On Friday, a daredevil crossed over Niagara falls on a cable. As he crossed, he could not step to the right or the left. He had to keep the moving cable beneath his feet. He wore a safety harness.
When Jesus walked the Earth, he also could not step out of place, out of the will of God. The devil was vigilant for a mistake. Jesus wore no safety harness.
Before his ministry began, Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days. Then, the devil tempted him. The devil tempted him with his immediate need, hunger. And the devil tempted him to doubt who he was.
And the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world. He told Jesus that Jesus could have these. But first Jesus had to fall down and worship him.
1. Great temptation.
Let’s be clear. The devil offered Jesus all of the riches and the honor and the power and the pleasures of the world. No kingdom of Earth has ever been as great as the kingdom that the devil offered Jesus. Jesus could have lived in any way he wanted. Jesus, who grew up with a poor carpenter as his father, would have had greater scope and power than any king who has ever lived. He could have spent his life adding pleasure to pleasure. Or he could have spent his life making the world just.
2. Temptation and me.
I once wrote that if the devil showed me or my friends the kingdoms of the world and offered them to us, we would at least think about it. That might be the dumbest thing I ever wrote. I soon changed my post.
Because we would not think about it. At least, I would not. I would be awed. I would instantly fling myself on the offer.
I am certain of this. I am certain because I know that the devil doesn’t have to offer me the world. I’m far far easier to bribe.
I have done wrong by God for ambition. For the sake of a career that is floating garbage compared to all of the kingdoms of the world, I have sinned.
I have done wrong for women. For the sake women who were attractive and charming but not the wondrous women that the ruler of the world could have, I have fallen down.
I have done wrong for money. Not the virtually unlimited money of all of the kingdoms of the Earth, but for a comparatively paltry amount.
Come to think of it, I have done wrong to save myself a minute in the grocery check-out line.
Come to think of it, I have fallen down for no reason at all.
3. Temptation and a man like myself.
I don’t think I’m alone. I met a man at a campground. He was a good man in the eyes of the world. He was an upstanding citizen and a churchgoer. But he fell short, like me. His sons were addicted to alcohol. That might be why his conscience told him not to drink. I didn’t ask why, but he was clear: his conscience counseled against his drinking. And he drank.
Alcohol is not a sin in itself. But if your conscience tells you not to drink, and you drink, you err. (Romans 14.) This man resisted God for an evening glass of wine.
4. Temptation and an American hero.
John McCain has lived an amazing life. I used to admire his straight talk. I admire his heroism in Vietnam. I admire his brilliant career. I admire his toughness.
But to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he said that South Carolina had every right to fly the confederate flag over its capitol. He later admitted that it was wrong for him to endorse a symbol under which men fought for the right to keep slaves. McCain did not stumble over all of the kingdoms of the world. He stumbled over the chance to win the highest office in America, an office that he could keep for no more than eight years.
He divorced his first wife, the one who was faithful to him during his captivity. He divorced her to marry a rich young beauty.
In McCain’s recent re-election for his Senate seat, he was challenged in the Republican primary by a Tea Party candidate. He hewed to the right to beat back his challenger. To safeguard his nomination, he even claimed that he would not vote for an immigration bill that he himself had introduced in the Senate.
I can’t criticize John McCain from on high. I freely admit: John McCain is a better man than I am. He was tortured and lived under inhuman conditions as a P.O.W. in Vietnam. And as the son of a high American admiral, he was offered his freedom.
He refused.
That was courage. That was honor. That was dignity. That was patriotism. That was love of country. That was something that I would not have done, except in my dreams.
But this brave, honorable, dignified, patriotic man has stumbled over far far less than Jesus overcame. And I am not worthy to carry McCain’s briefcase. And McCain is not worthy to hold the robe of John the Baptist. And John the Baptist was not worthy to untie the sandal of Jesus.
5. The point.
The point is two-fold.
It gives glory to God to know how profound it was for Jesus to overcome the wiliest temptations of the devil. And the temptation in the wilderness was after forty days of fasting. After forty days with no food, I would have given in for a bowl of fruit.
And we must remember to be humble. Humility doesn’t come easily to me. For all I have just said about myself, I am sure that I think of myself more highly than I ought.
So I pray for humility. Only by being humble can we know how strong and wise and good Jesus is. Knowing the truth about our strong and wise and good god is a boon and benefit to ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment