Do any of you have those books you keep going back to? One of those for me is Henri Nouwen’s “In the Name of Jesus.” It is a quick read, but full of manna to chew on. I read it again recently and in it he often refers to the passage in Scripture where Jesus is in the desert being tempted by the Devil. One of the temptations is this:
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” (Luke 4:3)
I hear the same voice today. It might sounds a little different, but it is still the same temptation. For me it sounds like, do something useful. What is your job? Why did you come to Cambodia? Have you written your newsletter update yet? Have you started ministry yet? What are your goals? How is the language coming?
Jesus chose not to change the stone into bread. He could have. In fact, He changed water into wine. He turned a few loaves of bread into thousands, twice. He caught fish with a coin in its mouth. He raised the dead, including Himself, and He healed too many people to count. He certainly could change the stone into bread, but He choose not to.
The temptation here as Henri Nouwen rephrases it is the temptation to be relevant. Jesus was fasting from food, and Satan thought it was a great idea to make use of the stone. The stone wasn’t adding any value to Jesus’ time in the wilderness. It was just sitting there doing nothing; why not make something useful out of it by making it into bread for eating and providing nourishment?
Jesus chose to love God over doing something relevant. Many other times He fought the temptation to be relevant. How many times did He distance Himself from crowds? How many times did He choose not to heal those He walked by? He could have filled stadiums. He could have had more disciples if He had just changed His teaching a little bit. He could have commanded legions of angels to force a political takeover. He could have used the years wages worth of perfume that Mary wasted. In all of those times He could have been relevant, or productive, or He could have leveraged His influence a little bit more. But He didn’t.
He was more concerned with abiding in the vine, and being faithful to the Father. The voice of temptation to fulfill needs was not louder than His drive and desire to love God with all Himself. As Christian leaders let’s let go of needing to be relevant, effective or productive, and let’s come to a deeper place of needing Him.
