Clothesline 314 "What Can You Keep?"

Last week Jesus’ message was a blessing. Jesus finally feels that his disciples are ready to know—really know who He is. He asks Peter: “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter responds: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” And Jesus promptly says, “My Father gave you that revelation. Therefore, upon this Rock—upon you Peter—I will build my church!” Jesus proclaims that Peter will be tasked to begin God’s church on earth. And in the next breath, Jesus calls Peter “Satan.” What’s going on here? That’s simple; Satan has entered the picture with temptation—an opportunity to doubt our faith…in other words, to sin.

The disciples now know that Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus tells them that he is going to Jerusalem and that he will be killed because of his teachings. Peter becomes enraged, and he tells Jesus he—Peter—won’t let that happen. Jesus, realizing that Peter is being used by Satan as a temptation, responds: “Get behind me, Satan.” This was Jesus’ second recorded temptation; the first one was at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, during his forty days in the desert.

The writer and spiritualist Henry Nouwan writes about the relevance of those temptations for us today. There were three temptations by Satan and Nouwan calls them the temptations to be relevant, to be spectacular and to be powerful. Surely, we can relate.

Jesus is certainly hungry after such a long time in the desert and the devil says: “Command these stones to become bread,” to which Jesus responds, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God!” Jesus knows the true meaning of being relevant. Then Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and says, “Throw yourself down! Your angels will catch you!” to which Jesus replies: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus doesn’t need to be spectacular in human terms. And finally, as they overlook the beautiful city of Jerusalem, Satan tells Jesus that he will give it all to Jesus…if he will only fall down and worship him! Jesus doesn’t flinch. His power only comes from His Father, and He responds: “Away with you, Satan! For you will worship only the Lord your God.”

The bottom line: What will you gain if being relevant, spectacular or powerful causes you to lose your soul? When it’s time for you to leave this earth, it won’t matter if you were relevant to anyone, if you had a spectacular existence, or if you were somewhat powerful. It won’t matter how many miles you’ve traveled, how many places you’ve seen, or how many treasures you’ve acquired. There is nothing on this earth that you can keep. But you can keep Jesus. And even more important…Jesus can and wants to keep you!