Hisssss……

 Luke 4:1-13

I almost used the Old Testament story from Genesis 3 as the first Scripture reading this morning.  Do you remember which story is Genesis 3?  It is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden.  The first temptation story, if you will.  The time when humanity made the decision to eat from the forbidden tree.

 Because of that story in which the Tempter is shown to be a serpent, the voice of the tempter in Jesus’ story always speaks with a hiss in my imagination.  “If you are the son of God,” the tempter begins… a faint sound of the hiss just below the surface as he moves or slithers stealthily around Jesus, shrewdly testing Jesus’ faithfulness in the wilderness, just as he had done in the Garden all those generations before. 

 I use the adverb “shrewd” because we immediately notice that the tempter is not asking Jesus to do anything horrible, really.  The tempter is not asking Jesus to eat of forbidden fruit.  The tempter is not asking Jesus to do anything immoral or unethical.  The tempter is not asking Jesus to do anything that would hurt anyone else.  Actually, when you listen closely to their conversation, noticing the faint sound of a hiss just below the surface, you simply overhear the tempter asking Jesus to forget.  Forget three different times, in three different ways.  That’s all.  Just forget. 

 Forget why Jesus had been born into our humanness through a woman’s body.  Forget what his ministry was supposed to be about in the world.  Forget the power and claim of his baptism.  As you listen closely, noticing the faint sound of the hiss just below the surface, you begin to realize that all the tempter was really doing was simply asking Jesus to forget who and whose he was.  The tempter was asking Jesus to modify just ever so slightly his ministry so the purpose of his life became his purpose, instead of God’s purpose.  “If you are the son of God,” the tempter hisses…

 “If you are the son of God, then just turn this stone to bread.”  The tempter knew Jesus was hungry.  He had not eaten for 40 days.  You better believe he was hungry.  Starving.  Famished.  “If you are the sssson of God, do this one magic trick and eat your fill.”  It would have been a quick fix to Jesus’ hunger problem, instant gratification.  With just one word, Jesus could turn that silly stone into bread and eat until he was satisfied and hungry no more.  What’s the big deal about that, really?  No one would know.  No one was around. 

And both the tempter and Jesus knew that Jesus had the power to do something about his hunger.  All he had to do was use his power to meet his own needs first, to take his survival in the wilderness out of God’s hands and squarely place it into his own.  “It is just a little magic trick—turning a stone to bread.  If you are hungry Jesus, just eat.  Now.  What’s the big deal?  No one can see you.  No one would ever have to know.”  Hissssss.

 The 7 year old girl stood at her teacher’s desk.  No one was around.  The others had gone to line up for recess.  Her teacher had asked her to go and get the pair of scissors out of the top drawer for her.  The little girl loved it when the teacher gave her special responsibilities.  It made her feel important.  So she opened up the drawer, reached in, got the scissors, and then noticed the roll of Peppermint LifeSavers sitting there. 

 The little girl loved candy.  Really loved it.  Trust me—it is why I, I mean “she” had 12 cavities by the time she was five.  She had a sweet tooth.  And there was that roll of Lifesavers—right there—hers for the taking.  She had never taken anything before that did not belong to her.  But, she thought, it was just one roll of LifeSavers.  The teacher could easily get another one.  As a matter of fact, the little girl was certain that if she asked the teacher for one, the teacher would give it to her.  But why bother to ask, the little girl decided.  She was there.  The candy was there.  The teacher wasn’t there.  She reached in, took it, and hid the roll in her desk.  She ate the candy the rest of the day—slowly, careful not to get caught. 

 But with each piece of candy she put in her mouth, the knot in her little stomach grew.  And the sweetness of the candy became marred by the bitterness of her deceit.  It was just a small thing, really, and she was only a child, but for the first time in her life, she knew, she even felt, the brokenness of sin.  For the first time in her life, she had let herself forget whose she was and what that meant.  Hisss…

 The tempter upped the stakes and tried again.  Slinking around, slithering around, the tempter gets political with Jesus.  “Look at all my empire,” the tempter proclaims, the faint sound of the hiss just below the surface.  “Look at all of these kingdoms and all of this glory and all of this power that I claim as mine.  All you have to do is worship me and I will give it all to you.”  The tempter knew God was going to do that for Jesus anyway.  Every knee shall bow and all that jazz.  So, the tempter just offered a quick and easy way for it to happen. 

