Stoned Wheat Bread

Lent 1 C  02/21/10

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isn’t it a strange little gospel story this morning? Jesus and the devil—face to face, toe to toe, mano a mano—like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader—squared off against each other. The devil whipping scripture daggers at Jesus, and Jesus brushing them aside with some zingers of his own. Strange story! Reads more like Stephen King the horror writer than Luke the physician and gospel writer.

It reminds me of the legend of blues great Robert Johnson. And how he was tempted by fame, fortune and women to sell his soul to the devil down at the crossroads. All for the flashing fingers and soulless singing voice of a blues guitarist. Must have sounded like a good deal at the time. But Johnson was dead at age 27, poisoned by a juke joint owner who suspected Johnson of having a dalliance with his wife. Not such a good deal after all.

I wonder how the devil’s offer might have sounded to Jesus, out there in the wilderness. Especially after forty days without a shower, sleeping on the ground, and no food! I mean—he was in a weakened condition, susceptible to temptation. Especially when the devil’s deal didn’t sound that unreasonable. It maybe wasn’t even half-bad.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure Jesus was well aware of the devil’s terms—that Jesus join the dark side and worship him. But what the devil was offering in return—that was tempting, particularly for Jesus, the Son of God. Because, while on the outside, the stones into bread, the temple pinnacle bungee jump, and the world dominion tour seem totally selfish and bad—there’s a positive spin that could be placed upon each one. A spin that would make taking the devil’s deal almost noble.

Take for instance your bread. Now—I’ve seen “stoned wheat bread” in the market. Not quite sure what it is. Must be they’re adding pebbles to the nuts and twigs that are already in the bread that’s good for you. Maybe it adds minerals. Anyway, the devil wasn’t tempting Jesus with stoned wheat bread. He was tempting him to turn stones into bread to quiet his grumbly tumbly. That would be nice, some bread—possibly a bagel or English muffin, nothing as pretentious as a scone. But, despite the forty day fast, Jesus has the willpower to pass on the instant breakfast for himself. The implications of using stones to make bread are farther reaching however.

Jesus, being Jesus, had to have had this thought pass through his mind. If I can make stones into bread to satiate my own hunger—well, there’s plenty of stones around here and lots of hungry people. But not enough bread. Wouldn’t it be far better if there was a shortage of stones, rather than a shortage of bread? That’s the implication of the devil’s temptation—that Jesus could end world hunger with a word. Tempting indeed!

And how about this thing, this world dominion? Would it be so bad, really, if Jesus was president of the United States, and Prime Minister of Canada, and Sultan of Dubai, and King of Denmark, and so on and so forth. Jesus in charge of the whole world!  Where’s the down side of that political strategy? World peace. Sharing of resources. An end to those pesky political primary ads on TV. Sounds good to me. Did it tempt Jesus? I have no doubt. Perhaps the desire for personal power and prestige he rejected immediately—but for the opportunity to unify the world and make things right again—that, that was tempting for Jesus. Very tempting!

And last but not least—doing an intentional header off the pinnacle of the temple. Top of the head it would be a great way to see if God was awake and really cared. Jesus didn’t need that kind of assurance. But it would sure prove a point. That being he was the Son of God. So what if it put God to the test? I don’t think even one person here would mind knowing for an absolute fact—with spectacular visual display—that God is in present and accounted for and in control to the point of protecting everyone from harm. That would boost Jesus’ and God’s approval rating through the roof! Pretty tempting!

So this strange little story has two layers really. On one level, Jesus is personally tempted by the devil as a man—a human being. He’s tempted to use power inappropriately for personal gain (stones to bread). He’s tempted to gain total earthly power and universal acceptance. And he’s tempted to test God’s love for him. Three temptations handily brushed aside by even a starving, thirsty, sunburned, and, dare we say, a fairly ripe Jesus Christ.

But on a whole other level, the Son of God is tempted three times to act counter to the way God works. By feeding the hungry, ending governmental vices, and proving beyond any doubt that he is the one, and that God loves everyone. Another three temptations—these ones I’m sure were harder to deflect. But Jesus did. Must have been hard though, otherwise they wouldn’t have recurred at those “opportune” times chosen by his nemesis, el Diablo.

Opportune times—like when on the crowds gathered to hear him speak were hungry but had little food. How hard it must have been for Jesus not to just pick up some rocks and not stop making them into bread until all the empire was fed. Opportune times like when the crowds tried to make him king. Times like when the voice from heaven roared, “This is my Son, the beloved – listen to him!” Temptation always crops up at opportune times. Jesus may have wavered, but he never gave into temptation.

But we do.

We are tempted to expect God to miraculously feed the world. And the sorry thing is, God already has. Not from stones but from nothing—God created food for all. It is our sin that keeps it from its intended mouths. Same with water, and all the staples of life—God provides, we squander, destroy and hoard.

On the other hand, God works to care for his creation in ways that are not readily understandable by humanity. For example, the freedom that we enjoy as creatures extends into areas we would rather it did not—we are free to love and obey God, but also to act upon our selfish inclinations.

We are tempted by absolute power and the idea of a God centered world order. When in reality God is already working in the world through governments, and the social order. Luther called this activity of God in the world God’s left hand. Again God works in ways that are indecipherable to humankind. The temptation to avoid here is to think that only if Jesus were at the head of government for every nation—only then can there be a peaceful world. We underestimate God and lose trust in him when that temptation wins over us.

Jesus told the devil, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test,” and he refused to. He would not jump off the pinnacle of the temple, to see if God would catch him—to prove that he was who he said he was. We are sorely tempted, if not by the latter, then most certainly by the former.

We don’t go jumping off of buildings to see if God loves us. We’re not fanatics! But we do other things to  try and force God’s hand.  And we do draw the line in the sand when it comes to God’s care for us. We say, “God, if you really love me and if you are the Son of God, then you can cure my mother who has cancer, find me a job right away, give me good grades, make my wife love me again…” You fill in the blank.

The trouble with this temptation is that you’re left with a crisis of faith if it doesn’t go your way. Because we know God loves us and cares for us—we believe that. But then what do you say when things fall apart? God was on a day off?

No. Do not put the Lord your God to the test. It’s not that God just doesn’t test well. It’s that our tests not only reveal our lack of faith, which is major—but they also can’t be applied to God. It would be like testing the strength of iron bars by hitting them with a feather, or testing a marigold for chicken pox.

In fact there’s only one test that does apply—the Jesus test. It works like this. In any situation, any, where you are tempted to question God’s plan for you, care for you, forgiveness of you: instead remind yourself of one thing, “Jesus.” What you can say about Jesus, you can say about God. So what is God like—like Jesus. Does God forgive me—Jesus did on the cross. Does God care about my aunt who’s dying? Jesus cured and had compassion for the sick—but he didn’t heal them all. Jesus. Jesus is the reagent in the test for God.

Jesus withstood the devil’s temptations. We aren’t that strong. We succumb to them often and regularly. Not that we don’t resist marvelously sometimes (with God’s help). But we’re tempted by misunderstandings of God, and we fall prey to them at times of weakness. But that’s not the end of the world, or of our souls.

Because down at the crossroads, where the divine and human intersect, Jesus passed on the devil’s deals and went on with his mission of grace and mercy. And in the end, it was the devil who lost out, and Jesus who got our souls. AMEN