Lent 1                                       Luke 4:1-13                                        2/29/04

                                      "The Purpose-Driven Jesus"

A dear member of the congregation gave me a copy of A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren as a Christmas gift. She said she thought I might like to read it since a number of members were reading it.

I had every intention of reading a chapter a day, but I must confess that my good intentions went where many such intentions go. When I picked up the book again this past week I discovered I had only made it to P. 36. (I promise though I am going to get back to it...)

Maybe there was a purpose though even to my procrastination, for P. 36 has these subject headings:

"Knowing your purpose focuses your life."

"Knowing your purpose motivates your life."

"Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity."

If ever this applied to someone it applied to Jesus. This is made very apparent in the temptation story told in the Gospel of Luke.

Unlike the account in Matthew, where Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, in Luke, Jesus walks out of the baptismal water full of the Holy Spirit, and is then led by the Spirit into the wilderness. In other words, in Luke we find a Jesus full of purpose and ready to move forward in achieving it.

Jesus knew His purpose and it focused His life. We waste enormous amounts of time and energy struggling with issues related to why we are here - What is my purpose/Why was I born? We flounder around trying to balance our own needs and those of others, including the larger society, caught in the struggle between self and God.

Jesus didn’t have this problem. He knew from the beginning what His purpose was and since He chose to be obedient to His Father and live out His purpose, He could put all His energy to achieving that purpose. He is able to stay fixed on living out God’s plan of salvation, no matter what temptation the devil sent His way.

Now, the first thing we need to note is that Jesus has been without food, fasting, for forty days and the second thing to note is that this is not the first temptation He has endured. According to the Lukan version, Satan has been tormenting Him throughout His wilderness journey. Jesus is every bit as hungry as any other human would be under the circumstances, so the temptation we read about in the lesson was a very real temptation. What would have been the big deal to draw on just a little of His divinity and turn that stone into bread. I’ll bet Jesus could practically taste its fresh baked goodness. And furthermore, He would be showing that devil just whose Son He was.

But, satisfying His very human needs was not what Jesus was here for. There was more to His life than soothing His physical hunger. Jesus knowledge of His purpose helped Him focus on His spiritual fullness and thus He was able to deny the devil and even His own needs.

The devil, of course, is not easily defeated. He just tries another temptation. To us this may seem to be a thoroughly empty temptation. Why would Jesus, the Son of God, even give a moment’s consideration to worshiping Satan in exchange for authority (power) over the world? As Son of God, Jesus was involved in the creative force that brought the world into being. The world was already His.

But, for Jesus the very human person, the temptation could have had great appeal. Think of all He could have done: end sickness, bring about world peace, levy justice, spread love, make a perfect world. Surely, His motives would have been good. But, knowing His purpose, Jesus had a higher motive, one that meant emptying Himself of power and glory. So, Jesus resisted the temptation of a power trip and gave Himself over to others whose motives were not nearly as pure.

He did this though because He did know His purpose and that purpose was not to prepare Himself for eternity, but to prepare the way for us to have eternal life. He prepared the way for us by denying the devil and withstanding even the temptation to test God’s promises.

Having a sure sense of His purpose, Jesus could trust God through even bigger temptations. For the devil leaves, but only for a time. Jesus greatest temptation still lay ahead.

The devil will return at a more opportune time - when Jesus was hanging on the cross. Repeatedly in the Lukan crucifiction account the devil works through people to present these same temptations to Jesus in another form. They call on Him then to give into the devil and despair, put His needs above His purpose, and withhold His trust in God and the ultimate purpose of His life. It would have all been so much easier for Jesus if He had given in, but eternity rested upon His being focused, motivated and committed to winning eternity for us. The purpose driven Jesus prevails and because He did, we can have purpose filled lives now and always. Amen.