Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " (Matthew 4:1-4 NRSV)

***

What could be more innocent?
Jesus has been fasting and praying.
He has been abstaining from food for forty days and forty nights,
for a month and ten days not a crumb has passed his lips.
And, as St. Matthew says in what must be one of the greatest understatements in the Bible:

“He was famished.”

Of course he was famished, he hadn’t eaten for more than a month!

What could be more innocent
than to take some of the stones
which he found lying around in the desert
and miraculously transform them into bread?
After all, Jesus is the Son of God,
the Anointed one of Israel!
The One upon whom the Holy Spirit had descended
at His Baptism!
If he was hungry,
certainly he could change rock into bread.

This is the stuff that temptations are made of.
It sounds innocent.
It looks innocent.
It even sounds religiously correct, doesn’t it?
After all, the Son of God can do whatever he wants!
He can raise the dead!
He can feed the five thousand with a single loaf of bread!
Certainly, he can feed himself in the wilderness.

But it’s not innocent.
It’s not good.
It’s a temptation to sin.

Would you pray with me?

[Centering Prayer]

It would be easy to get lost in the story about Christ’s temptations.
We could consider the reality of Satan.
We could discuss whether or not Christ had the power
to change the stones into bread
We could study the purpose and reason behind
Christ’s journey into the desert.
All of these are valid points of discussion,
but I am going to assume them at face value
in favor of asking one simple question
about the First Temptation.

What would have been wrong with Jesus changing the stones into bread?
I mean -- who would have been hurt?
how might it have harmed the will of God?
what makes this a temptation to sin?
Some might say that it’s a sin simply because the Devil proposed it.
Perhaps . . .
I mean, if it’s the devil’s idea, then it must be bad.
Look at what happened to Adam and Eve.
They were hungry
And there were other sources of food around the Garden of Eden
But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was close by,
and its fruit look delicious.
What was so bad about taking a bite
out of the fruit which came from that tree?
Was it because the snake suggested it?
Or, was it because God had said, “Don’t eat of it”?
I think we all know the answer to that one.

No, just because the devil suggests it doesn’t automatically make it evil.
The probability is high that it's evil,
but that’s not reason enough.
Let’s look at what the tempter actually said to Jesus:
“If you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Note: Satan is not quoting scripture here.
If anything, he is misquoting John the Baptist.

"Do not presume to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."(Matthew 3:9 NRSV)

If God can raise up people from rocks
Then certainly the Son of God can raise up food.

If nothing else, the devil is taunting Jesus.
The devil is trying to make Jesus prove
that he is, indeed, the Son of God,
by working a miracle.
Satan knows that Jesus is hungry.
Satan knows that Jesus can change stones into bread
with just a single thought.
And Satan also knows that to do so would be a sin.

Which brings us back to our simple question:
Why and How is this a temptation to sin?

What is sin?
As I have said before from this pulpit
The English word “Sin” translates a Greek word: “Harmatea.”
Which means, “To fall short”
“To fall short of the Glory of God.”
“To fail to do God’s will.”
That’s a pretty loose translation for the word: “sin.”
But it's the only one that matters.
In its fundamental nature,
sin is NOT an act against a particular law of God,
although such activity IS symptomatic of sin.
Sin is, essentially, failing to do God’s will.
And that is exactly what the Devil was telling Jesus to do.

Why was Jesus in the wilderness, anyway?
St. Matthew tells us that the Holy Spirit led him there so that he might
“Be tempted by the devil.”
While there, the Devil did come ...
he came when Jesus was the most hungry.

Could there be any better way for Satan to wipe out Christ’s preparation
than by tempting him to create food from stones?
It’s a sin because,
had Jesus fallen to the temptation and changed the stones into bread,
he would have been setting himself up for the temptations
which would follow.
It appears harmless
It appears simple
It appears reasonable
But it is not.
Rather, it is like the first domino in a line,
the end of which we find in the third temptation,
and in the devil’s demand that Jesus worship him.
Instead of depending upon God, and God’s word,
for survival when confronting sin and evil,
Jesus would have been relying on his own power
to change stones into bread,
and that would have laid him vulnerable to anything the Devil
would want to throw at him.

We face the same temptation, my friends.
We do not have the power to turn stones into bread --
But, as was true for Jesus,
there are many sources of strength and nourishment
around for us to chose from.
We don’t have to choose God.
We don’t have to choose to have faith in Christ.
But if we don’t
If we don’t choose to depend upon God,
we’ll be falling to the First Temptation.
Don’t fall to the First Temptation.
Don’t trust in Rocks
Fruit,
Bread.
Trust, as did our Lord, in the Word of God,
and be filled with the life-giving nourishment which
comes from his love.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
--Amen

© 1994, Rev. Gregory S. Neal
All Rights Reserved