We’ve talking about choices a lot lately during the sermons. Jesus’ choice to do his Father’s will and his open proclamation of that at his baptism. Jesus’ choice of disciples and why he chooses the men that he does to aid his work. Transfiguration was about the mountaintop experience and how it aids our choices to do what is just and right by giving us a vision of God’s favor that we can cling to and draw upon in times of testing. Now, at last, we come into the season of Lent and as is tradition, we have as our first story of the season, Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. And again, we are dealing with choices.

Chronologically, this story takes place immediately after the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. Liturgically, we find it here immediately after the story of the Transfiguration. As we learned last week, there is a parallel between the baptism and the Transfiguration found in the words of God, “This is my Son….” But there is also a parallel in the fact that both those stories are also about choices: Jesus initial choice to do the will of his Father at the baptism and again on the mountaintop as he turns towards Jerusalem and the cross. And as I said, those choices will be tested.

As such, it is appropriate that we come to this story now. We of course have heard this before. Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tested by the devil, and he’s given three temptations. Each clever enough to be worthy of a sermon in and of themselves.

The first seems simple enough. You’re hungry. Make bread. For many of us, we have the hardest time seeing the problem in this one. It’s logical. The body cannot function without fuel and if you have the means to fuel it, then do so. So what is the harm in creating bread out of rocks?

Ah, but that’s precisely the point. Once you do the simple things the devil asks of you, the difficult becomes easier. If Jesus gives in here, he’s already on the slippery slope to greater and greater evil. Think about it. If he can say “yes” to bread here, if he can say “yes” to the easy path here, it’s all the easier for him to say “no” to the hard path of the cross and of God’s will.

But Jesus does not say “yes” and so the devil moves on from the subtle to the gross. Another temptation, found third here in Matthew and second in Luke’s version of the tale, is that the devil takes to the top of a great mountain. Bow down and all these will be yours, all the kingdoms of the world. Here the temptation seems so obvious, but it’s really not. There is a subtlety here, a dangerous one. The devil knows full well that every tyrant in the history of the world began with good intentions. Began wanting to remake the world into they believed and thought was the greater good. Jesus too is a man of ideals, has come to save the world. Wouldn’t it be easier if he had all the nations in his grasp?

Again, a choice is tested. Take the hard road of God’s plan for salvation, or go the easy route of temporal power. But Jesus knows full well that salvation will not come about by the sword, but by the cross. And so again, he refuses the devil’s offer. He will take the hard road.

And that choice will be tested yet again in the third temptation. Satan takes Jesus up to the top of the temple and tells him to throw himself down. I want to talk about this one last even thought Matthew places it in the middle of the three, because I’ve begun to rethink the menace of this one. In many ways, it goes to the heart of God’s choices, for it is an assault on the incarnation itself. You really want to be human, Jesus? Let’s see how far you go with it. Throw yourself down. Do you really want all that goes with being human? Do you want the pain, the powerlessness, the suffering, the death? Throw yourself down and we’ll see. If you go splat, I’ll know you mean it. If the angels rescue you, I’ll know you didn’t.

No other choice that Christ makes is of greater benefit to us than the incarnation. For the cross cannot come about, the empty tomb and our salvation cannot be, if Christ cannot suffer and die. And the devil knows this. He knows it well. So he launches this attack in the hopes that he can stop Jesus now. But, again, he fails. He fails time and time again in the weeks and months to come as Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem. He fails when the adulation of the crowd on Palm Sunday tempts Jesus to go to the garrison and not to the temple. He fails when the officials and the guards mock him at the foot of the cross. If you are the Son of God, come down. Jesus chooses the hard road; He chooses the cross and dies upon it for our sakes.

And since he failed with Jesus, he now turns his attentions to us. We, the disciples and followers of Christ in all the generations since Jesus walked this earth. We too have been tested and will be tested. Christ has called each of us to his service, to continue his work, to proclaim his good news. And each of us in our own way has made the choice to accept that responsibility. And when we made the choice to do what Jesus has called us to do, the devil put us to the test as well.

It’s funny how many preachers will get up and tell you that the moment you choose Christ and his calling is the moment your life becomes smooth sailing. That should be an immediate clue that they don’t know what they’re talking about. Look at the lives of Jesus’ disciples: Peter, Paul, James, John, and all the rest. How glorious and easy were their lives? Prison, ridicule, mockery, execution, exile. Sounds like a grand old time to me. When we seek to do good, the devil will hit back. The road of discipleship is a hard road too.

And we know that very well, don’t we? Doubt plagues us. Hypocrisy keeps us paralyzed. Shame silences us. The devil never gives up, constantly putting obstacle and temptation in our path. And each of us still falling prey as we journey to our sins, giving into our temptations from time to time.

We lack Jesus’ clarity of thought and indomitable will, so we give in, sometimes rarely, sometimes frequently. Regardless, the devil loves to parade those times before us, mocking us with our own weaknesses.

That’s because he loves to keep us doubting, loves to keep us silent. For while he cannot steal us from Christ, he can keep others from knowing the Gospel through us. He can keep us quiet, afraid of ourselves and our transgressions.

But in the midst of temptation, in the midst of struggle, in the midst of all the things that get thrown at us in this life, do not lose sight. Jesus knows who you are. Jesus knows your weaknesses. He knows what you’re prone to do, prone to fall prey to, the sins that you commit. And yet, he has called you anyway. Because Jesus isn’t interested in the evil you can do. He’s taken care of that by his death on a cross. He is interested in the good you can do.

He wants your voice, your hands, your heart, and he does not want them silent. For there is world out there that needs to hear the Gospel, needs to hear that God has not abandoned them, that God has come to save them.

But if the road gets hard, and you feel you’ve lost your way, look to the cross. Know that what you are dealing with now, Christ has also been there. He too has walked a hard road. And also remember this most of all, no matter what the devil throws at you, he cannot steal you from Christ’s hands. The cross is yours forever and the devil and all of his tricks cannot take it from you. It and its salvation is yours, given as a free gift of grace, and it will be yours forever. Never forget that. Amen.