“Only the tip of the iceberg”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, April 22, 2023
Luke 4:1-13 (Forward, p. 83) CEV p. 1060
The saying quoted above refers to the important fact that the part of the iceberg that can actually be seen is only a small fraction of its total mass. A far greater portion of any particular iceberg lies below the surface of the water and so is quite invisible to the naked eye. In fact, according to some estimates, 9/10 of its total mass lies below the surface. Hence, from just a quick or superficial glance, it is hard to know just how much of the iceberg lies there, and just where that might be. And what has proved disastrous to many a sailor is that sad fact that this extra portion can extend far beyond, far outside, what can be seen.
This expression applies very well to the incident recorded in today’s reading from Luke’s Gospel, namely the temptation of Jesus by the devil. At the end of the account there are two very telling phrases:
a) “After the devil had finished testing Jesus in every way possible” (verse 13a). Or, as rendered in the NRSV, “When the devil had finished every test’. In other words, the three temptations or tests That Luke describes here are only ‘the tip of the iceberg’. In other words, they are either the ‘biggies’, the most important, of all the possible temptations out there, or—this would be my view—is that they symbolize or represent every single type of temptation. Either way, the temptation was far more than it would seem at first glance. And, when you consider that Jesus was tempted throughout His 40 days there in the wilderness, you can guess that the temptation, the testing, was pretty extensive.
b) “he left him for a while” (‘he departed from him until an opportune time’ NRSV). In other words, this initial batch of temptations, this initial bout, was only the beginning. In other words, the devil would come back time and time again to harass Jesus and try to cause Him to stumble or waver in His trust in God. I can think of at least twice when this temptation might have happened. One is when the crowds wanted, by force, to make Him king (see John 6: 15). And, the other being when Jesus was wrestling with God concerning His future there in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:39,42). (In both cases, this would have been akin to getting the kingdom without the cross).
But in neither case did Jesus give in. Hebrews 4:15 tells us He was tempted in every case that we are, and yet did not sin. That passage goes on to say that, accordingly, we have someone that understands us, that can sympathize with us. Furthermore, from what I understand of His deliberate ‘self-emptying’ (see Philippians 2:7), He divested Himself of all His divine prerogatives to become human, that is, to become just like us. In other words, He came to earth equipped with the very same abilities that we have, no more, and no less. He had the ‘power of the Holy Spirit’ as we have, and the Scriptures, and nothing else. No supernatural powers or ability, just His finite, limited human nature. And so, He becomes our model and our mentor.
And so, what we see Jesus doing in today’s account from Luke is not only just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ in terms of what Jesus had to put up with but also only ‘the tip of the iceberg’ in terms of what He can do for us and how He can help us. And so, it is all the more incumbent, all the more necessary, that we turn to Him for help and strength and direction during our times of temptation. And, not only that, but also the wisdom, the ability, to even recognize the temptations when they come. Amen.
Forward notes: “Where for forty days he was tempted by the devil” (verse 2).
“In Greek, the word for devil means adversary but not the proverbial red devil with a pitchfork tail. Many of us face adversaries that are far more difficult to recognize—and more insidious. They come in the guises of money, power, sex, food.
“Society is full of temptation, starting in the morning, when many of us, myself included, reach for our phones or other devices to see what we missed on social media overnight.
“While the devil tempts Jesus for forty days, he does not fall for the adversary’s wiles. Unlike us, Jesus is fully human and fully divine. But for mere mortals, it can indeed be tempting to put our own comfort above our right relation with the Creator and with one another. Being tempted does not make us weak; it makes us human. Whenever we experience
temptation, we can know that Jesus is with us, and as to the adversary, in the words of Martin Luther, ‘one little word shall fell him.’
Moving Forward: “What adversaries in your life tempt you to stray from God’s path? Pray for strength to resist the temptations.”