The Temptation

Hebrews 4:15 (New International Version)

¹⁵For 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.

I will readily admit that the above verse has given me fits for years. First, because I am tempted to do horrible things. I know that He knows what I am tempted to do, but the thought of Him being tempted to do those things has always bothered me, even though that is probably not what the verse means.

The other reason the verse has given me fits is because I've had trouble getting temptation story as presented in the Gospels to gel with "...has been tempted in every way, just as we are...". Mainly, because I've never been tempted to turn stone into bread or jump off something tall. Therefore, anytime I came to the accounts of the temptation, I either glossed over it with the ole "Jesus answered temptation with scripture, so should you"* line or got too deep in the weeds with the "could he have sinned, or couldn't he?" tailspin. I even taught through Matthew in a Bible study last year, and my notes for the week of Matthew 4 simply read "Temptation story" and move on from there. However, in reading through Matthew again, and now Luke, Christ's temptation stuck with me, and I had to figure out why it was there and what it means. Again, my challenge to myself this year was to read the gospels without the aid of commentaries and books. Just Christ and His words - nothing more. Which is fine, until you come upon a passage that poses an interpretation problem. So, here is my take on the temptation story. I'm no theologian, I just played one for youth groups in the 90's.

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" -Matthew 4:2-4

This one might be easier to grasp. Look, as I sit here, I'm not in the least bit hungry. But if I could, I'd turn the throw pillow into a plate of sour cream chicken enchiladas, just because I could (and it's impossible to find them in California). So I get it. There are no short cuts to success. Look at Esau. He gave up his birth-right because he hadn't eaten since, like, breakfast. But there is more too it. Jesus was, in order to be Christ, both human and God. This was a temptation to give up his humanity. Since the garden, there has been a process for man to achieve food. Either hunting or growing. The temptation was for skip that process. Don't plant, weed, water, harvest, grind and bake; just do what you are capable of doing - making something out of nothing. Sounds almost reasonable. But to do that, the verse from Hebrews couldn't be written. He kept his humanity, thus he kept the ability to relate to us, and to be the sacrifice for us.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple."If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" -Matthew 4:5-7

Well, why not? If the one thing God desires is the praise from His people, then this would achieve it. It would be obvious, Jesus was The Messiah. Right? Well, no. Look, in the garden, a guard gets his ear cut off, and Jesus reattaches is....and they arrest him anyway. Before that he healed a guy, and they Pharisees were P.O.'d that he'd done it on the sabbath. They had all sorts of evidence that Jesus was The One. But maybe this would have sealed the deal. Maybe doing this would have opened the eyes of the people. So they would have worshiped him. Out of fear and duty. God wants our praise, yes. But Jesus made it clear that he wants to hear the praise from the blind who could see, the cleansed lepers, the knees bent in worship that were once twisted from disease & sinners saved by Grace. His kingdom would not be filled with empty accolades from politicians who wanted his ear or those worshiping him for fear that, if they didn't, they'd get what was coming to them. His Kingdom was not to be built on the expected. Because no one expected the ideal. This would have left the ideal behind.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. - Matthew 4:8-10

We, as a whole, have a hard time seeing beyond the next five minutes. We forget recent history at an alarming rate. We've seen it before; Godly man or woman does something completly out of character and falls. Because human nature doesn't like to wait. If the first temptation was to give up his humanity, this one was asking Him to give up the Divine. "One day, "every knee shall bow..", but why wait that loooong. You could do it now. You deserve it.". Sound familiar? It does to me, because appealing to that base human desire of "NOW!" is a good portion of every temptation I face. Tempting me to give up the Divine nature living and working (most day, working overtime) on me, and feed that screaming 2 year old know as "man" inside of me. He could have ruled right then. But that meant that he would have given up part of himself.

Well, so what? First, this tells me there is no such thing as an easy way out. Process and order are there for a reason. And when I hear that voice telling me "You're getting to be a bigshot, not many people do what you do..and certainly not in the length of time you've done it...you deserve ______", I should remember where it's coming from. Also, I think that I settle for second best too often. God had an ideal, and stuck to that. Jesus should be my only example.

How 'bout you? What does the temptation of Jesus teach you? How does his responses help you?

*Not taking that point likely here. His responses to the temptation are the example to follow. I'm just saying that I, at least, fall into the trap of hearing one emphasis on a passage, and never getting around to exploring the other sides.