 No need for any suffering.  No need for rejection.  Certainly no need for a cross or for death.  “Just forget, Jesus.  Forget the way to the cross.  Forget the call of your baptism.  Forget the purpose of your story.  Forget whose you are.  Just bow down, worship another.  It can all be yours—power, success, riches, your own signature golf course in the mountains.  You deserve it.  Go ahead and take it.”  Hissss…

 The young lawyer went to his first corporate retreat.  He was excited.  It was being held at a fancy new resort.  As he drove down, he thought to himself “We deserve this.  We work hard.  We should be able to play hard too.”  He did not know quite what to expect.  Little jokes had been floating around the office that week—jokes he did not completely understand.  He arrived, checked into his room and went down to the pool.  And for the next 24 hours he found himself struggling. 

 In some ways he felt like he had been put right back into his old fraternity days.  Lots of drinking was going on.  He was surprised to see so many of his colleagues that he respected who were completely out of control.  And then he started to hear rumors about who was with whom—married or not, just a weekend thing, happens every year, no big deal.  People were spending money right and left.  No need was left unfilled.  His stomach hurt a little bit when he really thought about it, so he tried not to think about it that much.  After all, it certainly was not everyone who was there and they did do some fun stuff and some good teambuilding work, but… 

 Frankly, in the quiet of his room that night, he realized he felt lonely—and he almost felt like he was in danger—in danger of forgetting whose he was.  He tried to shake himself out of it.  This is no big deal, he said to himself.  You are overreacting.  Maybe this is just part of being a grown-up.  Don’t lose any more sleep about it.  But he tossed and turned all night long, still troubled but also embarrassed by his own conscience, his baptismal identity.  Hiss….

 Third time is a charm, right?  The tempter must have thought so.  He had not had much luck yet, getting Jesus to forget who and whose he was, getting Jesus to subtley shift his ministry from God’s purposes to his own purposes.  Jesus had refused to turn the stone into bread by claiming with Scripture there was more to life than just meeting one’s needs and instant gratification.  “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone,’” Jesus had recited.

 Then, Jesus had refused to simply bow down to the tempter, cashing in for the grand prize of worldly power and success, greed and immediate glory.  “It is written ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him,’” Jesus had countered, again with words from Deuteronomy.  The more and more Jesus argued with the tempter using words from Scripture, the more and more frustrated the tempter became.  And as his frustration level increased, so did the hissing sound in his voice. 

 But then the tempter got a brilliant idea.  If this Jesus could use the words of Scripture, so could he.  Anyone can take verses out of the Bible and use them for his or her own purposes.  Even the voice of evil.  Hiss… “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you, and (the tempter was on a roll now.  Words from Scripture were dripping off his flickering tongue,) “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Hiss... 

 Jesus must have struggled with this last one.  Gut-wrenching struggle.  He had just been baptized.  He remembered the voice he had heard—“you are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  He was God’s Beloved One.  So didn’t that entitle him to a bit of special angelic protection?  Shouldn’t he get to avoid the pain of regular, ordinary people?  He could simply take the leap and let the angels of the Lord keep him from any harm.  Didn’t he deserve just that one moment?  He would not be asking for much—just some protection from pain.  Just for God to protect him as God should.  Just an exemption from vulnerability and creatureliness.  It really was not too much to ask, right?  Hisss….

 Surely the tempter sensed Jesus’s internal wrestling.  He must have slinked and slithered and just waited.  Just waited for the lure of forgetting to sink in…  Jesus really struggled with this last temptation.  And this time of wilderness would not be the only time for this particular battle.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, remove this cup from me.”  And on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  He was God’s own Son.  Shouldn’t he, out of everybody, be protected from pain and suffering, from evil and betrayal?  All he had to do was forget… just a little forgetting…

 But Jesus must have heard that hissing just below the surface.  And the hiss reminded him of his story, of God’s story, of who and whose he was.  He shook off the tempting lure to forgetfulness.  And once again, he used his holy words to counteract the tempter’s voice.  “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus managed to speak, using all the forcefulness he had left in his weary body to form the words.  And in that one moment, the tempter sensed defeat.  And slinking and slithering away, the tempter decided just to give Jesus a bit more time.  Just let him live a bit more of the messy and painful and complex human life.  Then, then, perhaps Jesus would be more willing to modify his ministry to suit himself a little better, to make the way a little easier.  Then, then perhaps Jesus would be more willing to forget who he was.  After all, it wasn’t a big deal, this forgetting, right? Hisss…. 

 Maybe.  But you better ask the little girl.  You better ask the co-workers of the young lawyer.  It seems to me a little forgetting can go a long way down the road of brokenness.