First Sunday in Lent

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written,

'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

'He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,'

and

'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

* * *

The temptation of Jesus is, to me, one of the most relevant passages in the Bible to our daily lives. All of us, daily are tempted, whether it be to break our diet, to "win" something in the wrong way, or to doubt our faith. The possibilities, and the temptations, are endless. I know that I myself fight with temptation, big and small, every day. And, unlike the stories in the Bible, the temptations we face in our daily lives and the "right" choices are not always immediately obvious. Often they are hidden, often the "right" choice is not easily defined. This is perhaps the greatest struggle of our adult lives: to live a life of good choices, to be a good person, to stand by our commitments, to follow Jesus' example, to have faith.

And yet these are also some of the most basic lessons from the Bible that we teach children. Be true to yourself. Know who you are. Do not give in to temptation. Take the high road. Goodness is it's own reward. Trust that God will lead the way, light your path, set you on the course of life that is right for you. Is it odd that we stake out these positions for children in such black and white terms, when frequently they arise in situations that are anything but clear cut?

What would have been the most difficult of Jesus' temptations for you, the reader, to bear? For me, it would be the third. At the point at which Jesus is likely physically and emotionally weakened from fasting and the prior two temptations, how easy would it have been for him to say, fine, you don't believe I am the Son of God? You don't believe that God protects his own? Fine. Here it is. Now do you believe me? And I personally find that temptation the most, well, tempting from an absolute standpoint. It's the most intangible, it's the one that has nothing to do with the physical. It rests solely on faith, on belief, on the unknown. It is the one that, in my own life, when things do not go as I had hoped or planned, I try to remind myself of, over and over again. Do not test God. He needs no testing. He has nothing to prove. Just open your heart, accept God's love, and have faith.