LOVESTRONG: Tempted

CrossWalk Community Church Napa

After Jesus’ baptism, we are told in Matthew’s Gospel that he went into the wilderness for 40 days. He fasted the whole time, which suggests that his time away was spent not for vacation but for spiritual clarity. He was famished, but was he any clearer on who he was going to be? Enter Satan, a prosecuting attorney type of character who, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, was there to test Jesus’ mettle. Three temptations were issued – turn stones to bread to satisfy hunger, jump off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem to see if God would catch him, and finally bow down to Satan to gain global power.

There are some practical things we can learn from every temptation that can help us live better lives. Being mindful of the why behind our needs and wants keeps us from being primarily controlled and motivated by our bellies/passions. The fact that the moral behavior of self-identified Christians is not much different than those with no religious affiliation tells a story. Paul chastised the Corinthians about their eating habits that were out of step with Jesus’ Way. Being aware of our theology keeps us from playing God as evidenced in our prayers and piety – are we living out a transactional contract with God that puts us in control? Is that what faith is all about? Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of how Christianity opted again and again for dedication to an orthodoxy of “right beliefs” instead of one of “believing in the right way”, resulting in season after season of rigid, demanding legalism akin to what Jesus challenged in his day (which got him killed). The Apostle Peter struggled with this – as did the earliest disciples – and so do we. Staying aware of our ongoing lust for power and control on every level of our lives helps keep us from giving in to such temptation. There is no shortage of evidence regarding how the Church has failed here, often becoming the useful idiots of those in power unawares. Judas certainly struggled with this, as have others who have wanted power and domination instead of the weakness of God.

The practical takeaways are helpful and good. But they miss the deeper point.

Jesus was Jewish. Any self-respecting Jew would have bells going off in their head at the mention of a 40-day trek through the wilderness as it would call to mind Israel’s 40-year journey through the wilderness enroute to the Promised Land after the exodus from enslavement in Egypt. If that weren’t enough, every retort to the temptations was a quote from Moses found in the book of Deuteronomy, where he reminded the wandering people what they had learned along their four-decade journey. The journey was deeper than self-help practical tips for living a successful life. Israel’s journey – and Jesus’, too – was a course on learning the Way of being in relationship with God, trusting in God more than our lizard brains. Will we place our faith in our counter-intuitive, counter-cultural relationship with God or will we opt for what is familiar and comfortable?

This LOVESTRONG series is built on Paul’s radical statement that the weakness of God is stronger than the greatest human strength. It is the weakness that fools us because it initially doesn’t add up. The weakness can be thought of in a range of ways – humility, self-sacrifice, choosing the other over self, giving ourselves away and trusting that it will somehow work – none of these computes in a world of lust for immediate need fulfillment, control, and power. But that lust and the way we are prone to react had led to perpetual pain and suffering, especially on the part of the most vulnerable.

The Way of Jesus is different, just as the Way the people of Israel were taught. The Way of God is a way of weakness that trusts in something deeper, more beautiful that works on a profoundly elemental level. The weakness of God trusts in the nature of reality to work as it should instead of controlling outcomes. It trusts that the Spirit of God is at work in ways we don’t fully understand. When we follow that weak, humble way, people thrive in loving equality and equity because we won’t tolerate abuse of other human beings for the sake of passion, piety, profit, or power. We will not allow our home – creation itself – to be treated in ways that jeopardize the future based on our apathy, pride, and lust for more and more and more to our detriment.

The Way called Israel to live deeper and weaker. The Way called Jesus. The Way calls us to an entirely different operating system that looks weak yet is strong. Will we consider it as we are tempted by our passions, false piety, and power? Will we choose the weak way of Jesus who humbled himself even to dying on a cross for the love of the world? Will we be wooed to loving ourselves, our neighbors, and our planet so deeply that all thrive?