Lent Devotion for 2.25.15

By Rev. Lindsay Collins

MATTHEW 4:1-11

The Temptation of Jesus

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.

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Priest and theologian Henri Nouwen, wrote in In the Name of Jesus that in Matthew 4:1-11 what the devil offered to Jesus were the temptations to be relevant (to turn stones into bread), to be spectacular (to throw himself off the temple), and to be powerful (to take all the kingdoms of the world).  Each of these temptations, has the potential to give Jesus upward mobility, rising him to a higher social or economic position.  And yet, Jesus did not come into this world to rise into a higher economic and social position but, just the opposite, to serve; to pour himself out for us. 

So instead of embodying upward mobility and the success, power, prestige, and priviledge that go along with it, Jesus, according to Nouwen, came to embody downward mobility and the service, humility, and selflessness that comes along with it.  For friends, if Lent and Easter teach us nothing else, it is that Jesus came to bring about great reversals – embodying downward mobility rather than upward mobility and resurrection that overcame the powers of sin and death. 

These temptations to be revelant, spectacular, and powerful are still powerful ones that we all struggle with today.  The temptation still exists to live the American dream of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps to achieve upward mobility.  Will we choose to live into these temptations or will we follow the example of Christ who instead chose to embrace service, humility, and selflessness?  Jesus resists the temptations of the devil by clinging instead to the word of God, by trusting in God, and by prayer.  These practices, along with participating in the life of the church and the sacraments, are all tools that we, as disciples of Jesus, can use to resist the temptation to upward mobility and instead anchor our identity in God.

For as we are reminded by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:1-11:  If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
 And being found in human form, he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.  Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Dear God, 

Teach us anew this Lenten season what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ who emptied himself out for us.  Teach us not to find our identity in the temporary trappings of this world but in God.  May we learn to embrace service, humilty and selflessness as Jesus taught us by example. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

For Further Study:  In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen  http://www.amazon.com/Name-Jesus-Reflections-Christian-Leadership/dp/0824512596