Sharing the Message in the Midst of Temptation

Lent I: Christian Practice #10: Share the Message
Text: Matthew 4:1-11

Today as we are just beginning Lent, we also conclude the preaching series we’ve been doing from our Guide to Christian Practices with our final, tenth, but very important practice, “Share the Message.” The message, of course, is the Gospel itself. And remember that word Gospel means “Good News” or “God’s Story.” Your story in absolutely part of God’s story. We all have our own “Gospel” to write, our own message of Good News. I will never forget a statement that has stayed with me over the years from one of my favorite elderly seminary professors, who was an acclaimed archeologist and Biblical scholar as she whispered to us in class one day, “Maybe the most important Gospel… is the one that you write with your life!”

So we are called to share The Message. How do you share the Message? Wait….let’s back up a step though, first we should ask: What message are you sharing? What message are you sharing with your family? Friends? Neighbors? Those you encounter in public? Because we are always sharing a message, whether in our words or our deeds. Is our message primarily good news or bad news? And, like my professor said, our lives themselves are likely the most important Gospels to those around us. Some will never pick up a Bible, but they will “read” the message of your life.

Remember the famous words of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

So, our lives are always preaching a message of some kind. Unfortunately, the temptations of life, as our Collect reminds us, are “many.” And one of the biggest temptations you and I face are not the temptations to do horrendous evils. No, we are tempted, like Jesus was in his encounter with Satan, to do less with our lives, than God has for us. In fact, we more often tempted by the “good” instead of the “better,” that is, God’s great desire and will for us.

Voltaire said, “The good is the enemy of the best.” This is never more clear than in our Gospel story today when Satan uses the “good” to try and tempt Jesus. Satan’s first temptation of Jesus is: “Command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Now certainly, since Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and nights, there would be a tremendous temptation to give in and eat something. But I think the temptation is much deeper than appeasing Jesus’ immediate hunger. In fact, some theologians have said that this is Satan actually tempting Jesus to use his power to end world hunger. With a snap of the fingers, stones could become bread and everyone could have their fill. That’s quite a “good” temptation, isn’t it? Yet Jesus resists. And then that second temptation, “Throw yourself down” …so that the angels can “catch you,” is maybe not just for Jesus’ sake, but taking it another step it can be seen as the temptation to use shows of power to sway and influence people. It’s another “good” temptation. Yet Jesus resists. And then the final temptation from Satan is the promise to be given all the kingdoms of the world by simply bowing to Satan. Satan is willing to give up dominion of the world and give it all over to Jesus. Just imagine if Jesus had dominion over the kingdoms and nations of the world, how different would the world be? This temptation can be seen then, as using political power and authority to liberate humanity. But all of these Jesus rejects…they are, perhaps, good things, in and of themselves, in a vacuum, but in the end, they are all enemies of the best. Jesus’ calling was much higher than these: Jesus was ultimately called to bring about spiritual and eternal liberation to humanity past, present, and future, through his suffering, death, and resurrection. All of the other temptations that Satan posits may have benefited the people affected by it at that moment in time, but it would not have changed the world for all people throughout all time. It was not God’s ultimate plan of redemption.

If you have ever read the book or seen the controversial film the “Last Temptation of Christ,” you know the real temptation that Satan proposes to Jesus is not something that most of us would consider evil or bad…it was simply to end Jesus’ suffering on the cross, to get married and become a father and have an ordinary life. The temptation is to be a good man and have a nice life like most Jewish men of the time. In a vacuum, that action could be called “good” but given who Jesus is and who Jesus is called to be, this “good” is absolutely the enemy of the “best,” because it means that Jesus does not die on the cross, and does not complete his mission of reconciling humanity to God on the cross as the Savior of the world.

The German Jesuit Alfred Delp, who was executed by the Nazis, once wrote: “Bread is important, freedom is more important, but most important of all is unbroken fidelity and faithful adoration.” When you look at your life, can you say that you are living out the call God has for you? Are you preaching, by your life, actions, and words, God’s story? Or your own? Or someone else’s? Check the “good” that beckons and tempts you, and pray with an open heart to discern if God has something even better, so that the “good” never pulls you away from the best.

Because “Maybe the most important Gospel… is the one that you write with your life!”