Recruiting Wars

 

Luke 4:1-13

 

            The Gospel reading today contains one of the most innovative plot lines you will ever find in any literature. The story details an apparently serious attempt to recruit Jesus to join the church of Satan.

             

             If you believe in the Trinity (the 3-in-1 aspect of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) what this amounts to is an attempt to get God to join the enemy in a plot to overthrow God. Even if you want to emphasize mainly the humanity of Jesus in this encounter, you have to admit, what Satan is attempting here is going to be a tough sell. You want to get someone who is without sin to commit the ultimate sin of treason against God.

 

            You hear it said of a top salesperson that he or she could sell sand to an Arab. This is 10 steps beyond that. I mean, is there any real drama in this tale?

The outcome is so obvious.

 

            It reminds me of an episode from the movie, “My Cousin Vinnie.” This out-of-state lawyer goes into a bar in a hostile town to negotiate the return of $100 that some local cheat took from his girl friend.

 

            He confronts the scoundrel and after politely explaining the situation, says, “How about you just give me the $100?”

            Editing this scene for pulpit purposes, the villain responds, “How about I kick your fanny?”

            Vinnie says, “Ooh, a counter offer. You see we lawyers, I’m a lawyer, we call that a counter offer. Let’s see, $100 or get my fanny kicked. Hmmmmm, I could use a good fanny kicking, I’ll be honest with you. No, I think I’ll go with the $100.”

 

            Pretending there is an actual choice here is ludicrous. Can you the possibility that Jesus might, for even one moment, be tempted by these offers? That Jesus might actually be thinking, you know, I’m so hungry right now that I could really go for a loaf of bread; I just might take this guy up on his offer.

            Or that he might say, “Hey, ruler of the whole world. I’ve always wanted to do that. You know, this might be my only chance and so, yeah, I got to admit it’s tempting to throw away the entire purpose of my existence and worship the epitome of evil.”

 

            Or most ridiculous of all, that he might be thinking, wouldn’t it be a rush to take a dive off this wall and watch the angels come swooping in here in a panic to catch me before I can hit the rocks below. Mmmm, that’s hard to resist.

 

            The point of the story is not that Jesus through superhuman effort and purity of spirit managed to heroically resist a huge temptation and so should we. This crazy scheme of Satan’s never had a chance, and the only surprise in the whole scene is that Jesus didn’t laugh him off the mountain. Come on, even if Jesus wanted to manipulate rocks and angels and kingdoms, he sure didn’t need Satan’s permission to do it.

 

            The value of the story is in what it tells us about the difference in recruiting strategies between God and the forces of evil.

 

            How does Satan recruit in this story?

 

            He has a very simple and effective recruiting strategy, one that works very well in the sales world: give the customers what they want. Appeal to desires, urges, appetites, and whims.

 

            Satan recruits by focusing everything on the now, by pushing the lessons of the past and the hopes for the future so far into the background they can’t be seen. He dangles the lure of immediate pleasure and instant gratification, and sits back and waits to reel in the fish when they strike. 

 

            Satan recruits by putting the self at the center of all existence. By stroking the ego and telling people exactly what they like to hear. By persuading all potential recruits that you are the only person that matters, and that the entire world exists strictly for your benefit.  

 

            Notice how Satan recruits in this story, because it is the way that evil always recruits. First, he goes after the material wants and desires. He locates the weakness and goes right after it. In this case, Jesus is famished after 40 days of  fasting. What he wants right now more than anything else is something to eat.

 

            Food is what you want, no problem. You can get it. It’s all around you. All you have to do is go for it. Pay the price; spend a little. Forget any mission or sense of purpose in your life, just go for the bread.

 

            When evil recruits us, it goes after material wants and desires first. It dangles them in front of us and says, “Here’s what will make you happy. Go for it. Whatever tickles your fancy, whatever makes you comfortable, whatever satisfies your urges, go for it. Luxury, pleasure, entertainment. You know you want it; you know you deserve it: go for it. Now.

 

 

            It is true that wealth is not evil, but it is also true that it is fantastic bait for luring people into the realm of evil.

 

            Jesus avoids the trap by doing exactly what Satan is trying to keep him from doing: he backs off, he steps away to consider the big picture. He balances the hunger that dominates his present with the long-term focus of life. Yes, satisfying hunger is important, he says. But it’s not everything. Life is too valuable a gift to waste in mindlessly satisfying all cravings, like animals.

 

            So Satan goes to the second lure in his tackle box. The lure of glory and power. Who doesn’t like to feel important, that they matter a great deal to this world? Just look at what people are willing to do to get on television these days, and you will understand power of this attraction.

