The gospel tells us that right after Jesus was baptized he was "led by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. He was led
by the Spirit so that he could settle what the plan was going to be that
he would live his life by. He would see what the plan for his life was
by being tempted to follow three counterfeit plans.
When we were baptized, God had a plan for us to live by as well. The
plan which Jesus was to follow was like the plan for us and the
counterfeit plans that he was tempted by were temptations that face us
as well. So what were these counterfeit plans for life and what was the
real plan?
The first counterfeit plan was when the Devil tempted Jesus to make
stones into bread. Jesus had gone without food for a long, long time.
He must have been very, very hungry. He looked around at the round
stones of the wilderness and they must have looked like round loaves of
bread. It must have seemed as if to eat were the only thing that
mattered. That was the counterfeit plan - to live a life in which in
the end nothing else matters but the material things of life. That is a
plan that will occur to us when we are in a time of need. The crunch
comes and we are tempted to give up our thoughts of God and decide that
nothing else really matters but getting some food, some money, a job...
That was the counterfeit plan and Jesus was tempted by it.
The Bible says, "he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without
sin." That means that this seemed terribly like it might be the
true plan to him as it might to us. It really did seem as if the only
thing that mattered in the end was to survive. But Jesus didn't go for
it. Even when he was in great hunger, he didn't think the world
revolved around his need. He answers, "Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." He held
fast to the true plan. He would live his life knowing that what he
needed more than anything was God. This need or that need, however
strong they were, couldn't change the fact that his deepest need was for
God. He would live "by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
The second counterfeit plan was when the devil took him up to the top of
the great temple and suggested that he jump off and prove that God was
with him by performing a spectacular miracle. The counterfeit plan was
to live his life as if whatever came to his mind must be God's will for
him. Whatever way that he wanted things to be, God would surely back
them up. Perhaps he should jump from the Temple, perhaps that was what
God wanted? God might want that. But did God really want that? We can
easily get an idea of what we are supposed to do and say to ourselves,
that might be right way, I'd like it to be the right way - but is it
really the right way?
I
had a relative in England who when he was in his early fifties got very
restless. He wanted to change this and he wanted to change that about
his life and eventually he wanted to change his wife. He wanted
something more in his life and he was convinced that he knew what it
was. And although there was nothing really wrong with his marriage, he
broke up with his wife and found someone else. Did he find the
happiness he was looking for? I don't think so. His restlessness was
something within, and no change of scenery or change of partner was
going to make it better. He convinced himself that he was better off
with his new partner. No one wants to admit that they upset everyone
that loved them because of an idea that turned out to be wrong. To
others he didn't look any happier. The counterfeit plan was to follow
an imaginary goal as if it was real - to think that if we flap our arms
maybe we'll fly. If we get lots and lots of money we'll be happy. If
we impress the right people it will make us successful. This plan seems
ridiculous until you see someone you know live their life according to
it - or perhaps you try it yourself for a time. And the true plan, the
good plan, is that as you lead your life you don't go out on a limb,
telling yourself "maybe this is what I ought to do." You stick to what
you know God wants you to do and not try to make God back your own
schemes "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." The
true plan is to keep our feet planted on God's earth and not think we
are the exception to every rule. In both of these first two counterfeit
plans there is a kind of self-centredness. "Because I am hungry, bread
is all that really matters." Or, "because I imagine it, and I want it
to be true, it must be true." In both these ways of thinking, "I" and
"me" are the centre of the world.
And the third counterfeit plan is this self-centredness boiled down to
its essence "I want the world to be under my control." The devil tells
Jesus that he will be able to rule the world if he will worship him. We
all have that tendency to want everything to bow down to us. To have
everything revolve around self. When we look at children we can see
them trying to control the people around them by dominating them, or
perhaps by sulking and whining. And we can see the same things in
adults. We all recognize it when people try to be controlling. We
don't recognize it as easily when we try to control. The devil wants
Jesus to bow down to him but Jesus refuses. He says, "You shall
worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." The true
plan is to live our lives as worshippers of God. And with that goes not
wanting other people to bow down to us. We don't want to control
because we are worshippers of God and we allow him to rule.
So in these three temptations of Jesus, we see three counterfeit plans
for life. To live as if material things and needs are all-important and
leave God out of the picture. To live as if we can decide what God must
want for him and follow that. And to live as if the whole world
revolved around our self, rejecting the claim of God and try to get
others to see it that way. These counterfeit plans can be very
persuasive. They must have been persuasive to Jesus himself or he
wouldn't have been tempted to follow them.
The whole character of a temptation is that when we are being tempted,
it seems right to us, or to part of us. And our Lord was no different
in this, because he was human, "In every respect he has been tempted
as we are, yet without sin." These plans can all seem very
plausible under the right conditions. But we have to learn to stick to
the true plan.
Jesus followed the true plan for his life. He lived knowing that
whatever his material needs were, his deepest need was for the Word of
God. He lived knowing the difference between his own imagination, and
God's true purpose for him. He lived as a worshipper of God, not bowing
down to anything but God, and not trying to make others bow down to him.
This is the life he chose as he came from his baptism and was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness. And this is the life we should choose,
starting at our baptism. His life is the model for our life - God's
true plan for us.
