With Matthew and the Master: Out in the Wilderness

January 24, 1993

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Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

If there is anything in the world that strikes me as ludicrous, it’s to hear somebody say that the Bible is out of touch with reality. People do say that occasionally...people who obviously don’t know it very well. It’s so old, so foreign, so bizarre, they will say. What possible relevance can a book like that have for me today? Well, I’ll agree that the first part of that analysis is accurate. It’s the conclusion drawn from it that’s off base....

Sure the Bible is old, and yes, it’s foreign, and hunks of it can be called bizarre. No argument there.

It was written hundreds of years ago; it was written out of the experience of a culture quite different, quite foreign from ours....

And considerable sections, even under the kindest of interpretations, are not only bizarre, they’re downright outlandish...wild images, extended exaggerations, enormously vigorous patterns of speech...GUILTY AS CHARGED!

But out of touch with reality? NOT ON YOUR LIFE. The Bible admittedly requires some study, some deciphering, some solid, disciplined interpretation to get into the heart of it, but the reason it has lived and been treasured all these centuries, by the Hebrew people first, and then the Church, too, is precisely because far from being irrelevant, it deals with matters that touch people’s real lives, right where they actually live. That’s the “stuff” of inspiration.

We may ride in Mustangs now, instead of on camels; we may wear trousers instead of togas; we may communicate by Fax instead of papyrus; and eat Maalox instead of manna, but down in the heart of us, where it really matters, are we all that different from our predecessors? The Bible speaks to that inside business, and still has plenty to say.

Case in point: TEMPTATION.... Are you ready to say we’ve outgrown that problem? It’s a key theme in the Bible...all the way through.

Adam and Eve struggled with it, as far back as the Garden---and not very effectively. David, the King, was tempted, in a form blatantly crass, physical and modern sounding---OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY? Are you kidding?

Solomon was tempted by the lure of wealth and power.... He succumbed. Jeremiah was tempted, time and again, to throw in the towel.... He didn’t succumb. JUDAS ISCARIOT WAS TEMPTED---Leslie Weatherhead says, not by the money...too simple...but by the perceived opportunity to force Jesus’ hand. Argues Weatherhead that Judas believed Jesus would never let Himself be arrested. In the crisis He would use His power against the Romans, and set up His kingdom. Judas would prod Him into action. THE TEMPTATION TO OVERSTEP YOUR AUTHORITY.

Temptation in one form or another runs the length of the Book. It’s a concern of the Bible because it’s a concern of the human condition. We all deal with it, just as we always have. It’s hard to think of a more pervasive human experience than the experience of being tempted.

Now, of course, the details will vary from person to person. The temptations of youth are typically different from the temptations of maturity.

What might be a lure and snare for Madonna would probably not be for Mother Teresa. McCauley Culkin and George Burns would likely not succumb to identical demonic wiles.... We’re not all tempted by the same things.

You’ve seen the television advertisement, I’m sure, which shows a gorgeous young woman slinking along the street carrying a bag of groceries. Two little boys watch admiringly. One says, “Look at that! Wow! The other says, “Yeah...Dr. Pepper.”

We’re not all tempted by the same things.

But I submit, and I don’t think you’ll argue this too strenuously, that in some way, in some fashion...CONSTANTLY, over and over, WE’RE ALL TEMPTED, by lures that come, by experiences, by opportunities that present themselves. THOSE THINGS ARE REAL. They’re out there, aren’t they? If you’ve never been tempted, in some way, I wouldn’t brag about it. It probably means you’re dead, at least from the neck up.

And worse, of course, are the temptations in the form of obsessions, drives that take hold of some people and pull them down to a lower level.

I’ve gotten to the place where jokes about drunks don’t strike me as funny anymore. I’ve seen too much tragedy in that area. The alcoholic faces a constant, unending struggle with temptation. The people in A.A. say, “Give into one time, and you’re trapped again.”

The compulsive gambler, the Don Juan...these are pitiable extremes, but extremes of a universal experience. Maybe most of us don’t have to fight that kind of thorough going compulsion---and you can thank God if you don’t---but that doesn’t exempt us from the power of temptation. We face it every day...the struggle, maybe, not to give in to attitudes we know are unworthy; the struggle not to take shortcuts in our work, not to do a sloppy job; the struggle not to take advantage of somebody we know can’t get back at us; the struggle not to give in to a gradual lowering of standards....

