I’m sure all of you remember the trend several years ago – several decades, actually – where kids would wear these rubber bracelets inscribed with the letters WWJD. This became a bigger trend for all ages, and turned into t-shirts, sweatshirts, ball caps, beanies, you name it. You might have had some of this swag. I know I did.
The idea was simple. If you were in a situation that called for an ethical response, you could quickly ask yourself the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” And hopefully, by knowing the Gospel message, you would be able to make the most informed decision about how to behave. In other words, the implied question behind the initial question was, “Does my life reflect the life of Jesus?”
Both the initial question and the follow-up are good questions. They dig deep into the idea that if we claim to be followers of Christ, that is, if we identify as Christ followers, then our lives should attempt to mirror the life of Christ in all that we do.
As is normally the case, however, trends begin to show their stress points, and the merchandise became more of an indicator for people to make a claim that they were unable to back up. That is, their WWJD merchandise made the claim, “I identify as a Christian,” but their lives proved them wrong. It seemed, in some cases, that Jesus was no different than anybody else. It was as if all these people were asking the question of What Would Jesus Do, and answering the question with, “Whatever I feel like.” Or, “Whatever I want.” Vile behavior came from people identifying as Christians, and people – even people outside the faith – began to point out this split between their identity and behavior. And those wearing the swag were confronted with how they chose to identify.
And it was right about then that this clothing trend started to fall apart, and another clothing trend came about. One that was also all over t-shirts, bumper stickers, and various other pieces. It simply said, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.”
Again, this statement is just as theologically sound as asking “Does my life reflect the life of Jesus?” But instead of addressing the fact that people often had to answer “No” to the question of their lives reflecting Jesus, it just excused their present behavior. Instead of asking What Would Jesus Do, people simply reminded themselves that it didn’t matter if their lives conformed to Jesus’ teachings, because “Hey, God forgives me anyway.” The end result was the same: people were identifying with a group because it was culturally and politically expedient, while completely ignoring the need that this faith is something, as Paul says, “is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” Some of you may see other people making the sign of the cross on their foreheads, lips, and heart when the Deacon reads the Gospel. The prayer that accompanies these gestures is this: “May the words of God be on my mind, upon my lips, and in my heart.” It is intended to remind us that what we hear should drive how we live. That is, our faith is supposed to be internalized, bringing us from the point of merely professing to actual living; to bring us to a point where we recognize our failure to live up to the ideal, but still actually trying to reach it, rather than dismissing our behavior and throwing in the towel.
Which leads us to today’s Gospel reading: the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. The writer of Hebrews says that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” That is, Jesus, made human, faced every temptation that we do, and yet did not sin. Today’s Gospel reading tells us not just What Would Jesus Do? But also what Jesus did.
What are these temptations?
Well, to begin with, Jesus was in the desert, fasting for forty days. And when those days were over, he was hungry. And the devil comes up to him and says, “You’ve got the power to make this stone turn into a loaf of bread, and if you are really the son of God, do that.” To which Jesus replies, “Humanity does not live by bread alone, but the word of God.” The devil was basically saying, “You’re hungry, and clearly want something to eat, so make it happen.” But Jesus says, “What I want and what I need are two separate things.”
Years ago, while in college, my sister would go shopping with her roommate, and as they were shopping, my sister would see something that she liked, and would say, “Oooh, I need that.” And her roommate would respond with “I think you have a drastic misunderstanding of the word need.” But isn’t that what our culture is designed to do? The advertisements we see, all the things we are told are designed to make us believe that what we want is actually something we need. That if we do not have what we want, then we do not have what we need. This is more pervasive than just making money for those advertising a product, but feeds our notion that our wants are not to be neglected – even if it means that other people’s needs might be. The Word of God desires sacrifice.
After Jesus has resisted this temptation, the devil changes tactics, and says, “Look, see this amazing world and all the kingdoms and powers within it? I’ve been given dominion over it. If you bow down and worship me, I will give it all to you, because I have that power.” And Jesus responds, “It is written, ‘Worship and serve God alone.’” At first glance, this comment by the devil that he has dominion over all the world sounds true, but it is a lie. He has only as much power as God has given to him. The devil has the power to sway the opinions, the influence, and the minds of all those who live in the world by using lies that sound true – just close enough to what we want to hear – but fail to grasp the reality of who is ultimately in charge. And Jesus spots the lie, the lie that sounds true, and returns the conversation back to the one who deserves the ultimate worship: God alone. What the devil wants is to corrupt all those who hear him with falsehoods and lies, and he hopes that what he wants is what we will want as well.
Finally, the devil takes Jesus up to the top of the temple, and tells him to throw himself off, because the angels would protect him, and keep him from harm. But Jesus responds, “It is said, “Do not put God to the test.’” What the devil was really saying was, “Prove to yourself that you can trust God,” and Jesus’ response is basically saying, “Where does it say that God has to earn my trust?” Or, more to the point, “Where does it say that God has to do what I want?”
And after he failed for the third time, the devil left him.
If we look at all three of these questions, we can see a throughline in them all. That is, we can see the theme that connects them all, which is that all three of these questions ask the same thing: who is it that is worshipped? Is it God who is worshipped? … Or is it ourselves and our own desires?
The first question the devil asked is: “Why shouldn’t you do what you want?” The second is, “Who wouldn’t want power? Worship me, and people will worship you.” And the third is, “Why wouldn’t you worship yourself, and force God to do what you want? To earn your trust, because your wants are more important than what God wants.”
This is the temptation that Jesus – fully human, just as we are – faced in the wilderness: to make himself more important than God. And our temptation is the same.
And so we come back to our bumper sticker theology: What Would Jesus Do?
We know what Jesus did in the desert: at every moment, he pointed every question back to God, the author and perfector of our faith. And he continued to live in such a way that ultimately those who hated his message nailed him to a cross. And by rising again he conquered sin and death, and opened for us the way to everlasting life.
What’s interesting about this story of Jesus’ temptation is that it has just as much to do with Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, as it does with our desire to identify with Jesus. We cannot identify with Jesus unless we truly know the identity of Christ.
Jesus’ life was marked by the desire to glorify God in all that he did, and it was marked by sacrifice, so that all of us might live as well – for God’s glory, and not our own. For God’s wants, and not our own. And that takes sacrifice, and a life that is marked by turning every question over to God.
During Lent, we are instructed to give things up in order to feel – even if only slightly – the weight of Jesus’ sacrifice. And often, that means we give up “sinful” desires, like chocolate. Or donuts. It becomes almost like a New Year’s Resolution, and carries about the same amount of weight. The question – and challenge – of Lent is to sacrifice those things that keep us from turning all things to the One we are to worship. God doesn’t care if we eat that donut, or have that extra piece of chocolate. What God wants is a relationship where what is in our minds, upon our lips, and in our hearts points toward God – the . And the only reason to give up these things is if they are indeed keeping us from forming that relationship.
“I’m not perfect, just forgiven,” is a true statement. But it should never be about us surrendering and giving up the good fight to resist the temptation to make ourselves and our lives more important than God.
And “What Would Jesus Do?” should point us to the follow up questions of “What did Jesus do?”, “What does that mean for me?” and “How then shall I live?” Our identity, our ability to identify as followers of Jesus is wrapped up in these questions, because it is in answering these questions that we come to develop the relationship with God that at all times points to the One worthy of worship.
[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on March 9, 2025.]
