2023.02.26 | The Temptations
“The Temptations”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
Feb 26, 2023
The Temptations. When I hear the words, “the temptations,” I confess, I often think first of one of my favorite Motown groups, not the temptations of Christ. And for good reason.
The contributions that The Temptations have made to American music are hard to overstate. Last fall (Oct 30, 2022), The Temptations celebrated their 60th anniversary as a performing artist group. Who can match that? Their staying power is without peer.
Billboard magazine ranked The Temptations #1 on their list of Greatest R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of All Time, and listed them among The 125 Greatest of All Time Artists.
In a similar vein, Rolling Stone magazine named The Temptations among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in September 2020, the editors of Rolling Stone magazine named the Temptations the “the greatest black vocal group of the Modern Era.”
In my humble opinion, The Temptations--and The Supremes--are among the greatest performing artists in the modern area. Period.
So, the fact that the Motown Temptations come to mind for me as quickly or more often then Christ’s temptations isn’t without reason.
Nevertheless, the lives of these Motown sensations--and numerous other pop culture icons--provide numerous examples of the modern-day temptations that quickly call to mind the wilderness experience of Jesus described in the New Testament gospels. Why?
Because the challenges that these artists faced--that Jesus faced--and that we all face, are cross-cutting, timeless, and an inherent part of the human experience.
II
Let’s dig into Matthew’s account of Christ’s temptations, and I’ll show you what I mean about Christ’s temptations being synonymous with timeless human temptations.
In chapter 4:4, Mathew says that the Spirit led Jesus into the desert where he was tempted by the devil three times.
In his first salvo, the devil said to Jesus: “…If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Betcha can’t! Naner, naner!)
Jesus didn’t bite. Instead, he compared his situation to that of Moses and the Israelites’s wilderness experience, described in Deuteronomy 8:3, saying: “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The devil is sneaky. He knows that we humans have weak egos and a strong need for control, so the devil had tried to seduce Jesus into using his power to bolster his ego and his image. But Jesus wasn’t playing.
Rather than perform some hocus pocus and produce a nice meal for himself and others, Jesus used the occasion to underscore our human need for spiritual food, so that we can get and stay morally clear about how to behave in ways that align with what is right, good, and fitting, regardless of the challenge in front of us.
Notice how the devil challenged Jesus' identity and authority? Instead of getting sucked into that nonsense, Jesus stayed strong and let the devil’s words wash over him, rather than sink it.
FLOTUS, Michelle Obama, is famous for advising her daughters to take the high road when they encountered situations where others were trying to bring them down. Ms. Obama says: “When they go low. We go high.”
III
According to Matthew, Jesus’ first temptation was to turn stones to bread--to do a good thing for a bad reason.
His second temptation was to use his God-given power to serve the devil’s purposes by throwing himself off the pinnacle of the Temple, and commanding the angels to
rescue him.
Here again, Jesus outwits the devil. This time by quoting Deut. 6:16, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” This passage is also taken from the Hebrews in the wilderness where they repeatedly doubted God’s presence and power despite tremendous evidence to the contrary.
By referencing Israel’s wilderness experience, Jesus was reminding his Jewish audience that they/we had been in these kinds of rough spots before, and that they/we should have learned by now that God is faithful and will not disappoint.
God never fails. God’s promises are trustworthy and true. There is plenty of reason to hope. Or, to summarize UCC Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Bruegmann, biblical hope is not airy fairy hope. It’s based on the memory of what God has done in the past, and the confidence that what God has done, God will continue to do. In short, God has been, is, and will be faithful.
The only question, then, is whether we humans will hold fast to the faith and be faithful to God.
IV
The third temptation that the devil dished up for Jesus was the temptation to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for earthly gain. In chapter 4:8–9, Matthew writes:
“Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’”
We do not have to look far to find examples of this type of temptation playing out in the world. Read the biography of most popular icons, and you will often discover a familiar narrative that describes how the lure of earthly wealth drove the icon and/or their associates into a trainwreck of circumstances including broken hearts, broken homes, addictions, eating disorders, emotional insecurities, and early graves. Why?
Because said icons and/or associates discovered too late--or not all--that the most important things in life aren’t things, and the most important things aren’t for sale.
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus offers a faithful response to each temptation that the devil presents, and the dialogue closes with Jesus shooing away the devil by saying, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship … and serve only God’” (4:10).
To be sure, temptations, by their very nature, have a vortex that can pull us off course and cause us to make poor decisions and to behave badly. To be human is to be tempted. Even Jesus was tempted.
V
Part of the significance of Jesus’ ministry is that he lived the human struggle. His temptations were real and compelling for him. It is precisely because Christ came in human form, squarely faced human temptations, and resolved them in healthy ways that his challenges are meaningful to us and worthy of emulation. But how?
My friend and colleague, the Rev. Dr. Kibbie Ruth, would say, “We need to be all prayed up!”
Being prayed up can take many forms. It can look like old fashioned, knees on the ground, hands clasped, and fervent words being said silently or out loud.
Being all prayed up can also look like practicing yoga with Grandma, walking the labyrinth in the Courtyard, crocheting a prayer shawl for an unknown recipient, stitching a quilt top with the Crafters, or doing absolutely nothing but resting and giving the Holy Spirit a chance to work on us.
The particular nature of the prayer practice is far less important than that we have and cultivate a prayer practice. This is because being all prayed up helps us stay strong in the struggle, make healthier choices, and live lives that contribute to the wellbeing of our community. It’s just that simple, and that hard. And we can draw strength from Jesus’ example. Amen.