A Test of Integrity

Based on Luke 4:1-13

We have arrived at the season of Lent, these six weeks before Easter where we have an invitation to assess where we are in our discipleship. Traditionally a time of prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor, Lent is a season in which we take our spiritual life more seriously. In the early days of the church, those who wished to be baptized would begin a period of rigorous examination, to become clear about the depth of their sinfulness and the commitments to a new way of life that will be demanded of them before that glorious Easter day when they are baptized and received into the community of the saints. Others who had drifted away from the church were given an opportunity to come clean, repent of what they had done, and then on Easter be welcomed back into the community. It was this season prior to Easter when people could come to terms with where they were spiritually, to be honest with themselves, even as they anticipated Easter when they would experience a kind of rebirth as they were fully incorporated into the church, the body of Christ.

Times change, of course, and we don’t have people preparing for baptism or working through the process of being accepted back into the church during this season. But we do continue the tradition of self-examination, of assessing where we are in our relationship with God and one another, the parts of our lives where we need to repent, make a change. We have an opportunity here to check in with ourselves and honestly ask the question, “Am I still committed to the way of Jesus?” Through prayer, meditation, reflecting on Scripture, prioritizing our relationship with Jesus, we put ourselves to the test to see where we are in our commitment to the way of Jesus.

The scripture reading for today is a good one to start this season of Lent. Having been baptized and affirmed by his heavenly Father that he is God’s Son, the beloved, with whom he is well pleased, Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, is led into the wilderness for the purpose of being tested by Satan, the accuser. Jesus is going to be tested. Satan wants to see what kind of person Jesus is. He has been identified as God’s beloved son. How does Jesus understand his identity? How will he work with this relationship in his life? This time in the wilderness is going to be a time of testing for Jesus, when he will have to demonstrate the depth of his understanding of who he is and what he’s about.

I want us to consider a couple things about Jesus’ experience in the wilderness. My hope is that as we reflect on Jesus’ experience, we might gain some insights on how we can recognize the testing we experience in our lives and how we might respond.

The first thing to point out is that while Jesus was in the wilderness he was still filled with the Holy Spirit. He was not abandoned. This is a good reminder for us. We go through seasons of life where it feels like we are in a spiritual wilderness. Our spirits are dry. We hunger for, long for, a spirituality that is more vibrant and alive. We long for revival. But we are stuck in this barren wilderness and God feels so far away. But the truth is that the Spirit is always with us. We are filled with the Spirit of God always, even if we don’t feel it or notice it. That is a comforting thing to remember. God is always with us.

Now, let’s look at these tests that Satan gives Jesus. Two times, Satan says, “If you are the son of God.” That statement cuts straight to the heart. Satan is aiming these tests right at Jesus’ identity. Satan wants to see if Jesus really believes it and, if he does, how will he live that out.  Satan is testing Jesus’ integrity.

What is so tempting about Satan’s tests is that if Jesus does what Satan wants him to do, there can be a helpful outcome. This first one is really tempting. After not eating forty days, Jesus is famished. So, Satan says, “If you are the son of God, use that power to turn this stone into a loaf of bread.” Clearly, that would be a great thing to have a warm loaf of bread when you are starving. Jesus could satiate his hunger. But why stop there? If all it took to feed people was to turn stones into bread, then Jesus could solve hunger immediately. The hills of Judea are very rocky. There are stones everywhere. In an instant, Jesus could turn stones into bread and there would be a steady supply of bread for quite some time. No one would go to bed hungry. Wouldn’t that be great? What an excellent use of Jesus’ power.

But Jesus declines. He says that man does not live by bread alone, quoting Deut. 8:3. This is the whole verse: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus knew the repercussions of turning a stone into bread. It undercuts a deeper dependence on God. To go without, to not have easy access to what you want, makes us humble. It puts us in a place of dependency on God who said that God will provide for us what we need. We pray “give us this day our daily bread” with the expectation that God will provide it. By refusing to turn the stone into bread, Jesus lives in his integrity by trusting that God will provide what he needs. As children of God, do we trust that God will provide for our needs?

Next, Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in an instant and then says that he has the power to give authority over these kingdoms to whoever he wants. If Jesus would simply acknowledge that Satan has this power and bows before him, he promises to give Jesus authority over all the kingdoms of the world. All Jesus has to do is compromise just once, to worship a being other than God, and he will have the authority to impose justice, to rule the earth with holiness and righteousness. Who else would you want ruling all the governments of the world than Jesus? He would be the best emperor possible. It would be incredible. All he has to do is worship Satan and he would wield that authority…until Satan decided to take it back. It’s a false promise. If Satan could give it he could also take it back. But the main reason Jesus doesn’t fall for this test is stated when he quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, “Fear the Lord you God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” As a child of God, Jesus only serves God, not the emperor, and certainly not Satan. He will not compromise in order to access political power even if he could wield that power for good. 

Have we ever found ourselves tempted to play the game, compromise a little so that we can get in positions of power? Have we ever found ourselves rejecting positions of power and influence if that meant serving a political system or powerbroker rather than serving God? I admire Christians who run for political office, who seek positions of influence, seats at the table, to give a moral voice. I encourage that. We need more people of faith to be engaged in the political process. But this refusal of Jesus to bow before Satan so that he could access incredible political power should always be a reminder for Christians engaged in politics. We have to be clear who we bow to, the one who is the source of all power and authority.

The third test is basically asking Jesus to do a trust fall. Have you ever done that? Teams will do this to build trust. One person stands on top of a table. Six people get in a line facing each other with their arms extended. Facing back to the group, the person on the table folds their arms, closes their eyes, and then leans back, trusting that everyone else will catch them and they don’t land on the floor. Satan wants to see how much Jesus trusts God to protect him from a fall. “If you are the son of God, jump off the roof of the temple. God will send his angels and they will catch you.” Satan even quotes scripture to see if that will motivate Jesus to give it a try. But if we go back and look where this scripture comes from, Psalm 91, we find that the psalm is all about trusting in God as our refuge. In vs. 2 we read, “I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” There is nothing in this psalm about testing God to see if he will really save you. Rather, it’s about staying in your tent, in your fortress, or just living your daily life trusting that God has your back. Satan mischaracterizes the scripture he quotes to try to get Jesus to do something that Psalm 91 doesn’t even suggest he should do. Jesus responds again with his own scripture quote, again from Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 16: “Do not put your God to the test as you did in Massah.” That refers back to Exodus 17:7 when Moses named a place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Jesus never doubts that God is with him and never tries to test God to see if God will come through. 

Have we done that sometimes? Sometimes when given an opportunity to serve God, we find ourselves having to step out in faith without knowing how things will go or if it will work out. But there is a difference between stepping out in faith to see if we can trust in God and stepping out in faith trusting in God. The first way is to test God, to see if God will really come through. The other way is to step forward with confidence that no matter what happens God will come through. The first way is to be tentative and uncertain. The second way is to be courageous and hopeful. As a child of God, which way will you choose to take?

I know, I have asked a lot of questions. Maybe some of them are sticking with you and others don’t resonate at all. This is my invitation to you. If one of these questions are sticking with you, why not take some time later today and sit with that question. Or maybe go back and re-read this passage from Luke and spend some time reflecting on these tests that Jesus faced. What would you have done? How might you reframe these tests in a way that aligns more with your life? We start the journey of Lent reminded of three things. We are beloved children of God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. And we are confronted with tests that challenge our integrity. How is your integrity challenged? How do you respond?