Lead us not into Temptation…

Lead us not into temptation…

I’ve always found this portion of Jesus’s prayer challenging as I never thought the Father would lead us into temptation. In James, we read, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). This makes it seem reasonable to believe that God, since he wouldn’t tempt us, wouldn’t lead us into temptation either; so I wonder why Jesus asks us to pray these words?

Maybe Jesus wants us to wear little bracelets and ask What Would Jesus Do as we go through each day. If Jesus wouldn’t do it or go there, maybe we shouldn’t do it or go there either. I mean, it only goes to reason that Jesus wouldn’t want us to do things or go places that could be illicit or entice us into sin. But when I think about this option and options like this, it seems to ring hollow.

For the longest time, I couldn’t put my finger on why it seemed empty until one morning when I was reading Matthew 4. It said, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” I had to stop for a moment to digest what the passage was saying. Jesus was led by the Spirit into temptation. Jesus fasted for 40 days before he was tempted to turn the stones into bread, to jump from the temple peak, and to quickly receive the nations of the world. Even though Jesus rebuffed each temptation, it wasn’t that fact that struck me; it was that Jesus was led by the Spirit into temptation.

But as odd as that may seem, let’s set that thought aside for a moment and take a diversion.

In Hebrews 4:15 we read, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was tempted with bread, the temple, and the nations, but I wonder if he understands the more modern temptations like the internet? Like chatroom gossip? Like drugs? Like gaining political power? Like owning a second, or third, house on the beach? Of owning luxury jet-liners? Of sexual license? Of homosexuality? Or of binging on Giordano’s pizza? I mean, it says he was tempted in every way; but what about these ways?

Does Jesus really know what we go through on a daily basis in today’s world?

I think the answer to that question is found in John’s short letter I John. He writes, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (I John 2:16). Those three temptations are all-encompassing; any temptation we can imagine fits into one of those categories. For instance, make three lists, one list labeled “desires of the flesh,” one labeled “the desires of the eyes,” and one labeled “the pride of life.” Next, take any temptation you experience and you will find that it fits on one of those lists. I don’t think you will find the need for a fourth category.

For Jesus, his three lists are pretty clear:
The desires of the flesh: turn the stones into bread.
The desires of the eyes: bow down and you will receive all the kingdoms of the earth.
The pride of life: jump from the peak of the temple and reveal to everyone who you really are.

I won’t write out my lists here, there isn’t enough time or space for that sort of thing. But when I look at the three categories, I am reminded of a passage in Genesis 3 and realize these categories haven’t changed one bit since the fall. We read that when Eve looked at the trees of creation and she saw that, “the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Eve’s sin was the trifecta of sins. Without getting into the nuances of the Hebrew language (which indicate that Eve’s desires were perverted from the words found in Genesis 2:9) her lists would be as follows:

The desires of the flesh: the tree was good for food.
The desires of the eyes: it was a delight to the eyes.
The pride of life: the tree was to be desired to make one wise. She could find wisdom on her own; she no longer needed God.

It seems we haven’t changed much, have we?

So what does all this have to do with the Spirit leading Jesus into temptation?

Jesus tells us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, BUT deliver us from evil.” Jesus’s “BUT” is very important here. Matthew’s account of Jesus’s temptation ends with these words, “Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him” (Matthew 4:11). The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where he didn’t eat for 40 days, he was tempted by the devil without sinning, BUT then was ministered to by the Father’s angels.

I think one reason Jesus tells us to pray these words is that Jesus knows what it’s like to be led into temptation; he knows what it’s like to be run down and so empty that even the rocks begin to look like loaves of bread; he knows how much our soul hurts during those times and because of this, he doesn’t want us to endure the same thing.

I think another reason Jesus tells us to pray these words is that even if the Spirit leads us into temptation—and it does seem that the Spirit will lead us into dark places where our heart’s most evil desires lurk—then Jesus offers to sustain us and minister to us. Jesus walked these paths so that when we walk the same road we know it can be done; Jesus endured the siren’s call.

Notice, if you will, that each time Jesus was tempted he said, “It is written…” Jesus appealed to the Scriptures. The Son, sustained by the Spirit, appealed to the words of the Father to combat temptation. In this, Jesus gave us the model of how we also should combat temptation.

After all of this, I think the main reason Jesus tells us to pray these words is that he conquered temptation so that we, sustained by the Words of the Father and the ministrations of the Spirit, will also be able to conquer temptation and be delivered from evil when that time comes. For those times will come, and so we pray…

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

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