Luke 4:5-8
Last time we looked at the second temptation of Jesus, where the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The condition is that Jesus has to worship the devil. What comes to mind as I read this is the stereotypical imagery I have of devil worship – where half-mad people are sacrificing animals, maybe even humans, and drinking the blood, all in a dark place with candles burning eerily, spotlighting the shimmering silhouettes of the worshippers on the wall.
That may be how some people worship the devil, but I think it tends to happen more frequently in far less macabre fashion. Nothing of the prefered worship format – hymns or worship choruses, sitting or standing or kneeling – is mentioned here. Worship at its essence is not about form; it just means giving worth or honor to someone else.
In that light, devil worship happens a lot more frequently than we realize. It does not necessarily happen when people choose to celebrate Halloween, for example, but it does happen when people fail to honor God by practicing justice with their neighbors.
At the end of this story, in verse 13, Luke writes that the devil leaves Jesus until a later opportunity. This very temptation comes back to Jesus three years later in a famous scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus says to his Father, “If there is any way, let this cup pass from me.” Of course, Jesus then, as in this case, resists the temptation. But it is a real temptation for Jesus nonetheless. The temptation is the desire to avoid the cost of the mission with a price anywhere short of the ultimate price.
No one else was present when Jesus was being tempted in the desert this first time, so we only know this story because Jesus must have shared it with someone. I cannot imagine the tension in the air at that moment when the devil waved this temptation before Jesus. Come here and see what I can do for you, he said. And Jesus allowed himself to walk into that snare. It is a gripping, nail-biting scene whose outcome cannot be predetermined if it is to be believable. But in the end and without hesitation (meaning without entertaining the temptation more than an instant), Jesus turns down the offer.
It is written, Jesus replies, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” That settles it for Jesus and the devil lets go of the temptation altogether. The final time Jesus is tempted to abort the mission, we do not know what tactic the devil uses. All we hear is Jesus’ side of the conversation and it is actually a response to God the Father, not to the devil at all. That is when Jesus says, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, Father.”
He is not entertaining the temptation when in that Garden he says, “If there is any other way.” He is just checking with his Father to make sure there is no other way. Long ago, he had settled the matter – he would obey his Father no matter what. If Father provided another option, that would not be temptation, that would simply be obedience. If no other option is offered, no other option will be entertained.
That later temptation is all down the road at this earlier time in the desert with the devil. But Jesus seals his fate once and for all when he declares his absolute allegiance to God the Father. This is not the first time he made such an allegiance. It began long before, the first recorded time in the temple at the age of 12, when he said, “I must be doing what God wants me to do.” The fact that he declared that allegiance back then as a boy makes it all the more easier to declare it now as a man. The fact that he declares it now makes it that much easier to declare it the night before he is crucified. The fact that he was able to resist temptation makes it all that much easier for me to resist temptation two thousand years later.
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