Lent: Day 15

Part 2 of a Three-Part Series

Scripture: Luke 4: 1-13

The second temptation Jesus faces is a political one. Here he is, out in the wilderness, a long way from making the kind of difference in Israel and the world that the angels and the magi talked about at his birth. And here is an offer of glory and authority, an offer to rule over all the kingdoms of the world. This is the chance to set right injustice, to end violence, to legislate the kingdom of God. But Jesus doesn’t take the offer. He doesn’t because he’s learning where true power lies. Governments are important. They influence most people’s lives. But one can become obsessed about public office and the personalities in the public spotlight. Just imagine what power one would discover if one set that aside for a moment.

The power of wisdom, the power of truth, the power of the soil and the seas and the air and the wind and the sun, the power of ideas and the power of the imagination, the power of rhetoric and the power of knowledge. Jesus says there’s one thing that’s always more important than government, and that’s worship. For worship directs you to where true power lies, a power that government can only envy.

Jesus transforms the desire to control into the desire to worship. Rather than be determined to be in charge of everything, Jesus reorients our gaze to the one who really is in charge. He says, again quoting Deuteronomy, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” The only true government is founded on true worship. That’s power.

The third temptation Jesus faces is a supernatural one. We’re all captivated by the thrill of fantasy, lured by the promise of magic, enticed by the prospect of a spectacle. That’s why we’re drawn to the television, sucked into the world of major league sports and fascinated by celebrity. They each offer us an instant prospect of a magic carpet to another world of heroes and conquests and drama and delight – a world so much more entertaining than our ordinary one. But Jesus isn’t interested in a fantasy world.

He’s not dazzled by popularity, or celebrity, or admiration, or even headlines. He’s in the wilderness to learn those things that really bring change. His ministry isn’t going to be about playing games with God. Jesus takes the desire for titillation and makes it into the desire for transformation. He’s not going to be distracted by the exciting, the spectacular, or the intriguing. He can’t be bought off with food, he can’t be fobbed off with high office, he can’t be distracted by entertainment. He can’t be put off from his purpose. That’s power.