By: Pastor David Grousnick

A local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants – who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview.

“Okay,” began the sheriff, “What is 1 and 1?” “Eleven,” came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, “That’s not what I meant, but he’s right.”

Then the sheriff asked, “What two days of the week start with the letter ‘T’?” “Today & tomorrow” replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised over the answer, one that he had never thought of himself.

“Now, listen carefully, who killed Abraham Lincoln?”, asked the sheriff. The job seeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, “I don’t know.”

The sheriff replied, “Well, why don’t you go home and work on that one for a while?” The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview.

He greeted them with a cheery smile, “The job is mine! The interview went great! First day on the job and I’m already working on a murder case!”

In Luke 4:1-13, it is Jesus’ first day on the job, if you will. Immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. And he is confronted with this basic question: Would he take the crown without the cross?

These are the most basic temptations in life, and they form the foundation for all other temptations.

Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was an expert at sleight of hand, a skeptic when it came to the spiritualists and other psychic phonies of his day, but he was best known for his ability to escape from what seemed to be impossible situations. Straitjackets, chains, ropes, jail cells, strange devices such as a milk pail filled with water – he managed to escape from one situation after another in full view of his audience.

What did him in, however, was the blow he never saw coming.

While reclining on a couch backstage after a performance he was asked by a couple of college students if he could withstand a punch to the stomach. When he answered that he could, one of the stu­dents surprised him by actually punching him several times. These blows caught him off guard and seem to have ruptured an already aggravated appendix. Houdini died a week later.

The blow we never see coming is the one that can be the most dangerous.

The temptation of Jesus might have been the blow he never saw coming.

In a way it doesn’t seem fair. Jesus had shown he could be obedient even when it didn’t suit his wishes. He seems to have been surprised, for instance, when at the age of twelve his folks had been so worried about the fact that he’d stayed behind to discuss the scriptures with the priests in the temple rather than follow them home after Passover. But follow them home he did.

The obedience of Jesus is also seen in his baptism. The hu­mility he shows in descending into the water is rewarded with a pronouncement from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).

But in response to his obedience Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days, and after this he was tempted. Couldn’t the temptation come at a time when he was stron­ger? Shouldn’t Jesus get a break?

The fact is that there is never a perfect time for us to face the temptations of this world! You see, temptation tries to blind us to other possibilities.

A businessman driving home from work one day, saw a little league baseball game in progress. He decided to stop and watch. He sat down in the bleachers and asked a kid what the score was.

“We’re behind 14 to nothing,” he answered with a smile.

“Really,” he responded. “I have to say you don’t look very discouraged.”

“Discouraged?” the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet.”

Welcome to the season of Lent. Do you do Lent?

When John Roberts was a boy, he was told, “Baptists don’t do Lent.” No one knew why. He suspected that it was an anti-Catholic thing, which I pray we are over.

It was the old argument, “whatever they do, we don’t!” – a curiously convoluted, twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices.

Whatever the reason for “not doing Lent,” I personally think it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Just think about it!

Every spring the baseball players prepare for the season with spring training. Every spring ordinary people prepare for summer by doing “spring cleaning.” So why shouldn’t Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus’ ministry – what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us on Golgotha’s cross and at the empty tomb?

If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning.

Just wait for the dust to settle!! Have a great weekend!

David Grousnick, is the Pastor at the First Christian Church in Artesia