reverend John A. Fleming

In the neighborhood of my growing up years, behind the houses that wrapped between our house and the Woodall’s house, were woods that at the time seemed like a wilderness to me. These woods are long gone now, as are much of the people who lived in the houses in those years. The people have moved on to other neighborhoods. The woods, for the most part, have been replaced by subdivisions, office buildings, and asphalt.

When I was a kid, the woods were the perfect place for me and my friends to roam and hide and play. On Friday nights, us neighborhood kids would gather behind Freddy Young’s house to place a game called jailbreak. Jailbreak, basically, was hide and go seek played with teams. Boundaries were set, of course. No one could hide beyond the Kilburn’s house or past the Woodall’s property. There were plenty places to hide. But the best places were in the woods, snuggled against a tree, or hiding along the bank of a ditch.

During the day, the woods were a place to explore. The best way, or maybe I should say the fastest way for me to get to the woods was to go out my back door, across the Exum’s back yard, down the hill that belonged to the Curtis family, down a small sandy embankment, and across a pipe that carried God only knows what. When I was a kid, scooching across the pipe was what I did. My hands were out in front of me. I pressed up on my arms and made my way across that pipe. When I was a little older and a lot braver, I would hold out my hands and balance my way across the pipe, always hoping that I wouldn’t fall into the muddy waters.

There were all kinds of things back in those woods. There were trails to explore. There was a fort built by older kids. It was made of scraps of lumber. It was a hiding place for some and a place to smoke for others.

It is funny what I remember. For some reason, from time to time, I remember those woods. When I do, one thought comes to my mind. It is this one. When I was back there, by myself, I felt all one. I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, miles from home. Home, though, was only minutes away. I guess one of the lessons I learned from the woods, one that I still think about from time to time is this one: the wilderness, often, isn’t very far away.

Jesus must have known that. In our gospel lesson for today, taken from Luke’s fourth chapter, Jesus is still wet from the waters of his baptism. As our District Superintendent put this recently, “God’s, ‘You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased,’ was still echoing in his ears.” Luke tells us that the Spirit led him out to the wilderness where the temptations came.

The lectionary serves us this story every year on the first Sunday in the season of Lent. Look at Jesus. He is young. He is bright. He is gifted. Rumor has it that he was first in his class at Nazareth High School. I heard that he was voted, “Most likely to succeed” by his graduating class.

Jesus is gifted. And let me tell you something you probably already know, temptations are plentiful for those who are gifted. So Jesus heads out to the wilderness, led there by the Spirit. He is out there for forty days and forty nights. I don’t mind telling you that that period of time is a lot longer than any of us would want to be in the desert alone.

Jesus must be made of tougher things than we are made of. But let me tell you this. As long as those forty days are, the forty, chilly nights must have been longer.

We know this story. Near the end of the time, the devil appears to Jesus. Jesus is vulnerable now. Jesus is hungry. Jesus is alone. And while he is all three of those things, the temptations come.

I don’t mind telling you something about these temptations. The three together are a job offer that would be difficult for any young and shining star to turn down. What the devil offers are these three things: power, success, and influence.

Jesus is tempted. He’s put to the test. His identity is up for grabs. The real question is this one, “Who will He be, really?” Will He be the one God called Him to be? Will He be the One God set Him apart to be? Or will he be someone else? Will He use the gifts God has given him in the way God intended them to be used? Or would He be someone or something He is not? Oh, that’s always the temptation!

Let me remind you of what Jesus discovered. Jesus discovered that the temptations are the strongest precisely where we have a lot of gifts. Jesus also discovered that temptations come when we are the most vulnerable. All of us here are bright and smart and perceptive. If the devil popped up in our lives this afternoon, wearing a red suit and sporting a pointy tail, with a pitchfork in his hand, we’d run for cover. We would head for the hills! We are smarter than that!

I am not sure who said it, but somewhere in my mind is the quote, “The devil tells me exactly what I want the most to hear.” That is true.

Consider the story of the preacher who decided that he might purchase a motorcycle. He drove to the lot. A salesman came out and noticed the pastor eying one of the bikes. He approached him and said, “That bike is the most powerful one on this lot! She will go from zero to sixty in less than six seconds. Jet black fuel. Chrome muffler. Raised handlebars.” Then he asked, “Can’t you just see yourself flying down the road on this baby? Every woman in town would be watching you.” He was trying to seal the deal. He asked, “Tell me. What do you do?” The man answered, “I am a minister.” The salesman said, “This motorcycle is the safest one of the lost. It comes with two helmets and driving lessons. Think of the money you will save, Reverend, on gas. You can give that money back to the church!” I have never been to buy a motorcycle, but I would think that the first sales pitch would have been stronger than the second one.

How does temptation work in our lives? Our temptations tell us exactly what we want to hear. Temptations, these days, hit us where we are gifted. Temptations lure us to be someone we are not. Temptations come in times of self doubt. They arrive when we are down. Temptations show up when we are weary. You might even say that they arrive when we are weary of doing the right thing.

I hope you noticed our sermon title for this morning. It’s this one, The Greatest Temptation. It is pretty boring as far as sermon titles go. What I want you to know is that the greatest temptation, the one that is head and shoulders above all the other ones, is the temptation to be someone other than the one God called you to be.

The real question this morning, then, is, “Who has God called you to be?” The follow up one is this one, “Who will you be?”

Sometime in my past, I was made to read a play whose title is Death of a Salesman. You may not have read the play, but you’ve probably heard of it. It’s the story of an American family. The father in the story is Willie Loman. Willie is a traveling salesman whose area is the posh one in the New England countryside. At the end of the story, Willie loses his job. As it turns out, he loses more than that. Willie also loses what he believes is the respect of his community, but more importantly the reverence of his family.

In the end, Willie Loman ends his own life in hopes that the insurance policy that he has will help his family to make ends meet. It is clear that Willie Loman does not know who he is. Willie is tempted to believe that his life is about success, money, power, and a great image.

At one point, early in the play, Willie takes his boys on his route. He turns to them and says, “Boys, they know me up here. The finest people are here. When I bring you boys up here, the doors will be open for all of us. Cause one thing’s for sure. I have friends in high places. I can park my car on any street and the cops will protect it as if it were their own.”

Near the end of the play is Willie Loman’s funeral. Only Willie’s family and his best friend attend the service. One of his sons, now grown, says something like this, “Daddy didn’t know who he was.”

Jesus knew who He was. These temptations have everything to do with who He was and who He would become. Would He stay true to the One who created Him, who called Him, who put these gifts inside of Him? Would He be the one who would guide us, His disciples, down a path towards the Kingdom of Heaven? The road Jesus led us down was not paved with success and power and prestige. This road was paved with things like hopes and dreams and saved lives. Would Jesus lead us down that road, or another road?

Well, we know the answer to the question. The one still left to be answered is the one about us. Who will we be? Who will we become? The greatest temptation is to become someone besides the one God created you to be. Let us pray.