Maybe those kinds of temptation are more insidious than the grosser, bodily kinds. They’re certainly more subtle. Temptation IS universal. It’s part of life and no one is immune.

What a comfort, then in a sense, to know that Jesus Himself wasn’t immune to temptation. Isn’t it a relief to recognize that?

The furor has settled down some now from the movie “The Last Temptation of Christ”. When it erupted on the scene a couple of years ago...was it longer ago than that? Time flies so when you’re having fun...When it came out, though, you remember, there were boycotts, demonstrations, protests...Many people were scandalized.

The movie is based on Nicholas Kazantzakis’s novel, “The Last Temptation of Christ”. Kazantzakis wrote Zorba the Greek, you remember. His thesis, which the movie picked up and blew up somewhat, is that the final temptation Jesus had to wrestle with---a temptation made especially appealing because it came as an alternative to crucifixion---was the temptation to abandon His special role, and assume, like most other people, a normal family life, complete with wife and children.

The movie may be extreme. The book, too. I’ll not attempt to pass judgement on the alleged unorthodoxy of it. Kazantzakis himself was excommunicated from the Greek Orthodox Church. BUT DON’T LET CINEMATIC OR LITERARY EXCESS OBSCURE THE FUNDAMENTAL, NECESSARY TRUTH THAT JESUS WAS NOT IMMUNE FROM TEMPTATION.

An untempted Savior would be no Savior at all. It would be a contradiction in terms.

If He, too, did not have to wrestle with choices...real choices, make decisions about conduct and behavior, real behavior, decide whether to do this, or that, go here, or there....

If there were never really open to Him any options except the ideal, and He was programmed for that, automatically, then He really is only a Model, a Paradigm, an ideal Pattern, an unblemished, unapproachable Example. He would be something which by His very perfection would only drive us farther away from reconciliation with the Father.

If perfect virtue were easy for Him, if it weren’t a fight for Him, too, to do right, and be good, then His coming wouldn’t be Good News, it would be BAD news. We could never live up to it.

The struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane that night, when physical sweat and blood comingled on the ground says to us that He was tempted not to go on the Cross. Of course HE was. What do you think the blood means? Don’t turn it into some kind of charade.

Running away, compromising, or begging off were live options, real choices. He could have given in to one of them, and humanly speaking must have wanted to. Nobody runs up the road to be crucified. Not even being Savior exempts you from temptation.

Maybe it increases it. No, not immunity from but resources within to cope with is what makes the difference. It was in the way He handles temptation that the true depth and nobility of His saviorhood is seen.

Are we ready at last for Matthew’s vivid account of the wilderness experience of Jesus? We’ve arrived by the back door, I know, maybe taking too long to get here, but it seemed important to emphasize that what Jesus went through out there in the bleak desert, is not qualitatively different from our own temptation struggles.

QUANTITATIVELY, of course, it’s in another league altogether. The scope of His struggle is too massive even for us to begin to wrap our little minds around, much less to grasp fully. This is a battle with cosmic implications.

But the struggle is where it touches us. He fought, had to fight, for insight to know, and strength to do what was right, just as we have to do on lesser scales. IN THE FIERCENESS AND INTESNITY OF HIS STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION OUR REDEMPTION IS BORN.

When we left Jesus last week, there in the running waters of the Jordan, He has just been baptized. He had received His commission, His mandate, His marching orders, and stunning orders they were.

“This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It was a public announcement, in Matthew’s

version, God’s Epiphany to the world.

“Who am I and why am I here?” said General Stockdale, Ross Perot’s running mate at the vice-president’s debate last September.[1] At the baptism, Jesus and the people heard God’s declarative response to those questions.

“This is my beloved Son” ...a quote from a messianic psalm. “In whom I am well pleased” ...a quote from a suffering servant passage.

A suffering Messiah...a contradiction in terms before this---one who conquers by being wounded. One who triumphs by receiving stripes.

THIS IS WHO YOU ARE, AND THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO. Who could hear such a call without anguish? Who could entertain such a mandate without prayer? Who could embark in such a mission without preparation?

