1st Sunday in Lent: Satan Tempts Jesus

The Reading

Luke 4:1-13


After his baptism, 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 Sermon

Jesus is tempted

Jesus has just been baptized by John and he is moved by the holy spirit to go out into the wilderness and fast. He spends forty days fasting. Why would he do that? Why would anyone deprive themselves of food, and for that long.

You can learn a lot about yourself from fasting. Not eating can sometimes bring you into a clearer focus. It can teach you self discipline. In the time of Jesus, and to a lesser extent today, it was a common spiritual practice.

In this case, Satan sees an opportunity. Jesus has been physically weakened by this very long fast and Satan decides that if he is ever going to have a go at the Son of God this is it. Satan starts out by first tempting Jesus to feed his hunger. Satan wants Jesus to go against the laws of nature and turn stones into food. He wants Jesus to look after his own physical needs but Jesus knows his spiritual nature will suffer if he does so and he rejects Satan's proposal.

Next he tempts Jesus by telling him to jump off a high point at the temple in Jerusalem. Satan points out that Jesus is God's Son and he will be lifted up by angels. Jesus says no.

At last Satan offers Jesus the world if Jesus will just bow down and worship him. Jesus tells Satan to be gone.

Even in his weakened state, Jesus resisted temptation. He saw the evil behind Satan's temptation. And he rejected evil.

Jesus has set an example for all of us. We have all been tempted to do something that goes against God's commandments. I was reading a story the other day about a fictional priest and in the story the priest reminded his congregation that the letter in the middle of the word sin is the letter I.

In each one of these three temptations that Satan put before Jesus, he was offered something for himself. Satan knew that humans can be most easily tempted when we put ourselves first. In everything that Jesus taught he told us to put others ahead of ourselves. Jesus lived his life by thinking of others first, even when it came time to sacrifice himself for us on the cross.

You and I will continue to be tempted and we have a choice. We can either give in to that temptation or we can simply say no. Saying no is rarely easy and that is the time when we can ask God for the help to resist and not give in. God is always with us. God will help us with the troubles and temptations we face.