Facing Temptation in the Wilderness

The lectionary text for this week is Luke 4 and the story of Jesus facing temptations in the wilderness. This is such a familiar text, but when you really look at Luke’s account, there are some interesting parts that are easy to miss.

At the beginning of the passage Luke says, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” When Jesus went into the wilderness he was already filled with the Holy Spirit. He already had everything he needed to survive the wilderness and to resist temptation because the Spirit was already on him. Further, it was the Spirit that led him into the wilderness. This was the place God wanted Jesus to go. God had a distinctive plan and will for Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus went into the wilderness to fast and pray. He didn’t go into the wilderness to be tempted. Filled with the Spirit Jesus went into the wilderness to focus on the ministry he had been called to. This was his time of preparation before his ministry would begin. But, it was also an opportune time for Satan to try and derail his calling.

God’s will isn’t for us to face temptation. God tests our faith but God does not tempt us into sin. Satan brings temptations of evil into the world and into our lives. Unfortunately, we all too readily bring temptations on ourselves as well. Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days. These three that are recorded weren’t the only temptations Jesus faced. I am sure Satan opened up the whole arsenal and tempted Jesus with every temptation there is. It was finally after 40 days of fast, preparing, praying and resisting temptations that Satan found his in road. Jesus was hungry. Nothing wrong with being hungry, especially after 40 days of fasting. But, Satan took even this normal part of life and turned it into a temptation for Christ.

As we go into the Lenten wilderness we go for the same reasons as Jesus did. We go to be prepared, to listen, to live into God’s will for our lives. But, we understand that when we try our hardest to focus on God, that is when temptation hits us the most. Why do we see so many leaders in the church fall? Why do marriages of those in the church, especially in leadership seem so vulnerable? Why when you want the most to seek God do others things stand in your way? When we seek God and try to set aside the distractions of this world and of our souls that is when temptation comes to find us.

At the end of the passage, after Jesus has rebuffed Satan and his temptations, Luke records these words. “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” The devil left him until another opportune time! That is the challenge of our life. At the most opportune time, or in our case the most inopportune time, temptation comes to devour us. So we must be ready. We too, like Jesus, must live lives filled with the Holy Spirit. We must live the Word of God so that we too can quote it and have it not be mere words but the strength of our lives. We must prepare ourselves for times when we will be must vulnerable.

As you go into the Lenten Wilderness, therefore, do not go unknowingly. Go with the knowledge that focusing your life on God will bring with it an onslaught by the enemy. Ridding your life on unnecessary noise and clutter to create space for God will undoubtedly be followed up by seemingly innocuous attempts by the world to break back in. So be filled with the Holy Spirit that you may be led where he directs and hear what you are to hear. And seek with vigor the life God has called you to. Amen.