Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry. The devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” The devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to Him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if You worship me, it will all be Yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” The devil led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully; they will lift You up in their hands, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Him until an opportune time.

(Luke 4:1-13)

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     Many years ago, Joseph Scriven – residing in the town of Port Hope, Ontario – wrote a poem to his sick mother in Ireland. Set to music after Scriven’s death, the poem has become one of the best loved hymns of the Christian faith, sung at countless gatherings of Christian people probably somewhere in the world every single day. I want you to note especially two verses of that wonderful hymn:

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

     The hymn, of course, is “What A Friend We Have In Jesus,” and the answers to these two questions Scriven raises is a simple “yes.” And while some would like the Christian faith to represent an escape from the trials, temptations and troubles of the world around them (to be a refuge from hardship and a panacea for all that afflicts us) in fact, we have no right to expect it to be so. We, as Christian people, are after all the followers of Jesus, and as we begin the season of Lent, we look at a story known to us as “The Temptation of Jesus.” It’s a story filled with dark and ominous imagery, as we see Jesus standing in the bleak wilderness of the desert: hungry, thirsty, being tormented by none other than Satan himself. We can relate. Have we not all from time to time stood in our own version of the wilderness, feeling lost and uncertain as if there were nowhere to turn? Have we not all been hungry and thirsty: if not physically, then spiritually; yearning for a deeper experience of the divine in our lives? Have we not all from time to time been beset by what seems to be all the forces of evil arrayed against us? For all its joys, and for all of the peace and assurance it offers, this Christian life we lead is no picnic. At times it does resemble a journey through the inhospitable wilderness, and as the followers of Christ – whose own ministry began with this journey into the wilderness to face temptation and evil – we should really expect nothing else. In this world – which can so often seem to resemble a spiritual wilderness, in which the things of God grow strangely dark in the minds of many people – and even more in how we respond to this world and its condition, we find that our faith is very much on trial.

     So, as we look at this account of Jesus’ own temptations, we ask ourselves what it is about His encounter that puts faith on trial. There were, of course, three temptations Satan offered to Jesus, and they revolve around three very basic things that are deep-seated issues for most people: hunger, power and ego. The first temptation appealed to hunger: after forty days without food, Jesus was hungry, and Satan, sensing His weakness, approached Him with an appealing reminder: “you’re so hungry, Jesus. You look so weak. You know, you could just turn all these stones into bread. You are the Son of God, after all. Why don’t you do it? What would be the harm?” After forty days without food, what a temptation that must have been! After that, Satan tried to tempt Jesus with power. Satan – the ruler of this world as Scripture calls him – offered to turn all his authority over this world to Jesus, so that He would exercise direct and personal, hands-on control over all the nations and kingdoms of earth. With all the troubles that exist in the world – all the violence and warfare -  what a temptation that must have been! The third and final temptation that Satan threw at Jesus had to do with ego. Satan took him to the very top of the Temple. He said, “if you’re really the Son of God, then jump off, and let God keep you safe. That would prove it. Then everyone will believe in You!” It’s this third temptation that’s really foundational to what we’re talking about today.

     The first two temptations offered Jesus the chance to do something good. After all, if Jesus could make stones turn into bread for Himself, then surely He could do it and feed all the hungry people of the world – and that would be good. If Jesus could personally control the world, He could put an end to war and violence – and that would be good. That’s the point of the third temptation. Shouldn’t Jesus be doing good? Let me  paraphrase what Satan said to Him:

Prove Yourself, Jesus! How can You be of God when You won’t do anything good? You refused to feed the hungry. You refused to put an end to war and violence and hatred. Jesus, I think You better prove whether or not You’re really in God’s camp, because I’m starting to have my doubts about You. Show me who You are, and prove to me that there’s really some sort of connection between you and the love of God, because, sorry, I just don’t see it, Jesus. You haven’t done any of the good things I suggested, and surely God would do good!

     As hard as it is to acknowledge this, Satan raises a valid point: shouldn’t the Son of God want to do good? That’s what the first two temptations were about – reminding Jesus of the good He could do if He chose to. That’s also why Jesus wouldn’t give in -because He detected the temptation to substitute the “good” for the “best.” That’s a powerful temptation and to substitute the good for the best is something you can often manage to get away with. It’s hard to argue against what’s good in favour of what would have been the best, because we can usually do what’s good fairly easily, but doing what’s best requires a lot more effort. It was good that the House of Commons once passed a resolution to eliminate child poverty in Canada by the year 2000. What would have been best would have been if it had actually been done. Passing a resolution was easy. Taking the required action wasn’t. The easy good substituted for the difficult best.

     These three temptations Jesus faced are all very real temptations. And what they really represent is one temptation above all the others: the temptation to choose simply what’s good, at the expense of sacrificing that which is truly best; the temptation to just do a little when we could try to do a lot; the temptation to do what’s easy but to avoid what’s hard. That, you see, was the power of the third temptation: “Why didn’t you do good,” Satan asked Jesus. Jesus’ answer would have been “Because God wants me to choose the best.” Back in the 80’s, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a centre named Bill Derlago. He was a decent hockey player – he’d score 30 goals a year. It’s reported that he once told a young player on the team “don’t ever score 50 goals, because if you do they’ll expect you to do it every year. Just hit a comfortable level and coast with it and nobody will ever ask more of you.” We can always take the easy way out. We can all simply decide to do what’s good. That’s not difficult, and no one will get upset with us for that. Bill Derlago was a good hockey player – but with a bit more effort maybe he could have been a great hockey player. I think Christians are called to be more than Bill Derlago. We’re called to respond to the challenge of God to not settle for what seems to be simply good in the short term and to strive with all our might for the best. The Christian life puts our faith constantly on trial as we struggle to offer the world the best God has to offer, rather than simply the good we have to offer.