Just couldn’t resist, huh?

What does the word temptation mean to you? For me, at this exact moment, it’s leftover birthday cake, and not just any cake! It’s a decadent layer cake made with chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache sandwiched between two layers of moist chocolate cake. (It’s called a Tuxedo cake and you can find it at Costco. You’re welcome…)

Do I need another piece of my decadent chocolate cake with the fancy name? No.

Will I likely keep thinking about it the whole time I’m writing this reflection on temptation? Probably!

I think one of the reasons temptation is on my mind (other than my love of all things chocolate) is because of something I heard recently about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. So, I’d like to explore that for just a bit and see what there may be for us to consider here on Day 7.

What if “the temptation of Jesus” meant that Jesus was actually…..really tempted? I know it’s so simple, but just think about it. To be tempted, one has to really, seriously have a part of them that wants the thing dangling out there for grabs.

In Matthew 4:3-11, we find the first two temptations, to make bread from rocks and to call on angels to save him from harm in a dramatic test of faith seem to speak to the physical needs and desires of Jesus, who was truly hungry and tired, and probably very lonely for a bit of heavenly company.

The last temptation is the one that has me thinking the most deeply, because I don’t think of Jesus as being particularly tempted by “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” because don’t they all belong to him anyway? So, what was the temptation? I wonder if he was envisioning how amazing it would be if he could just be ruler of the world immediately, and circumvent what was to come for him the last few years of his human life? I wonder if his love and compassion for all of creation was calling out for him to just fix it all and end the suffering that had been going on for far too long? Might his temptation have been to sidestep prophecies, and the whole ordeal of betrayal and crucifixion, and exercise his right and power to choose?

I don’t know, and I certainly don’t claim to hold any scholarly authority here, but if Jesus was truly tempted by these suggestions to step outside of God’s great plan, wouldn’t it stand to reason that we would be tempted too?

Our temptations would be different – we wouldn’t likely fall for the stones into bread thing – but what about being tempted in ways we can relate? Like being tempted to live a status quo type of Christianity instead of daring to believe that God is bigger? What about the temptation to live in righteous conflict rather than radical love? And what about the temptation to just give up when it all feels too hard and too heavy? I don’t know about you, but these are temptations that I can really, really relate to.

So, I guess for this 7th day of Lent, I would like for us to reflect on our own areas of temptation and remember that nothing we are facing is a mystery to Jesus. He gets how hard it is, and he knows it can be a lonely place in the wilderness. I’m so glad Jesus endured the struggle, stood strong and stayed the course when given the option to take the easier path. He did it for us, you know, so we could walk through this life with his spirit that now lives in us, if we will allow it.

I am praying a special blessing over all of the hard places in your life where you may be tempted to turn, run, give up and give in. Stay strong, know you are incredibly loved, and you are not alone!

Much love,

Shellie