            You can be important, says Satan. In fact, you owe it to yourself to make that a goal because you are the most important person in your life.

 

            And who doesn’t like to have power, control over their lives? Wouldn’t it be great if we could get everything done that we wanted done? Wouldn’t it be great if we could be so powerful so that no one or no country could ever hurt us? Wouldn’t it be great if we could shut up those idiots on the other side of the political aisle once and for all, and make our agenda the law of the land?

            Yes, it would, says Satan. And you can make it happen. You should make it happen. You owe it to yourself to do everything you can to make it happen, whatever works, so that you can have the power and control you need to ensure your happiness will never be threatened.

 

            Jesus avoids this trap by telling Satan, your premise is wrong. No human being is the most important person in the world. No human being created this universe; no human being is so overflowing with love that he or she constantly seeks out ways to share it with others and so gives meaning to life. Only God is.

 

            So Satan has to pull out his backup lure, the lure that targets intellectual laziness. “Throw yourself down from the pinnacle and let the angels catch you. It’s your life: live it the way you want to live it. There are no real consequences; because God is a loving God and he’ll forgive everything in the end. Take all kinds of chances: you won’t hurt yourself because God will catch you in the end.”

 

            Jesus escapes this final trap by pointing out that our role in life is not to force God’s hand and try to determine what God is going to do. Our role is to determine what we are going to do. We have been given the gift of life and we are accountable for it. Consequences are what give meaning to our lives.

 

            The devil’s whole recruiting strategy is based on the promises that we can strictly in the moment live, that we can run the whole show, and are not really accountable for what we do. Promises that we are at the center of the universe, and that no one else and nothing else matter.

 

            Those are exciting, enticing promises, but as we say in our catechism, they are empty promises. Empty promises that appeal to the worst in us: our greed, our ego, and our carelessness.

 

            Joke

 

            There is evil at work in the world and it knows how to campaign. It knows how to recruit. It doesn’t know how to deliver. It has no intention of delivering. It doesn’t care about delivering.

 

            In the Gospels, we can contrast this recruiting strategy to God’s.  There are many places in the gospel where Jesus recruits followers.

 

            When he recruits Peter and Andrew, his sales pitch is this: Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.

            When he recruits Phillip, his sales pitch is: follow me

            When he recruits Matthew, his sales pitch is: follow me.

 

            When Jesus recruits, what you see is what you get. There are no lures to entice. He does not try to convince you that you need something that you don’t. In fact, the opposite occurs. In his recruiting pitch to the rich young man in Matthew, he says, “If you want to follow me, you’ll have to realize that you are not at the center of the universe. Following me means giving up some of what you have. Following me means you’re going to have to stop thinking about yourself so much.”

 

            Jesus does make some promises when he recruits, but the promises are of a far different nature than what the other side is offering.

            “Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Isn’t that pandering to a need, promising ease and comfort? No, because the rest of the promise reads, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus promises us the yoke of work and effort and sacrifice; and tells us that along those things, we will find peace and abundant life.  

             

 

 

             Evil recruits by focusing everything on the now, by pushing the lessons of the past and the hopes for the future far into the background. It dangles the lure of immediate pleasure and instant gratification and sits back and waits to reel in the fish when they strike. 

 

            Jesus recruits by focusing on the past, present, and future and making them all work together. He offers a long range view, a deeper and more meaningful existence, and then invites us to join him in this relationship.

 

            Evil recruits by putting the self at the center of all existence. By stroking the ego and telling people exactly what they like to hear. By persuading all potential recruits that you are the only person that matters, and that the entire world exists strictly for your benefit.

 

            Jesus recruits by putting God at the center of all existence. By offering us a life of shared relationship with others for the benefit of all creation. 

 

            Satan’s recruiting mottos are: grab for all the gusto you can get. Just do it.

            Jesus recruiting motto is: be all that you can be.

 

            What does this story have to tell us about how we evangelize, how we recruit, here at Salem?

 

            It tells us that, yes, we do our best to offer facilities and programs and services that appeal to others as part of our evangelizing effort.

 

            But that’s not at the heart of how we recruit. We’re not here to appeal to wants, to selfish desires, to greed. We aren’t trying to entice or lure people into this congregation just because we want them here. We don’t offer a quick fix  or a cheap high.

 

            We follow Christ and so we follow his recruiting program. What we offer to the community is simply an invitation to follow Jesus: to all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, all who are stumbling under the staggering burden that comes with being the center of the universe. We offer a life a shared relationship with others for the benefit of all creation. We offer peace and abundant life. 

           

            Perhaps this strategy is not as flashy as the recruiting methods of evil, maybe not as effective in today’s world. But it is the truth, it contains promises that will be kept, and it will keep us grounded in what really matters.