Lead us not into temptation

Our Lent Wednesday series is taking a closer look at the Lord's Prayer. Throughout the season, we're also learning the Lord's Prayer in American Sign Language (ASL) - view an explanation of the signs here.

Tonight we reflect on the sixth and seventh petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.

The sixth petition is perhaps where the wording differs the most between the version of the Lord’s Prayer most familiar to us, and the version used in this copy of the Small Catechism: “Lead us not into temptation”; or, said another way, “Save us from the time of trial.” 

What does this mean?

It is true that God tempts no one, but we ask in this prayer that God would preserve and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins, and that, although we may be attacked by them, we may finally prevail and gain the victory.

The seventh petition is “And deliver us from evil.”

What does this mean?

We ask in this prayer, as in a summary, that our Father in heaven may deliver us from all kinds of evil—affecting body or soul, property or reputation—and at last, when our final hour comes, may grant us a blessed end and take us by grace from this valley of tears to himself in heaven.

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In this prayer we make an important observation about the world: temptation and evil are unavoidably present. We see it in big and small ways - in hatred, disease, abuse, violence, and injustices of all kinds. Close to home in our own small communities, and around the world. Yes, the consequences of human sinfulness are too many to count. The world is not as God intends.

And while it would be nice if our Christian faith could somehow remove us from this reality, we know that this is not the case. Our baptism does not provide a shield around us that protects us from any experience of temptation or evil. 

Our prayer, then, is that in the midst of the temptation and evil we will inevitably encounter, God’s presence, strength, and love would be made known in and among us. As Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “This, then, is what ‘leading us not into temptation’ means: when God gives us power and strength to resist, even though the attack is not removed or ended.”

The bead you will add to your keychain tonight is a red heart, reminding us that nothing - not temptation, or evil, or even death - can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash

Tonight’s scripture passage recounted the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. If it sounds familiar, it’s because we heard it in worship only a few weeks ago. It is the Gospel story we hear each year on the first Sunday in Lent. Following his baptism in the river Jordan, Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. For forty days and forty nights he was alone, fasting and praying. 

That length of time ought to call to mind for us the forty days and nights that rain fell as Noah and his family and the animals floated in the ark, and the forty years that God’s people Israel wandered in the wilderness before entering the promised land. It is a length of time that communicates hardship and isolation, the experience of learning and the necessity of trust in God.

It is while Jesus is weak, famished, and alone that the tempter - the devil, Satan - comes. The first temptation is for Jesus to flex his power in self-serving ways - he is the Son of God, after all! “Command these stones to become loaves of bread” - that’s not such a big deal, is it? 

But Jesus responds with Scripture, and the reminder that bread alone is not enough to sustain us - we need God and God’s word. 

Next, the tempter takes Jesus to Jerusalem, the holy city, and places him on the pinnacle of the temple. You’re the Son of God, right? Surely God wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Why don’t you throw yourself down from here? Don’t you trust that God will save you?

Again Jesus responds with Scripture - “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Finally, the tempter takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. Isn't it interesting how the tempter acts as if they are his to give? “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Power, security, glory and admiration - what's so bad about that?

But again Jesus responds with Scripture, driving the tempter away. “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

We, too, face trials and temptations, and they often come when we, also, are not at our best.

We are tempted to think too highly of ourselves and our abilities, and also tempted to think too little of ourselves. 

We are tempted to turn inward, ignoring or “othering” the needs that surround us, and we are tempted to focus on others as a way of avoiding the need to address our own inner life. 

Most of all, we are tempted to trust ourselves instead of God, thinking that if we only secure wealth, power, health, and prestige that we will be set with all we need. 

When we are tempted, when we feel weak, when we find ourselves in times of trial, when we are confronted by evil, the way that we find strength to resist is the same way that Jesus did - by turning to God’s word and God’s promises. 

In the moments we feel burdened and overwhelmed, we are reminded of Jesus’ words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

In the moments we feel weak and vulnerable, we are reminded of God’s promise: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

In the moments we are tempted by feelings of worthlessness, we are reminded that we, too, are called God’s beloved child. 

As Lutherans, we emphasize the sacraments of baptism and communion so much because of the way they make God’s promises visible and tangible for us, regardless of how we are feeling at any given moment. On the days we are uncertain and full of doubt, on the days the tempter fills our ears with lies, they give us something to hold on to that is outside ourselves and our own fickle thoughts and feelings. 

In the sacraments, we are assured that God’s forgiveness and saving mercy are present in water, bread, and wine on days we’re at our best, and on the days we’re at our worst. In the baptismal waters and the communion meal, we are promised that God’s deliverance and love are “for you” when you are able to resist temptation, and when you skip joyfully after it. The meal we share is not bread alone, but words of promise for us from the mouth of God.

When we pray “lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil,” we do so with trust and confidence in the God who is present with us at all times and in all places. Whatever assails us, whatever trials come, we know that God’s presence and strength accompany us, and we are never alone.