Matthew says that’s exactly what happens, that’s exactly the sequence...no going home, no going back to Nazareth first to tell the folks and pack His bags...straight from commission out into the wilderness to work this thing through, to think, to prioritize, to PRAY...and to get ready to set out on the journey.

It was nothing like this, of course, and I hesitate even to share it, but I remember the night I was ordained at Annual Conference. Bishop Arthur Moore and others laid their hands on my head as I knelt at the altar and the Bishop pronounced the ordination formula.

At the conclusion of the service, I didn’t go to the reception for new ordinands right away...I couldn’t right then. I had to go off by myself for a few minutes, out in the parking lot of old First Church, Lakeland...it was NEW First Church, Lakeland then. I could go to the very spot again. I had to go off alone, and think about it all.

What did it mean? What would I do with it? How could I ever live up to all it implied?

BUT THAT WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT Jesus experienced.... For 40 days, Matthew says, he couldn’t eat. 40 days may be a symbolic number, like the 40 days of the Flood, or the 40 years of the Wilderness wandering, but Matthew leaves no doubt that for Jesus it was a period of high drama, real drama, real testing, as real, plausible alternatives had to be sorted through and evaluated.

“Turn these stones into bread”, began the Tempter. If it helps you to personify him...or her...go ahead. Sometimes inner struggles can best be visualized personified. All temptation is ultimately an inner struggle.

And maybe Jesus’ own physical hunger is reflected in what was going on... BUT THIS IS A FAR MORE REACHING TEMPTATION THAN ONE MAN’S GNAWING STOMACH.

We’re in a vocational mode, remember. We’re talking mission strategy. This is a temptation to be an ECONOMIC MESSIAH. “Why not?”, the Tempter implies.

Didn’t God say you were His Son? It would be easy for you to do it this way. You have an

assignment to the world? Here’s how you do it.

Forget that suffering stuff. Feed people. Give them bread. Take care of their physical needs, and they’ll be yours like THAT.

Win them through the belly. Start giving handouts and people will flock in. Nothing will draw attention to you faster. WHAT AN ATTRACTIVE TEMPTATION, AND SO down to earth, so practical. Have you ever known a Church that didn’t draw better when the prospect of food was attached to the invitation?

But is that the way you win true allegiance? In China they used to call people who came into the church by that route “rice Christians”. NO, said Jesus, I won’t do it that way. It’s not big enough. It’s not compelling enough, or durable enough.

It doesn’t get down deep enough. Even on an empty stomach, he said, “Man does not live by bread alone....” He refused to be an ECONOMIC messiah.

Well, countered the Tempter, Let’s change tactics. Let’s raise the ante. So he took Jesus, by imagination, to the top of the Temple, to the very steeple, the highest point of that building He loved so much, the very heart of His heritage as a good Jew....

And he said, “You’re the Prince. Nothing can hurt you. Exercise your princeliness. Fling yourself down and let the angels catch you in their wings.” What a spectacle that would give the people. And how awe-inspiring.

IT’S A TEMPATION TO BE A WONDER WORKING MESSIAH.

Is there anything that draws people faster in religion that the spectacular and the flashy? The pizzaz of lights and trumpets, massed choirs, miraculous healings, smooth oratory, extravagant promises...a SHOW...that’s what people want. Give it to ‘em. You’d be the best there ever was. You could sell prayer shawls, bottles of Jordan River water, maybe even build a prayer tower in Oklahoma.[2]

It would be a natural. GO FOR IT.

But is this how you want true allegiance? NO, said Jesus, I won’t do it that way. It’s not big enough. It’s not compelling enough, durable enough. It doesn’t get down deep enough.

“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. He refused to be a flashy, wonder working messiah.

So one more attempt, maybe the subtlest of all. “Look around”, said the Tempter....“Look as far as you can see, even farther than you can see. All those kingdoms I will give to you. They’ll all be yours, if you’ll be mine.” IT’S TEMPTATION TO BE A POLITICAL MESSIAH.

Surely that’s worthy. And wouldn’t it be easier? Doesn’t it coincide with what you want? Think of all the time you’d save. Think how much simpler it would be to organize and expand your program. Get the power of the State behind it.

