Thomas J Parlette
“Tricky Devil”
Matthew 4: 1-11
2/22/26, 1st Lent
Do you remember the first time your parents ever left you alone in the house?
It’s a bit thrilling at first. You have the whole house to yourself. You can do anything you want. At first we’re all act a little bit like Kevin from Home Alone. You can watch the scary movies our parents wouldn’t let us watch and order a large cheese pizza that we didn’t need to share with anyone.
But then, being alone can turn a little scary – especially when it gets dark outside. It’s amazing how many noises a house makes when you’re all alone – noises that you never seem to hear in the daylight. Every bump, every squeak, every groan seems terrifying when you’re all alone.
That may be why the reality TV show Alone on The History Channel is so popular. For 11 seasons now, participants have been challenged to survive all alone in remote wilderness locations, with limited gear and no support – just a camera to document their struggles. The last one to give up their solitary adventure and “tap out”, as they say, wins up to a million dollars in the most recent seasons. So far, the record for being alone in the wilderness in a single season stands at 100 days.
Even though it can be scary and intimidating to be alone – there is value in being by yourself. Some of the wisest, most spiritual people knew the truth of this. Anthony the Great for instance was one of the first of the Desert Fathers, early Christian mystics who sought a deeper connection to God by living a solitary lifestyle in the wilderness, to seek out alone time. (1) Being alone helps to open yourself to prayer, confront hard truths and the temptations of life and seek out God’s presence in the silence. In the rush of the relentless pace of modern life, there is more truth to the value of aloneness than ever before.
A few years ago, the actor Ewan McGregor – best known as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars movies – made a film called Last Days in the Desert, in which he played both Jesus and the Devil. To prepare for the role McGregor spent some serious time alone in the desert. He says of the experience:
“There was no cell phone signal out there – it was just fantastic. It was just space and time, which we’re getting further and further away from in our modern life.”
“You think of a lot of things you don’t normally have time to think about. You think of things you thought were buried and away and dealt with, and they bubble back up and you realize they weren’t dealt with. Things from your childhood, your relationships, everything.” (2)
I wonder if Jesus had those same kind of thoughts during his 40 days in the wilderness – reflecting on what his life has been, and preparing himself for what God was calling him to be and do. There are a lot of things you can learn in the wilderness when you’re alone – things you can’t deal with in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
In our passage for today, we turn to one of the mainstays of the Lenten season – Jesus, alone in the wilderness for 40 days. Being tested or tempted by the Devil. The number 40, of course should ring some bells for us, that number is highly symbolic here. The most well-known parallels are the 40 days and 40 nights in the story about Noah and the Ark. Then there’s the story of Israel wandering in the desert wilderness for 40 years as God formed and molded them into a holy people. But there are other examples of spiritual people being led into the desert, alone, to be tested and sometimes taught by God.
In 1st Kings, in chapter 19, Elijah is urged by the Lord to fast for 40 days and nights as he fled to Mount Horeb in Sinai, where he encountered God. Looking back even further, in Exodus, chapter 34, we read how Moses fasted alone, in the presence of the Lord, on top of Mount Sinai as he wrote the 10 commandments. (3)
Matthew no doubt has all these stories in mind as he tells us about the temptation of Jesus.
Temptation and Sin are the two themes that hold together the lectionary scripture readings on this First Sunday of Lent.
Our readings start with Genesis as we remember the story of Adam and Eve being tempted by the snake. This story points out the central temptation going on in these passages – the temptation to be like God, or the temptation to put ourselves on equal footing with good.
You remember that the snake asked Eve – Did God say you could not eat any fruit of the garden?”
“Oh no. We can eat of any tree in the garden except that one, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good Evil.”
“Oh, I see. Do you know why, let me tell you. Because if you eat the fruit of that tree, you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Doesn’t that sound good? Go ahead – take a bite.”
Eve takes a bite and gives the fruit to Adam – they both eat… and that’s how sin first entered the world. For disobeying God, Adam and Eve are put out of the garden and must fend for themselves.
Paul picks up the thread of the story and temptation and sin when he reminds us how sin first entered the world – through Adam. But now, in Jesus Christ – the New Adam – Jesus is removing the stain of sin and reconciling humanity and the world to God – putting us all back into God’s good graces. Paul, in essence, gives us a peek at the last page of the story – Jesus conquers sin and death and we are redeemed.
But first, Jesus must face the tricky devil and his tests. The devil gives Jesus three variations on the age old temptation to put ourselves on equal footing with God. First, the devil challenges Jesus to use his divine powers to feed himself – “make bread from these stones.”
But Jesus counters with “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
So the devil quotes some scripture of his own. He takes Jesus to the top of the Temple and says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written
“He will command his angels concerning you; and on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”
Again Jesus counters, “It is written, do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
But the devil has one more trick up his sleeve. He takes Jesus to the top of a high mountain, shows him all the Kingdoms of the world – “All this, I will give to you, it’s all yours, if you fall down and worship me.”
But Jesus is not fooled. “Away with you Satan! For it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
And the tricky devil leaves him as the angels arrive to celebrate with Jesus.
Richard Rohr has written about this passage that:
“There are three primary things that we have to let go of, in my opinion. First, is the compulsion to be successful. Second, is the compulsion to be right – especially theologically right. And finally, there is the compulsion to be powerful, to have everything under control.”
To be like God, as the serpent from Genesis would say.
“These are the three demons Jesus faced in the wilderness. Until we look each of these three demons in their eyes, we should presume that they are still in charge. The demons have to be called out by name, clearly, concretely, and practically, spelling out how controlling and self-righteous we all are.” (4)
This is what we do in Lent. We look at ourselves. We confront the temptation to be in control and see ourselves as all-powerful. In this season, we confront the reality that we are tempted by sin, and we turn to God for help. But we always know that help from God will always be given, if we simply ask.
The great Peter Marshall was known to say, “It’s no sin to be tempted. It isn’t the fact of having temptations that should cause us shame, but what we do with those temptations. Temptation is an opportunity to conquer. When we eventually reach the goal to which we are all striving, God will look us over – not for diplomas, but for scars.” (5)
Temptations and times of trial and testing are simply opportunities – opportunities to rise and conquer by the power of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Like many people, I have been absorbed by the Olympics these last three weeks. There is a commercial I’ve seen several times, put out there by Visa, that features the skier Michela Schiffrin riding up a mountain on a ski lift. The voice over says:
“From where you start, you can’t see the top, you just start to climb. You take one step, and there you are… and still you climb. And then you realize, there is no top – there is just the choice to rise.”
That is the opportunity before us in this Lenten season. We face the testing, and the temptations from this tricky devil, and leaning on our Savior Jesus Christ, we take one more step, we continue the climb toward Easter morning, using every challenge as another opportunity to make the choice to rise.
May God be praised. Amen.
