Luke 4:1-13
Lent 1 / Year C
If you
are looking for some entertainment after today’s service, go to YouTube and
search for “The Marshmallow Test.”
Multiple videos will come up.
Choose one that is short and shows children. The Marshmallow Test is a simple experiment
designed to measure the ability of four-year-olds to delay gratification. The child is sitting at a table. An adult places a single marshmallow on a
plate in front of the little tyke. The
adult then explains she must leave the room for a few minutes. The child is told he/she is free to eat the
marshmallow now, but will receive a second marshmallow if he/she saves the
first until the adult returns. When the
adult tester leaves the room the four-year-old is alone (although secretly is
being video-recorded).
[Check out the video here: (205) PARENTING SCIENCE: The marshmallow test - YouTube]
The
struggles these little boys and girls go through is hilarious. One boy puts his finger on the plate and
spins it round and round. Several
children touch the treat and some actually pick it up. They smell it. They squeeze it. They lick it.
One child pulls off a small section and eats it. Another uses her finger to poke a hole through
it. I know of no other video which so
vividly portrays the experience of being tempted.
The
first Sunday in Lent always takes us with Jesus into the wilderness where he
fasts for forty days and is tempted. The
Gospels tell us the Temptation follows closely after Jesus is baptized: the moment
the Holy Spirit falls upon him and a voice from heaven proclaims him “My Son,”
thus giving Jesus a new identity. The
Spirit then leads Jesus into the wilderness.
There is a connection here with the people of the Exodus who wander, not
forty days, but forty years in the wilderness and also are tested. Their time in this barren landscape is
designed to help them learn how to live into their new identity as God’s
people. So it is with Jesus. While the Hebrews fail in the face of testing
several times, Jesus does not. He meets
every test and masters every temptation.
Did you
notice how at the beginning of the text it says Jesus is “tempted” by the devil
throughout his time in the wilderness and how at the end it says the devil
finishes every “test” and departs until an opportune time? It occurs to me tempting and testing are not
exactly the same thing, are they.
Temptation has something to do with being enticed or lured into sin,
resulting in a fractured relationship with God and (often) with others and even
with yourself. Testing, on the other
hand, challenges the vigor of our faith and commitment. In his Epistle, James contends testing leads
to endurance and character. We might say
temptation challenges us to give in while testing challenges us to give up.
Testing. My college had four required “key” classes:
one in religion, another in humanities, another called ‘creative’, and yet
another in science. No one could
graduate without passing all four. Guess
which one was my biggest challenge.
Right, science.
The final
consisted of 50 multiple choice questions and an essay. For the multiple choice you filled in a
computer card with a #2 pencil. Halfway
through the process I realized I had skipped a question and I had been
miss-recording the majority of my answers.
So, my answer for Question #25 was recorded on the line for Question
#24… and so one.
The
classroom was one of those large, tiered, theatre style rooms, and I tried
desperately to get the attention of a teaching assistant. Losing time, I decided to start on my essay. Finally, an assistant came to me and I
explained my situation. He said he would
bring me a new computer card, which he did.
He placed it on my desk, as I continued to work on my essay.
Once I
finished writing, I took up the card ready to begin the process of transferring
my answers up until the question I had skipped over. It was not until then that I noticed my new
card was completely and immaculately filled in.
I immediately deduced I had been handed an answer key. And let me tell, you, the pattern of its
answers – B, D, C, C, A, (and so forth) looked nothing like the pattern of my
answers!
Once
again I attempted to get the attention of an assistant, which again took some
time. I then explained how I got to this
point and my suspicion about the new card.
Somewhat nervously (and unconvincingly) he told me, “Oh no. This is not an answer key.” He took the card and went down to speak to
the professor. They were too far away
for me to hear their conversation, but I could read the professor’s lips as he
said, “Where did you get this? That’s the
answer key”. The two talked some more
and the assistant pointed up at me. Then
all of the assistant’s huddled with the professor and, after some time, someone
brought me another new (and most assuredly blank) card. I kept my answers as I initially recorded
them, now knowing some of them were wrong.
After
the test I went back to my room and told my story to my roommate. “I think God is going to bless me for doing
the right thing,” I told him. His
response: “You fool. God was providing
for your every need!”
I was
never tempted to turn in the answer key as my own work, nor was I tempted to
transfer its answers to my new card.
Nothing about this was alluring to me.
This test was a test – a trying of my core principles and beliefs. More than a test in science, it was a test of
character. And, to be honest, it wasn’t
so much of a trial (a difficult experience) as it was a revealing of who I am
and what I value in myself. It spoke to me
of my identity.
Which
do you experience more – temptation or testing?
My temptations are subtle and difficult to identify. I am tempted to think injustice and
corruption are not my problems and there is nothing I can do about them. I am tempted to think it is other people who
are mean and hateful and dividing our country, but not me. I am tempted to think other people need to do
more, but I do enough. I am not tempted
by marshmallows.
When I
think about testing I think about those of you who are living with illness and
chronic pain, who are unemployed, or who are battling addiction. I imagine these kinds of test are incredibly
challenging as you attempt to live out who you are committed to be.
And,
like most of you, I think this morning of the people of Ukraine who are being
tested in a way no one ever should be.
The free world is praying fiercely for them and is watching with awe and
admiration as they sacrifice all to remain true to their country and to their
core principles.
Our
Lord and Savior, when he was tempted never gave in. When he was tested he never gave up. And he promises to stand with us when we are
tempted and when we are tested so that his faithfulness may become our
strength. May this be your experience as
you move forward in this Lenten season and throughout life.