It would have been easy for Jesus to have established an earthly kingdom. He could have done it. With His power, His brilliance, His charisma. Sure, He could have done it. There were plenty of people to egg Him on, too. Judas Iscariot may have been one of them. Set up your own kingdom, Lord. People are waiting for it, itching for it. They’ll come pouring in under your banner.

Just give the word. We’ll drive the Romans into the sea. We’ll pass laws, and set up work areas and form committees, and make everybody be good and decent. AN ATTRACTIVE TEMPTATION.

But is that the way you win true allegiance? NO, said Jesus, I won’t do it that way. It’s not big enough. It’s not compelling enough, or durable enough.

It doesn’t get down deep enough. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve...” He refused the temptation to be a POLITICAL MESSIAH.

Now notice this. I’m sure you have already. The temptations Jesus faced, like all real temptations, were dressed in clothing that made them look very appealing. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been temptations.                  

They were not choices between virtue and absolute grossness, between good and absolute evil...that kind of choice wouldn’t have taken 40 days to make. Most real temptations don’t come in that stark form. He had to choose between competing alternatives, with something to be said for each.

Of course, giving bread to hungry people is a good thing. Of course, the spectacular, with proper safeguards, can be used in the Lord’s service. Of course, there are times when the State can buttress the cause of decency.

THOSE THINGS ARE NOT BAD.... BUT IN THAT CONTEXT, THEY WERE INADEQUATE.

Most real temptations, in fact, look pretty good at superficial glance. They seem to offer escape from the grind, from responsibility, from the boredom of routine. They seem to offer surcease, or needed relief, or advancement. What’s wrong with that? After all, you deserve it, they seem to purr... What harm can it do?

If only the Tempter were always required to appear with visible horns, and a pointed tail, he’d be a lot easier to cope with. But that’s rare. Is it surprising that in most Satanic representations the image is not of someone like Count Dracula, or the Wicked Witch of the West----where would the appeal be in that?---

The appeal is more likely to be someone like Jack Nicholson, suave and debonair, who has played precisely that role in movies, or maybe someone like Glenn Close, of Fatal Attraction notoriety.

In Dr. Faustus, remember, Christopher Marlowe’s famous play, Mephistopheles appeared in the garb of a Franciscan monk. Not only good drama, but astute, incisive theology. THAT’S THE WAY IT REALLY IS.

The insidious nature of temptation is exactly that it often looks so good, and seems so plausible, at first. With only a minimum of effort, you can convince yourself that it is a positive thing, and before you know it, it HAS you.

Matthew tells it brilliantly, though it’s hard to know how much is Matthew and how much is Jesus. Ultimately, of course, the essence of it has to go back to Jesus Himself. No one else was there. It tells though, that choices between levels of good are the toughest choices, as well as the most dangerous ones, and that appearances, for all their glitter, may be demonically deceiving.

Now, one more thing. HOW WAS HE SUSTAINED? Interesting, isn’t it? What was the basis of His defense against the lure of a diluted obedience?

THIS OLD BOOK. That’s what sustained Him. Every time the Temper made an offer, every time he raised his bid, or sought to make his overtures more alluring, Jesus countered with a quote from the Bible. Each one of the quotes, by the way, comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, a part of TORAH, the Old Testament Law.

Jesus was saturated in it, He knew it forward and backward, and it was to that that He turned for stiffening of resolve and strengthening of determination.

DO YOU WONDER WHY IN THE CHURCH WE PLACE GREAT EMPHASIS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION?

It’s out of the Book that Jesus Himself worked through His calling, fortified His moral posture, and charted His course as suffering redeemer.

Temptation would never leave Him completely, as it will never leave us. But it can be dueled effectively. He did it. We can, too.

He was battered and bruised when He came out of the Wilderness. He had been in a battle.

But He knew who He was, and what He was doing. There would be no shortcuts, no compromise.... He would do it God’s way...steadfast in the Word, for us and for our salvation.

--

[1] General Stockdale was referring to the fact that he was an unknown in the 1992 election.

[2] This is most likely a reference to the prayer tower build by Oral Roberts in the shape of his own praying hands at his university.