Temptation

The scriptures referred to are Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 and Matthew 4:1-11.

The Screwtape Letters was the book that brought attention to an Oxford tutor and lecturer in English named C.S. Lewis. The book is a series of letters from a senior devil in hell to his nephew, a junior tempter trying to lead one soul astray. I think the reason it made such a splash was not only the unique premise and the sly satire but also the sharp psychological insight into temptation. Before there were a slew of articles on cognitive bias in our thinking, Lewis showed how really bad we are when it comes to thinking about God, good and evil, the latest in popular ideas, how we see others and how we view ourselves. Lewis said it was the easiest of his books to write and yet it meant looking at things in a way that left him in a very unpleasant frame of mind. He supposed that it should be complimented by a book of an archangel giving a junior guardian angel advice but Lewis did not feel holy enough to pull that off.

Today's readings on the first Sunday in Lent are all about temptation. Genesis gives us the archetype of every temptation. Our Psalm describes what it feels like when we try not to acknowledge our sins before God. The passage from Romans talks about how contagious sin is and how it is counteracted by Christ. And in our gospel reading we see Jesus handling temptations. I want to focus on the first and last of these passages.

In our reading from Genesis we get a template of every temptation. It starts with God saying to the first humans that they have a whole world of things they can do; just don't mess with this one thing. It's like a host telling his guests they can go anywhere in the house and use anything except, say, his favorite mug. But like kids everywhere, the humans ignore everything else and focus on that one forbidden thing. “Why can't I have that?”

The tempter simply appeals to that kind of thinking. First he overstates the prohibition: “Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?” No, but the seed has been planted that God is being unreasonable in denying the humans anything.

In response, the woman incorrectly corrects him. “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'” Subtly the prohibition has been expanded in her mind. She adds that they can't even touch it. Now it's a good idea to not touch something you are forbidden to use. If you are trying not to drink or take drugs or buy things you don't need and can't afford, you should avoid even coming into contact with them. Studies show that the brains of people with addictions will start craving drugs if just shown pictures of a place where they used them or even of money changing hands.

The problem is that if the woman truly thinks that merely touching the fruit will kill her, then when it doesn't, it will cause her to have more doubts about God's truthfulness and goodness. Those kinds of doubts make us less likely to trust and listen to God.

And, sure enough, next the tempter flat out contradicts what God says. “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He further implies that God has an ignoble motive for making the prohibition: he is being selfish. God is withholding more than just a piece of fruit. He is withholding enlightenment.

Philip Pullman admits he despises Lewis' Narnia Chronicles, which retold the gospel in the context of a fairy tale world. So in Pullman's fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials he mixes a lot of pseudo-biblical lore into his story of the adventures of a girl and a boy crossing into different worlds. The heroine is being hunted by an evil church and the evil godlike Metatron because of a prophesy that she is the second Eve who will introduce sin into the world again. There is a war between the heavens and the earth to prevent this. And so in the end does she in fact do something she was explicitly forbidden to do? Does she betray a friend or kill someone or talk someone into doing evil? No. She kisses the boy. That's all. They just do what you would expect any two adolescents to do, especially after having saved each other countless times from the bad guys. My wife and I watched the HBO adaptation, which is extremely faithful to the books. When we saw this was the big “sin,” my wife said, “If she had done that in the beginning, she could have saved a lot of people dying.” Though admittedly romantic, when this kiss was revealed as the greatest danger to the multiverse, it was a letdown.

But Pullman falls into the trap of thinking that God is withholding something from humanity that he shouldn't. Because it seems trivial—a fruit—what follows seems all out of proportion to the offense. Yet in the story the fruit is the knowledge of good and evil. But since God has pronounced everything he created good, where does evil come from? It comes from misusing, abusing or neglecting God's good gifts.

People like Pullman mistakenly think that the big sin is sex. But that's nonsense. In Genesis 1, right after they are created, man and woman are told to be fruitful and multiply. (Genesis 1:28) God isn't talking about them using test tubes. Pullman is mistaken. Lewis points out that God likes sex. He invented it. In Genesis 2:25 we are told, “The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.” Nor should they. This is before the fall of humanity. Notice that when we say, “I felt naked”, we mean we felt vulnerable. They are vulnerable but they have no thought of doing anything harmful to each other. So the problem is not sex but its misuse and abuse.

And we are seeing what happens when you introduce twisted ideas about what sex is like into kids' heads. Thanks to the internet, the average age that a child first views pornography is 12. And that distorts how they think they should behave sexually. So they think that violence and choking is just part of sex. Interviews show that adolescent boys and girls think that's what the other wants and what they should do.

Pornographers don't care; they are making and selling a product, specifically addictive fantasies, distortions of something good. But if someone gave your child a new baseball bat for their birthday and said, “You know you could use this to really hurt someone if you wanted,” you would have strong words with that person. The baseball bat was not originally designed as a weapon. Admittedly, some kids might come up with that on their own but you wouldn't want to introduce that idea to them.

Temptation is all about inserting the wrong ideas into a situation. And the tempter gets the woman to start looking at things the wrong way. She sees “that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was to be desired to make one wise...” She no longer considers the moral dimensions of the situation but the object's superficial appeal to the senses...and to the ego. They'll be like God. Cool!

We often think that what makes God God is his knowledge. But it is actually his wisdom and goodness and love that are far above that of his creatures. Again goodness is about what one does with things, using them the right way with wisdom and with love. If you want to be like God, doing what he says is spiritually unhealthy behavior is not the way.

And at the end of our passage, the man and woman are looking at each other differently. They realize that they are vulnerable in their state. To whom? To each other. There's no one else. They are vulnerable to violence and all the other misuses of the body. So they initiate the first cover up. What they don't do is go to God, confess what they've done and ask for forgiveness. Then at least they would learn of God's goodness. And in the end God is merciful. They don't die immediately. But their unconfessed sin causes a breach between them and God, the source of life, and humanity starts to die spiritually.

