Temptation Lent 1

The subject on the first Sunday of Lent is Christ’s temptation in the wilderness.
We’re going to look at that, and then consider how we may resist and overcome temptation.
I have had a DVD of the Last Temptation of Christ (1988) for a couple of years. I don’t know where it came from, but I had not watched it. As I was destined to preach to you on the subject of Christ’s temptations I decided to watch it. I recall the controversy surrounding the film back in 1988, which may have put me off…. but now it was time to find out what it was about. Directed by Martin Scorsese the film is based upon the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, whose written introduction, given to us at the beginning, indicates his own struggle in his life between the flesh and the Spirit. So, a very human Jesus is portrayed. Far from the Jesus I read about in the Gospels, he confesses his sins, he is driven almost to insanity, he wonders if he is no more than a man, and with each healing he anguishes over those whom he has not healed. He seems to vacillate between demanding love for all people, and joining Judas (who is portrayed as a Zealot) in encouraging armed rebellion against the Romans. In his final temptation, the subject of the film, as he hangs on the cross, Jesus apparently latches onto the taunts, ‘If you are the Christ come down from the cross.’ and what appears to him and us as an angel calls him to come down and live. Up to this point the film is rather rambling, but now it begins to reach its climax. Jesus imagines what his life might have been like as an ordinary man. He pictures himself marrying Mary Magdalene, having kids and growing old. But remembering that all this is a temptation he is experiencing as he hangs on the cross the dream takes him to where he is dying an old man in his bed. Judas turns up to reproach him for abandoning his special mission, shows him that the so-called angel that persuaded him to come down from the cross is in fact Satan, and he snaps out of it to his final suffering on the cross, crying ‘It is accomplished’. So, although Kazantzakis takes Christ’s humanity too far, making him fall into sin and fail, he does seem to get the story right at the end.

Many Christians were outraged by the film and considered it blasphemous, which it was if you judge it by the standards of Christian orthodoxy. Blockbuster refused to carry it. But what clearly outraged and threatened many Christians was the notion of a fully human Jesus who experienced bitter trials and temptations just like you and I do---torment, doubt, loneliness, nagging questions, fantasies, confusion, despair, and even sexual struggles. The last temptation includes making love to Mary Magdalene. For many believers that sort of temptation was, well, way too tempting, which is to say, way too human and hence the backlash to the film. For me, however, that was not the problem with the film …as he is seen to resist the temptation in the final analysis.

In the Gospel reading from Matthew this week we read that Jesus was tempted or tried: (read Matthew 4:1) The Spirit of God descended upon Jesus in baptism, and then the Spirit of God cast him into the desert for trial and temptation.

Trying to decipher the psychology of Jesus is risky business, but we should not miss the point that Jesus was tempted and tried by Satan. Matthew and Luke specify three temptations: turning stones to bread, throwing himself down from the temple, and accepting the glories of earthly kingdoms. Interpreters have variously categorized these three temptations…. but does that matter so much because we know these were not Jesus’s only temptations. Luke writes that at the end of the forty day trial Satan left Jesus only “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). The EvilOne came back, again and again, those next three years. Jesus’s ultimate temptation, and the ultimate despair anyone can experience, was the sense of feeling forsaken by God in Gethsemane.

We can safely say that Jesus was tempted not only in the desert but throughout his entire earthly life. The writer to the Hebrews says as much, but he makes a very important statement in it.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are---yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV).
1. yet was without sin….. ‘there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin’. A fallen Christ could not have been a sufficient sacrifice.
2. Let’s just look at that again, thinking about temptation….I find it hard to take on board that Jesus was truly tempted and tried like I am.. But this is what the writer to the Hebrews tells us; Jesus was tried “in every way,” it says, “just as we are.”
3. It is because of these two things put together…. that he is able to help us. He could not have helped us had he sinned. But he has experienced that temptation AND was without sin.

What this means is that the God who loves us is fully aware of and empathises with all the ambiguities, complexities, trials and temptations of our lives. He is not a distant disinterested god. Quite the opposite. If you have felt weak, then remember that Jesus is not condemning you but sympathizing with you. If you experience trials and temptations, then don’t forget that he has too, perhaps far more than we ever will. When you feel forgotten and forsaken by God, Jesus knew what that was like. If your trials tempt you to despair and turn away from God, Jesus encourages us to do the opposite, “take confidence, come to me for grace and help because I have experienced what you are enduring.”

Having been tempted and tried himself, Jesus is the friend of sinners, not their enemy. One of the more remarkable characterizations of Jesus in the Gospels is that he was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34). We read that social and moral outcasts flocked around Jesus, attracting the fury of the religiously righteous. They clearly felt safe with Jesus, accepted, embraced, and welcomed by Him.
As the friend of sinners who suffered trials and temptations, “he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). He is for us, not against us.
…and as we read 1 Cor 1013 the temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.



To conclude then:

No matter how desirable, alluring, appealing, tantalizing, or inviting the sin may be, we must not commit it. We cannot get sucked into Satan’s web of deceit. Nothing in this world is worth ruining our reputations, and far worse ruining our fellowship with our Lord.

We must say "no" to temptation; we must say “no” to sin!

…and to enable us to resist, we are to rely on the strength of God:

 (Eph. 6:10-11) “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
That verse from Hebrews again:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are---yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV).
So, this morning we come again to that throne of grace.