We are two weeks into the Lenten Season of 2014, looking toward the celebration of Easter on April 20. In the Lenten Season, many Christians commit to observing a disciplined plan of devotional scripture reading, prayer and fasting, seeking to follow events in the life of Jesus from the time of his baptism in the Jordan River to his entry into the holy city on Palm Sunday to his suffering and death on the cross outside Jerusalem. Before Jesus began his public ministry, the Bible tells us that he was moved by the Spirit to spend 40 days in the wilderness, tempted by Satan. (See Matt. 4:1-11.) In that time of fasting and facing temptations, Jesus affirmed values that would guide him throughout his mission and ministry, and he modeled the pattern of scripture reflection, prayer and fasting which his followers seek to trace again in their devotional lives before the Easter celebration.
After going without food for 40 days, Jesus was hungry. Satan urged him, in a taunting way, if you are the Son of God, change these stones into bread. But Jesus answered by referring to Deut. 8:3, which says, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Then Matthew says the devil took Jesus to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written that He will give his angels charge of you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." But to this, Jesus answered from Deut. 6:16, "Again it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God." Then the devil took Jesus to a high mountain, and showed him all the great kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Again Jesus drew on Scripture from Deut. 6, saying, "It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve!"
In these commitments which Jesus voiced according to Scripture, one can see him focusing on the nature of the ministry to which he will give his life and strength. What human need is the greater and most urgent? Is it the satisfying of the hungers of the body? Does one form a whole and healthy human being by focusing on feeding the body in a certain way or with certain substances? No, Jesus points out, the main need is to be in right relationship to the Lord our God, to learn of him, to discover the bounty of his vision for life, to discover in that spiritual connection a soul food that nurtures a strong and healthy person who is truly alive.
The devil also presented Jesus with the idea of attracting attention and making impressions on people by accomplishing spectacular feats, like surviving a daring jump from a great height! Apparently Jesus saw that these spectacular feats had little to contribute to shaping an authentic life, to the developing of true courage and bravery, or to addressing real spiritual needs in the lives of a people who have lost their way. Note that the devil quoted Scripture in taunting Jesus and urging him to take this daring leap just to test whether God and his angels would intervene in the moment. Even the devil can quote Scripture to his deceptive purposes.
Then Jesus faced what may have been the most sinister temptation of all, that of selling out to the devil in order to latch onto the promise of earthly gain. How attractive seems the lure of great authority, the lure of power over people, the lure of celebrity status and the heady flatteries of public accolades. Do people still sell out their integrity, abandon their values and decency, all for the lure of promises of wealth and power and fame and attention? Jesus knew that Satan's promises are deceptions, corrupting life, not giving life.
We notice that in these encounters with tempting possibilities, Jesus referred to the Scriptures as pointing the way to light and truth and genuineness of life. The Scriptures are a life-giving resource which are given to help us find the way in the midst of the challenging decisions we have to make in the course of living. We also notice that Jesus chooses the self-giving way, not the self-indulgent way. Always his life and teaching advance the knowledge that self-denial and self-giving, the way of the Servant, are the way to life, not a quest for ways to get one's own advantage over others.
Finally, Jesus chose the way of the cross, giving his life for the sake of the beloved, that he might touch our lives at the deepest points, freeing us from the sin that destroys us. This Lenten season is an invitation to walk with Jesus, through the Scriptures, through prayer, through self-denial and self-giving.
•••
Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Religion on 03/26/2014