Temptation - Good Enough 2-26-23
Temptation – Good Enough
Gen 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Mt 4:1-11
Gen 2:15-17, 3:1-7
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Mt 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Prayer – As we begin the season of Lent, O Lord, we admit that we have doubts, uncertainties and temptations. Even as your followers we admit that we are often your stumbling, hesitant and fearful followers. Help us in our times of trial to remain faithful to you. Sometimes our temptations come from others who would deter us from living a faithful life. Whether our temptations comes from within us or come upon us from others, grant us the courage to remember our blessedness and that we indeed, like all of your beloved children are good enough – amen.
Jesus begins his ministry with a conflicted and contentious encounter with the devil. Immediately after hearing the words of eternal belovedness at his baptism, the Spirit leads Jesus out into the desolate wilderness where he is, or was, vulnerable to an assault upon who he is as the beloved. It’s curious to me that the ‘Spirit’ leads Jesus into a place of isolation, desolation, and temptation of whether he is good enough as the beloved. We might expect that the Spirit’s job is to protect us from evil, from temptation but it seems that conflict and contentious questioning comes with the territory of being a believer and follower.
Like Jesus, none of us start on the path of faithfulness seeking out conflict and temptation. And as Jesus’ story plays out in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus will have a host of adversaries, both human and demonic. Our passage this morning finds Jesus out in the wilderness in a scene filled with temptation and struggle. Jesus must struggle for 40 days in the wilderness just as Israel had to contend and be tempted for 40 years in the wilderness. With the words of beloved fresh in his ears, Jesus has to contend with external influences, the devil, espousing that being beloved just isn’t good enough.
Interestingly, the temptation of Jesus and our passage from Genesis where first Eve and then Adam are tempted with visions of knowledge and grandeur, I would suggest that perhaps our ‘fall’ has more to do with thinking that as God’s beloved, we are tempted to believe, just as Jesus was tempted, that we just aren’t good enough. I suspect many of us presume that Jesus’ identity as ‘the beloved son’ means that he is a divine figure who is immune from testing and temptation. This wilderness encounter in which we feel the vulnerability and true humanity of Jesus as he goes head to head with temptation of not being good enough. God’s beloved Son, Jesus, just like each of us is subject to all of the human temptations that any of us face.
Our aligned stories from both Old and New Testament are reminders that temptation is real for all of us – even for Jesus, God’s divine Son and beloved – may be tempted, just as we are. In our aligned texts this morning, the devil attempts to drive a wedge between first Eve and Adam with God, and then between Jesus and God, simply by asking if they were good enough. “If you are . . .” then act like the Messiah that the world expects you to be. Live by the world’s definitions of messianic power, which is of course difficult and will leave Jesus, any of us, wondering if we are good enough. Jesus was able to resist and not get sucked into the tempting words of the world – for us that is much harder to do.
In the wilderness conversation between Jesus and the devil it consists of mostly questions, “If you are who the voice at your baptism said you were, God’s Son, then why don’t you act like a God and . . .” These are worldly questions meant to raise doubts, to tempt Jesus to question if he is indeed beloved and good enough. The conversation continues with the devil offering Jesus a set of alternatives, “IF you are God’s son, then you ought to . . .” And the alternatives the devil offers are all, on the face of it, good. Bread is a necessity of life. Think of all the good that can be done if one can turn stones into bread. And imagine what one could accomplish if one declared themselves Lord of “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” Political power is the main way good can be accomplished in the real world – act like a king!
All of these alternatives that the devil offers are characterized by Matthew as ‘temptation.’ They are more than possible alternative paths towards a goal. They are enticements to wander from the path that Jesus is meant to walk. That is what temptation does – it entices one to wander down a different path than one meant to be walked. And Jesus says, ‘No.’