Ironically if they had not broken God's one and only command, they would truly be like God. They would be doing good because they chose to out of love. They would be wise and gracious like him. The tree did in fact offer them a way to be like God, by letting them exercise their free will to refuse to do what's wrong.

What makes a good person? Not only what they do but what they could do but don't. In a dog-eat-dog, corrupt world, the person who uses their power for good and not for their own personal advantage is truly strong. That displays more power than giving in.

So let's look at how Jesus faces some temptations. The tempter again starts with planting doubts: “If you are the Son of God...” It's a challenge. Prove to me (and yourself) that you are this special person. “...command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Use that power to serve your needs even if it means changing the laws of chemistry.

One common temptation we run into when we do a lot of good is that we feel we deserve special treatment. We are entitled to break the rules. Just this once. Which makes it easier the next time.

Jesus is fasting and considering how to start the mission God gave him. Like Moses he is spending 40 days communing with God, praying and meditating. He is also experiencing one of the most distressing things a human being can: hunger. Today around 10% of the world's population are affected by hunger. In Jesus' day the percentage was a lot higher, due to the fact that most people lived in poverty and so had a poor diet. That's why in the prayer Jesus taught us we ask for our daily bread. Jesus knew what hunger was like.

He could have dealt with it in the way he did when he fed the 5000. But he wasn't going to use his power to benefit himself alone. So he responds with a verse from Deuteronomy 8:3: “It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Jesus is there to hear God speak to him. That's why the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. He is staying obedient to God's will for him. He will stick it out despite what it costs him.

Since Jesus is about to kick off his ministry, the next temptation is to do it in a spectacular fashion. Jesus finds himself on the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem, more than 100 yards above the courtyard floor. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; 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.'”

Notice this temptation comes with a quotation from scripture. (Psalm 91:11-12) A lot of people try to find justifications from the Bible for what they want to do. As someone said, a text without a context can be a pretext for a proof text. Plucking verses from disparate parts of the Bible can be used to justify anything. It's like the guy who decides he will discern God's will by just opening his Bible at random. So the first page he opens to says, “Judas went out and hanged himself.” That's odd, he thinks. So he closes and opens it again. This time it says, “Go and do likewise.” Now he's alarmed. So he tries it once more. This time it says, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” Context matters.

Sadly, most people use the Bible as the tempter does: to justify something they want to do anyway or that they want to convince someone else to do, even if it is contrary to the Spirit of God. And Jesus goes to Deuteronomy again, saying, “It is also written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'” Jesus floating down from the tip of the temple would certainly get the attention of others. But for all the wrong reasons. Jesus always resisted doing signs simply to satisfy people's taste for spectacle. (Matthew 16:4) He is going to trust God's way of doing this. It's already going to take courage to challenge the authority of Rome and the religious leaders; there is no need to be foolhardy or reckless.

Finally the tempter drops all pretense of wanting to help Jesus do the right thing. He shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. The tempter says, “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.” This seems pretty blatant but throughout history, including the history of the church, leaders have made this same pact with the devil: to do anything in order to receive earthly power. In our own day we have seen clergy and so-called Christian groups endorse policies and platforms that included things that either weren't in the Bible or went contrary to it in order to receive political power. They have given to Caesar the things that are God's, especially their allegiance.

But just as the tempter speaks plainly this time, so does Jesus. “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'” (Deuteronomy 6:13) Jesus is loyal to God alone.

Just last week we talked about another time Jesus mentioned Satan by name. When Peter told Jesus that he was not supposed to die at the hands of the authorities, Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan!” That was another temptation: to be the kind of Messiah people wanted, a fighter and a conqueror, rather than a sacrifice for the sins of the world. That temptation was harder because it came from a friend, a person who didn't say “If you are the Son of God” but “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter didn't want Jesus to die. Neither did Jesus, as we see at Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:39) But this was part of his mission. He couldn't let himself be diverted or corrupted.

What lessons can we take away from all this?

First, we need to be clear about who God is. God is love, according to 1 John 4:8. Out of that love comes justice and mercy and grace. Because God is love, he tells us to do or not do things for our own good. We may not always understand exactly why, so we have to trust him.

We also have to acknowledge that we are not God, though we are made in his image. For one thing, we have marred that image by thinking we know better than him, like the first humans. But God intends for us become ever more like him daily by following Jesus. As it says in 1 John, “Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.” (1 John 3:2) But there's no magic fruit, no quick fix. It's a process of growing spiritually.

One thing is clear: God tells us to love one another. (Leviticus 19:18; John 13:34) And yet we don't. We fight and kill and torture and enslave and exploit one another. We take advantage of the vulnerabilities of others. We use our God-given intelligence to figure out new ways to misuse God's gifts and abuse others and ourselves. We also neglect people we see as disposable, though they too are created in the image of God, and Jesus says what we do or do not do for them we do or do not do for him. (Matthew 25:40, 45)

In the first letter in Lewis' book, Screwtape advises his nephew not to use rational arguments in tempting others. He says you don't want humans thinking too clearly about whether something is true or false, right or wrong, good or evil. You want them to think of things as contemporary or out of date, naive or practical, popular or unpopular. Use jargon, not reason. “Do remember you are there to fuddle him,” says the senior devil.

The first line of defense against temptation is to think clearly. Think clearly about who God is, who Jesus is and what he has done for us. And think clearly about your response to his love for you. Don't do anything to mess up your relationship with him. Do everything to enhance it instead. And remember that God loves everyone else as well and so must you. Before you make a choice, think about these things.