Sermon: The Temptations of Jesus

The season of Lent is in Christian tradition associated with the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.  This happened immediately after Jesus was baptised.  At his baptism he received an assurance from the voice of God, his father that he was beginning his work of preaching, teaching and healing. 

The time Jesus spent in the desert was a challenge for him.  It is said he was tempted by the devil or Satan.   This word means “the deceiver” or “the accuser”.   This becomes clear when we read the introduction to all three temptations.  “If you are the Son of God…..”     Jesus is tempted to doubt if he is the Son of God and to think if he is not, then he can just go back to being the carpenter of Nazareth and forget his mission to bring people to the Kingdom of God.

This is Satan’s attempt at deception.  Jesus is tempted to use his power to do something dramatic and to use his power for his own success. 

In the first temptation Jesus is hungry and he is tempted to use his power to turn a stone into a piece of bread.  On the face of it this seems a good thing to do, but Jesus is being tempted to use his power for himself.  He sees his task as using his power for the sake of others which he shows later by feeding 5000 hungry people.  

In the second temptation Jesus looks from a mountain top at all the cities and villages below as he thinks of the great task facing him to get the good news of his kingdom.   He is tempted to use the power of Satan, the deceiver to force people into his kingdom by worshipping the evil one. This is not the way of God.  Jesus reminds his tempter that it is only God who is to be worshipped.  The way to bring people into God’s kingdom is the way of the God of love. 

In the third temptation, Jesus is tempted to do a dramatic stunt – to jump down from the top of the temple.  His tempter quotes scripture to him as he reminds him of the passage where God will rescue him if he does this.   Jesus resists this by quoting scripture again by saying that God should not be tempted.  Indeed, if Jesus did this, we can well see it would be denying God’s own laws of nature. 

After the third temptation Satan leaves Jesus, but notice the passage tells us the devil left Jesus “for a while”  He would return.    During the forty days of Lent we think of Jesus' time in the desert and also of his journey to the cross.  While Jesus is dying on the cross, the tempter returns with the same words:  “If you are the Son of God………….”    This time the words are said by those who are mocking him.  “Come down from the cross and we will believe in you.”

It is the same temptation as when Jesus was tempted to jump from the top of the temple – to do something dramatic.   Jesus stayed on the cross and appeared a failure, but today millions believe in him because he stayed on the cross and so defeated the power of his enemy.   

As we begin our Lenten journey, we too go through “desert” experiences in life. Jesus has been there before us. He is with us through the journey of Lent and the journey of life itself.

Preached by Rev. J.B.Davies at Llanfwrog and Rhewl parish churches on 25th February 2007.