From Temptation to Transformation:
1. Tempted by power
Lent 1, 29th February, 2004
The Rev'd Dr Craig D'Alton
Assistant Priest, St Peter's, Eastern Hill
Here we are last – Lent! The time of trial from which we all pray to be saved. Well, perhaps not quite. But if we are not to be saved this Lent from the time of trial, at least most of us might hope that we will be led not into temptation.
It's a rather old-fashioned concept, temptation. It's a bit like sin. These days we prefer not to talk about it. Yet like sin itself, temptation is very real. And here's a question: temptation into what?
Perhaps this Lent I might be tempted to break my little rule about giving up custard tarts for forty days? Surely a fairly trivial temptation, and surely not really a temptation to sin; not Capital S Sin. I mean, would it really matter if I had just one little wafer-thin custard tart? . . .
Though of course giving in to such a minor temptation could perhaps be indicative some rather larger failure – such as suggesting that I don't really take seriously the idea of preparing for Easter.
Ok. So maybe I'll resist, and keep off the custard tarts.
Or perhaps this Lent I might be tempted to lose my temper with someone who disagrees with my version of what needs to be done to build up ministry here at St Peter's? The danger here is clearer – because where with the custard tart temptation no-one but my conscience would have suffered, in this case the person caught in the line of fire might get hurt.
But of course one person getting the sharp end of my tongue is, in the scheme of things, still fairly minor. What about if I were to be tempted by someone with the offer of a lucrative job in business with a high six figure salary, lots of first class international travel and an expense account the size of the budget of a small third world country? All I would have to do is to give up being a priest.
The consequences of succumbing to such a temptation as this – and who wouldn't at least think about such an offer – might well be to cause harm not just me (which it would) or another person, but the Church itself. People would quite rightly feel dismayed that my vocation and my faith, which had seemed so strong, actually counted for so little, and could be bought. I could well by yielding to such a temptation break one of the most solemn of my ordination vows, and lead others to stumble. And the ordinal is pretty clear about the consequences of that for me! Perhaps the consequences are so great that the temptation would not be so very strong. But then again, I do enjoy travel(!)
So, three sorts of temptations. All very real; ranging from the trivial to the fairly substantial. All of them, ultimately, involving sin against self as well as against my neighbour and, indeed, God.
We are all tempted. Constantly. And more often than not when the temptation is strong we give in to it, and sometimes the consequences are sin. Temptation is a part of the human condition.
Jesus too was tempted. In today's Gospel reading we have a story in which Jesus is confronted by a kind of test – a time of trial if you like – before his Messiahship is publicly announced. The temptations of Jesus are not simple little everyday temptations, like the eating of custard tarts. These are temptations to exercise power inappropriately and to dare God the Father to do the same.
In the first instance, Jesus, who has been fasting in the wilderness for forty days and nights, is tempted to use his powers before his time. So far in Luke's Gospel Jesus has not initiated any miracles. Here, in the wilderness, the devil tempts him to use his power for the very first time not to help or heal others, but to feed himself. In other words, to begin his ministry by using his power for a selfish rather than self-less reason. Like me eating a custard tart, turning stones into bread might sound fairly trivial. But, like the custard tarts, it is not the isolated action, but what it represents, which is the occasion of sin. Jesus is being tempted not to sin by eating, but by exercising his power inappropriately and for selfish ends.
With the second temptation the devil takes a different tack. He shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world, and in exchange for worshipping him rather than God, offers Jesus the lot. Some commentators have argued that this is no temptation at all – surely all these things belong to God and are thus in Jesus' hands already. He does not need to worship the devil to get them. But the devil is quite clear: he has the authority to hand it all out to whomsoever he pleases. The temptation here is thus far more substantial than the temptation to make bread. Here is not instant gratification, but a lifetime of power placed at Jesus' feet. Jesus resists the temptation in an interesting way. "It is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." In other words, "You, Mr Devil, may have authority in these matters, but for me to accept that my authority should come from anyone other than God would be the ultimate betrayal."
The third temptation is to put God to the test, to force God to act, to force God to reveal once and for all just who Jesus is. Jesus is tempted to use the power of his own action – in this case by jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple – to make God do something which was not part of his plan. The devil quite rightly notes that God will not allow Jesus to die in such a way, and just as Jesus has been quoting Scripture at him, so he quotes it right back. (Even the devil may quote Scripture!)
At last the test is over and the devil departs – interestingly, not for ever, but "until an opportune time". Jesus, just like us, would continue to be tempted right through life. Think even of his prayer in Gethsemane. Immediately after telling the disciples to pray that they might not come into the time of trial – a time that he has reached – he prays to the Father: "If you are willing, remove this cup from me". Right at this critical moment, there is clearly a temptation to say "No", but the fact that in Gethsemane, as in the wilderness, Jesus says No to temptation and Yes to God is what enables salvation history to move forward.
The three temptations of Christ in the wilderness, three temptations to misuse power, give us three clear models both of types of temptation and of the right ways to respond to them.
In the temptation to turn stones to bread Jesus shows us how we ourselves should exercise what power we might have – we should resist any temptation to act for our own gain. In the second, the temptation of the kingdoms, Jesus responds by emphasising the need for fidelity to God – Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. We, who constantly create our own Gods and idols, have much to learn here. And third, with the temptation to test God, it is the power of the individual to force others to act which is the occasion of sin. Just think of those many times that we, by our actions, try to force others, even God, to behave in ways that they would rather not, in order that our agenda might be advanced. In this, as in each of the three cases, the temptation is to selfishness.
So for this week four final questions:
Have you ever given in to temptation to use your gifts or power for selfish ends?
Have you ever created an idol out of work, or family, or drugs, or sex, or money, and worshipped it rather than God?
Have you ever dared God to act – "I'll be good, God, if . . ."?
And if you've answered any of these in the affirmative – and which of us can't – have you sought forgiveness and done what you can to ensure that when next you are tempted your response might be Christ-like rather than sinful?
Hard and direct questions for a confronting season. Welcome to Lent! Confessions are heard on Fridays at noon, and at other times by appointment.
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