Maundy Thursday Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In tonight’s Gospel, Jesus commands His disciples, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Jesus does not speak these Words from the safety of heaven above, but He speaks them while in the midst of His own terrible temptations. Dear Christian friends, Jesus says in tonight’s Gospel, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” These Words are only a small variation on what Jesus has already taught you to pray in His Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:4). When Jesus says to you, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation,” Jesus is teaching you something more than how to pray the Lord’s Prayer for yourself. Jesus is also teaching you to pray the Lord’s Prayer against yourself. What I mean is this: • Your enemy the devil most assuredly “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is, of course, the great tempter (Matthew 4:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:5) and “deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). When Jesus teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” and when He says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation,” we should think that Jesus wants us to direct our prayers against the temptations of the devil, who desires our death as dearly as he desired the death of our Lord. • In the same way, the unbelieving world around you offers you great “cause to sin” (Matthew 18:7). The unbelieving world has no use for your faith, no interest in your piety, and no delight in your resistance to temptation. Jesus wants us to pray “Lead us not into temptation” precisely because we are surrounded by temptations all around and every day. • But the devil and the world are not our only enemies. By all means, the devil and the world are rich in temptation and opportunity to sin. “Oh, but she can’t take you any way you don’t already know how to go” (Jack Tempchin). Our human nature has become so deeply corrupted by the disease of sin that must pray “Lead me not into temptation” even against yourself. When you pray in this way, you can use this petition of the Lord’s Prayer as a confession of your sin and failure: “Forgive me, Lord, for my desire to be led into temptation! Forgive me, Lord, for my unwillingness to resist temptation. Forgive me that the sin I should resist is actually the thing that I want.” “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Jesus does not speak these Words to you from the safety of heaven above. Jesus speaks these Words to you while in the midst of His own terrible temptations. And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Some people might say that this Gospel is a good classroom for us, in which we are taught by God how to resist temptation. I think such an approach to this Gospel is way too self-confidence, and such a lesson as how to resist temptation will only condemn and destroy us. Stated another way, we should not look at tonight’s Gospel as a lesson in how we resist temptation. Tonight’s Gospel is a lesson in how Christ Jesus our Lord resists our temptations for us and for our salvation. When Jesus teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” He uses these Words as a classroom in which we learn the Good News concerning our Lord and Christ’s great, all-encompassing love for us. First Jesus says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Then Jesus enters temptation in our place, and “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The ancient Greeks had their imagined demigod Atlas, who held the weight of the entire world upon his shoulders. We have something infinitely greater than an imaginary character. • We have Jesus—fully and completely God; fully and completely man • We have Jesus, who holds not merely physical mass of this earth in his palm, but Jesus who bears the sin of the entire world (John 1:29, 1 John 2:2) upon His narrow human shoulders. • We have Jesus, who “bears all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7) for us, including the full weight of our temptations. For what has God said about this man whose blood now sprinkles the ground? God says that Jesus “in every respect has been tempted as we are” (Hebrews 4:15). And Jesus bears the load for us, even while His disciples are “sleeping for sorrow” and while we entertain temptation more frequently than we resist. Jesus not only resists temptation, but He overcomes. By His overcoming we are saved. By His agony we are saved from agony and by His blood we are spared the price of our blood. Why should we not likewise think, with praise and thanks to God, that by Jesus’ temptations we also have already been lifted up and out of our temptations? Think about tonight’s Gospel whenever you pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Use this petition of the Lord’s Prayer to thank your Lord and Redeemer for all that He has done for you: “Thank You, Lord, for going boldly into temptation before me and for my sake, that I not be led into temptation. Thank You, Jesus, for bearing both my sins and my temptations. Your back has made the load upon my back infinitely lighter, precious Lord, and to You I owe all thanks and praise. And the word “petition” still means “prayer” or “request.” Jesus carefully and purposely added to His Lord’s Prayer this petition, “Lead us not into temptation.” Jesus added this petition to His prayer because He wants you to say these Words to your Father who is in heaven. With these Words, Jesus wants us to look to God our Father for strength in every need—even when our own sin creates that need. God promises to supply. Indeed, God has already supplied by giving us His Son. Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
