It is good to start our Lenten journey with the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. This story reawakens us to the fact that Satan frequently wraps his temptations with scripture. He is very adept in deceitfully using scripture to attract and lead us away from God’s truth and mission for our life.
And this annual 40-day season of spiritual reflection and soul-searching regarding our relationship with God is an invitation to meditate on the life of Jesus in order to examine and discover where we may have strayed away from relationship with Jesus. To ignore the purpose of Lent could mean we are yielding to the enticing voice of Satan, luring us into a wilderness of complacency, apathy, and even the death of our spirit?
Jesus had just experienced a high moment in his life, being baptized by John, having the Spirit of God descend on him, and being affirmed by God’s own voice from out of heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Then “full of the Holy Spirit” Jesus is led into the wilderness of devilish temptations.
Here in this barren wilderness area, Jesus was alone with God, pondering and praying about his messianic ministry in this world of humankind. Jesus is so focused on choosing the direction for his life that he does not eat any food for 40 days. It is a great understatement when both Matthew and Luke write, “he was hungry.”
The lonely silence of the wilderness is broken when there comes a voice, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus vividly remembers the River Jordan, the sky opening and the voice saying, “This is my Son, whom I love.”
Now it is a different voice saying, “If you are the Son of God” and with it the temptation. Why not? Who will it hurt? If I am God’s Son, then why shouldn’t I have what I want?
We also struggle with the temptation of making decisions on the basis of what requires the least effort and pain, rather than striving for the eternal gifts God offers. This is especially so when we realize how hard it is to forgive the guilty, listen to the lonely, and share what we have with the needy poor. We can so easily slip into the habit of not choosing the hard way of sacrificial loving and giving toward others.
We may even falsely convince ourselves to believe that an easy life is a sign of God’s approval. But the biblical prophets and teachers, including Jesus, would tell us that we have missed God’s best purposes and gifts to us, if we are living comfortable lives.
Jesus understands this temptation of choosing the easy way and responds, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” In other words, obedience to God is more important than my own comfort.
Satan tries again from the highest point of the temple, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, … to guard you carefully.”
The first-century Jews believed that when the Messiah came, he would reveal himself from the temple roof. The devil is tempting Jesus to be the Messiah the people expect and want. He can be a great religious teacher and skip the hard parts of suffering and dying. The temptation is real.
We also are tempted to look spiritual, to do the right deed for the wrong reason, to be a religious hero, a martyr. We can look religious without truly seeking a relationship with God and obeying his will. Satan convinces us that pretending to be living as God’s children is the easier way to meet people’s religious expectations.
And again, from a very high mountain, the tempting voice of Satan comes to Jesus as an offer of palaces and kingdoms. “All this I will give you, if you bow down and worship me.” The temptation is offered as a “reasonable desire” for material success and political power, which soon becomes selfish greed.
This may be our most contemporary and strongest temptation, for Satan has sufficiently wrapped it with scriptures to convince us to yield. We believe the bumper sticker, “He who has the most toys wins,” and choose to hang on to our greed, even though it begins to crowd out things that matter more and have eternal implications.
Jesus answers Satan, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Then Satan retreats, but only temporarily. Throughout His journey to Jerusalem, Jesus faced the same temptation of compromising His commitment to God, that we still face today. Satan is as real and devious today as he was when encountering Jesus in the dusty, barren wilderness.
During this Lenten season may we be awakened to the Tempter’s voice in our own struggles with evil compromises. Christian living is not about experiencing great mountaintop feelings and passions. It is about our commitment to trust and obey the Father and being encouraged and sustained by His Holy Spirit.
May we journey through these 40 days giving serious attention to our need for repentance and confessing our tendency to follow the easier paths of compromise. And may we ask God for Spirit-filled hearts that desire more than anything else, to love and obey Him in all things, at all times. Amen!
<><><><><>
“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – March 2, 2022
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
Leave a comment