I hope the devil has never taken the trouble to show up face-to-face with any of you, jumping you when you are alone in some wilderness, because in all honesty, the devil doesn’t have to. The devil doesn’t have to say to you, ‘If you are a real follower of Christ, then . . .’ or something like ‘If only you could do . . .’ because we too easily succumb to tempting alternatives to believing that we aren’t good enough as God’s beloved sons and daughters. Whenever the devil, or the world, or the preacher, or parent, or grandchild says ‘If you are . . .’ then we are tempted to buy into the notion that somehow, someway we don’t measure up, cut the mustard, are good enough. That’s at the heart of the particular sort of temptation that we are observing in our scriptures this morning. It’s the temptation to be someone other than the beloved child of God you are. To be so tempted, is to be confronted, challenged, provoked and antagonized.
You know the rest of the story in Jesus’ case. Conflict, struggle, constant clashing with others, some of whom were governing religious and political authorities, some of whom were his own disciples – all tempting Jesus with the idea that he just wasn’t what was expected of a Messiah, that he just wasn’t fitting in with those in power, that he hadn’t conquered the Roman forces holding the people of Israel captive.
How many of you heard these words while in your career – You can always count on ______ to stand up for the right thing. The boss was smiling when he said it so you could see in his eyes the intended message – ‘team player’ is code for ‘don’t be a pain and buck us on this. We’ve decided that this is the way we are going and we don’t want your questions about the directive we are going.’ In other words, if you aren’t a team player, then you aren’t good enough to be on the team.
Or perhaps it is a neighbor complaining about some of those people moving into the neighborhood. “Why does everybody always want to make everything about race. It’s about property values. Or more truthfully, it’s about preserving the character of our neighborhood. Sure, they can buy any house they want, but do they really fit into our neighborhood. Some of us have been here for generations. I’m sure they would rather be with more families like themselves.” Don’t you think so? Your neighbor of many years looks like you, dresses like you, attends the same church. But if you don’t agree are you the same neighbor, church member, friend that is good enough.
Or maybe when you were much younger attending the party you always wanted to be invited to. “So what if it’s illegal. Everybody is doing it. You were always open to new experiences and ideas. One try isn’t going to hook you on this for life. You don’t want me to tell everybody else that you were too scared to give it a try, do you?” A conversation on the sidewalk in front of the party house and you are tempted to be one of the ‘in’ crowd only if you are part of the group by trying something illegal.
Temptation comes in all kinds of packages. It doesn’t care one way or the other what is necessarily right, or right for you. It is there to convince you on one thing and only one thing – that if you don’t do – pick it – you aren’t part of the crowd, you aren’t in agreement, you don’t think like someone else – then you just aren’t good enough. That is a tough temptation to say No to because we all want to be included, we all want to be liked, we all want to valued/appreciated/accepted. So the world says to us – eat at this restaurant and get it your way; drink this low carb beer so you don’t get a beer belly; drive this car and you will be seen as successful; play this golf club like Tiger Woods; get the newest, biggest, best and you are something special – you are somehow good enough now.
I want to remind you, just as I remind myself, that my value as a human being lies in the truth that you, me, all of us are made in God’s image and that each of us are beloved children of God and there is absolutely nothing that can take that away from us – not the world, not the devil, not even our own disbelief in that truth. The fallacy that devil and the world spins on a daily basis is that you and I need a daily sign of approval rather than resting in the truth of God’s unconditional love and grace. I want to remind you, just as I remind myself, that God is a God of abundance and not a God of enough. God’s love is not contingent on you or me acting in a particular way, of saying a presumptive sinner’s prayer, or even buying into the whole idea that we are, or are not good enough. God says NO to that temptation of believing that we aren’t good enough, rather God says my love is not contingent on “IFS.” My love is freely given as a gift not as approval or as a condition of something you or I do. The good news for this first Sunday of Lent is that you, me, all of us are good enough and we can turn our backs on that temptation that we aren’t good enough. That truth of being good enough is more than enough in God’s eyes – and at the end of the day – that is all that really matters – thanks be to God – amen.