In the Desert, a sermon preached by the Rev. Robert Lee Nichols, Jr., using Matthew 4:1-11 as the primary text, at the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church
on February 10, 2008, the First Sunday of Lent.
The church has heard this story on the first Sunday of Lent for over two thousand years.
On the first Sunday of Lent we are picked up and transported to be with him as he is tried and tested and tempted. We stand with him in the desert. We join him in the wilderness and think together about the meaning of his temptations and our own temptations and what it means to confront sin and evil.
There are many kinds of deserts. Some are literal, some figurative, some symbolic and some real. Maybe you’ve traveled through some.
These are our deserts. But let’s think about his. This desert, where we stand today with him, is different from any other discussed thus far in the Scriptures. Unlike the desert Moses entered, there is no burning bush. And there is no graceful word. Unlike the desert Israel entered after the Exodus, there is no “fire by night or cloud by day.” There is no manna from heaven to satisfy his hunger. There is no water gushing from the rock to quench his thirst. Unlike the desert of Isaiah, there is nothing there to bloom. The rough places are not made level. There are no rivers. There is no highway home. The desert where Jesus was tempted evokes all of these, yet it is unlike any of them.
What is this desert like? Shelley says, Boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away. In the desert you feel alone and very vulnerable. There is the heat of the day and the cold at night, and the terrible barrenness. You may hear things that are not there. You may see things that aren’t real - mirages. You may become disoriented. You may lose hope, lose love, lose faith. Perhaps all three.
The desert twists things. It distorts things. It forces questions. It upsets your sense of what is normal and what is right. The desert wears on you and breaks you down. You want relief. And sometimes you wait forever for even the smallest sign of relief, something different. Yet it may not come. In the desert you reach out for something to rescue you, someone – for some transcendent reality to come and save you.
We are told that Jesus did not choose to go into the desert. I don’t think anyone ever does, at least not for any extended period of time. He is sent there. The Greek word means he was propelled or driven or hurled into the wilderness to be tested. There was a reason why he was there. There’s always a reason. And a reason why it happened at the very beginning of his ministry. In the desert people grapple with their identity, forge their personality. Like Jacob wrestling with the angel, in the desert we wrestle with the vital questions: Who am I? What shall I do? What does it all mean? The perennial questions of human existence - never fully answered or finally resolved. In the desert they emerge and haunt us – and sometimes overpower us.
There is an old Arab proverb, The further you go into the desert the closer you come to God. You see, deserts are not all bad. Every one should spend some time there from time to time. To bring you back to who you really are. This is where identity is formed, where hard decisions are made, where energy is gathered and we often move out of the desert with a new sense of purpose and mission – with a new vision.
Clearly, this is what happened for Jesus. Right after this encounter with Satan he burst onto the scene in Galilee to begin his work: announcing the Kingdom of God, proclaiming the Gospel, healing and teaching and sharing the good news.
But first he had to be tempted. The devil came and tempted him in three ways. I think of them as speed bumps for the soul. The other day I was driving along, as pretty as you please. It was twilight and hard to see. My mind was elsewhere. I was going a little to fast. Don’t tell. And all of a sudden there was this jarring thud. Wham! It shook the whole car. It rattled my teeth and rattled my soul. I had hit a speed bump. It slowed me down.
That’s kind of the way these temptations are. You see, they’re not just his temptations, they are ours. Dostoevsky said these three comprise all the temptations humankind will ever face. Maybe there are some speed bumps for you too here.
The first time the devil comes to him he says, Jesus, If you’re the Son of God take these stones and turn them into bread. You’re hungry. Forty days without food. You’re the son of God, so just manufacture your own food. You can do it. It’s the temptation to materialism. The temptation to center life around the things of this world rather than the things that are of God. He answered, We do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
The things of this world are important but they are not what matter most – a hugely important speed bump for the soul for we are constantly tempted away from the spiritual and towards the physical, away from the Godly and towards the earthly, away from what matters most to what matters here and now.
The second temptation is to spectacle, to immortality, to become like God. The devil comes to him and says, okay Jesus, If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple into the Kidron Valley below. You will not be destroyed. He will command his angels to come and rescue you lest you dash your foot against a stone. The devil quotes scripture too. It’s the appeal to pride. Jesus says, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. A second speed bump, for we are constantly tempted to pride.
The third time the devil comes to him here is what happened. The devil took him out to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and said, you can have all of this if you but bow down and worship me.
You see, it is the temptation to worship other gods, to put other things first, to have other Lords. Pure and simple, it’s the temptation to idolatry in any form. Jesus says, Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him. A third speed bump for the soul as we are constantly tempted towards idolatry – putting secondary things in a primary place.
This is a hard story. Three speed bumps. But there are three points of grace. And they are amazing.
The first grace point is this - In the incarnation Jesus became one of us. He was not pretending to be human. He was not wearing human skin as a disguise. He took on our humanity. And not in a theoretical way. No, just like us, he was tempted and tested by sin. Hebrews 4:15 says, We do not have a Lord who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every way has been tested as we are. In all of scripture I cannot think of anything more grace filled than this – that he would become like us. He would be tested in every way that we are. Listen to this. There is nothing that you are tempted with that he hasn’t already experienced. He’s been there. This is the first grace point. He’s been there.
Here’s the second grace point. Jesus knows the power of evil. He knows all about it - its allure, its attraction, its cleverness, its traps. I Peter 5:8 says the devil is like, a roaring lion, raging about, looking for someone to devour.
The longer I live and the more I see the better I understand what that means. He does prowl about probing every nook and cranny in our souls, every crevice for any sign of weakness that he may strike and bring harm and even death. The devil roams about like a roaring lion.
Have you ever been tempted so strongly that you were afraid you were going to break? Then you know the power of evil. Have you ever gone through a time of real testing of your faith? Of course you have. And if you haven’t you some day will. Be strong. Be prepared. Be ready. Put on the full armor of God to withstand the onslaught. And when you get there, remember Jesus has been there before and has withstood the temptation. Evil is not irresistible. It may feel that way when you are going through it, as if there is no way you can withstand the temptation. But it is not irresistible. You can do it, with God’s help.
Here’s the third grace point. Three temptations – to materialism, to pride, to idolatry. Three grace points – he becomes like us, he knows the power of evil, and he reminds us that God is always with us. No matter what. The gospels say the Spirit of God was present with Christ when he was in the wilderness. They say, He was led in the desert by the Spirit. This is important. God isn’t cruel. God doesn’t say, Well, there is nothing going on in the universe today. And I’m bored so I think I’ll take John and Mary and make them suffer. To improve their character, of course. And to make them better people. I’m going to give them a little pain. God isn’t like that. We don’t know why these desert experiences come upon us. We’ll never know why. But we do know God is with us in the desert, in the wilderness of the soul. And if we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, we too may discover the power of God that is able to break the rock and bring forth living waters. Of hope, of love, of new vision, of life and faithfulness.
The grace of God is everywhere for those who look for it, even in the desert. God is there, like a stream waiting to be discovered - to quench our thirst and satisfy our deepest yearnings. Many have found in the midst of their wilderness experience cool, fresh, pure water to satisfy – yes, even the water of life.
May it be so for you. In Christ’s name. Amen.