Have you ever had a profoundly moving religious experience? A spiritual event when you knew the presence of God or felt healed, forgiven, deeply loved. Many people have sensed the power of God's touch that brings peace, gratitude, maybe a sense of identity and purpose. Surely much of that was part of Jesusâ experience of his baptism, when the veil between the divine and the created parted for him and he knew the blessing of God, "This is my Son, the beloved." How profound must that have been for him. Maybe you can remember a time when you too felt as he did, "full of the Holy Spirit."

But the next thing that happens is that this same Spirit leads him into a threatening place of trial. Life gets difficult. In the wilderness there is no experience of Godâs near presence and blessing. No sign, no opening sky, no voice, no word. Forty days of dryness and hunger, both physical and spiritual. Being touched by God includes no promise of ease. In such an environment, Jesus was faced with some basic choices. What direction would his life and work take?

At first glance, I imagine these tempting alternatives looked very plausible and attractive. After all, what is wrong with feeding the hungry, turning worthless stones to nourishing bread? At a later date Jesus will do almost exactly the same thing with a few loaves and fish. Why not now?

And what's so wrong about a good person like Jesus exercising worldly power and authority? That's what this world needs. That's one of the expectations that the church has about the return of Christ. He will rule the world with justice and righteousness. Why not now?

And what's so wrong about believing the scriptures so strongly that you entrust yourself to the promised angelic protection and do a great deed on the pinnacle of the Temple, a deed that will capture the imagination and interest of the people Jesus is trying to reach? At another time he will walk on water and teach Peter a lesson in faith. Why not now?

Temptations are almost always good things. That's why temptation is so attractive, because it appears as good. But it is temptation when it is the lesser good, either to do something for the wrong reason, or at the wrong time. The issue is motivation and timing. Especially motivation. In Christian ethics, motivation is everything.

One of the clues about each of these good things that Jesus is invited to do, is that each is in some way a quick fix. The choice is not between good and evil, but between what is hard and what is easy. To be tempted is to accept what comes naturally - food when you're hungry; water when you're thirsty; sex when lonely; power when in authority; condescension when working with inferiors; impatience when dealing with the slow; rudeness when dealing with those paid to serve; intolerance when dealing with incompetence; smugness when considering one's own performance; pride when thinking of one's own humility or generosity, one's own astuteness, social grace, tolerance, or faithfulness. All these things are natural. All these things are easy. And, as you know, all these things are common. They are the fruit of temptations that are hard to refuse. (Thank you to Richard Fairchild for some of this.)

Someone once asked a distinguished historian what he thought the key event of the American Revolution might have been. He answered, "The key event was when Washington laid down his sword, retired as Commander in Chief of the army, and returned to Mount Vernon." He explained, it's one thing to begin a revolution, but an even greater thing to sustain a revolution. The most natural thing for the leader of a revolution to do is to continue to direct it. It is easy to become a benevolent autocrat under those circumstances. Washington refused. It was a great moment. How did he know to do that?

Jesus refused. He said no. How did he do that? How do you know when something is Godâs will and when something is our willfulness? The hard decisions are the ones that donât look so easy or natural. How do you say "No" to a good thing because the timing is wrong or the motivation is ambiguous?

Something comes up. It seems so right, so self-evidently good that there is no need to question its value. Then some little voice comes from within. A question barely peeks through your consciousness. Your intuition begins to vibrate. Is this really so good after all? How do you know?

So often we donât. It takes some guts to say "no" to something attractive that every reason in the world tells you is good. Our society doesn't reward people who follow their intuition instead of their reason.

I wonder. What if Jesus had accepted the temptations? What if he had turned the stones to bread? It would have been a great miraculous moment, and his physical strength would have been sustained. Maybe he could have extended his work to bring food to all the hungry. But, hunger is renewed daily. Can the feeding continue? Would his life's mission been compromised?

Or, what if Jesus had begun to rule with worldly authority? How much good he could have done? But we know the way of politics. Those religious authorities formerly in power would work hard to subvert him. Eventually Rome would respond. There would be inevitable conflict. War. That's the problem with authority. Keeping it usually includes some form of destructive conflict.

Or, what if Jesus had jumped from the pinnacle of the temple trusting himself to the angels and the scriptures. He would have died. Unlike the cross where through obedience he trusted Godâs will unto certain death, this flashy act would have been a meaningless tragedy without resurrection. Wrong time. Wrong motivation.

How do we know the difference? How do we know God's will? The short answer is, I donât know. It's difficult. Life is difficult.Ê

The long answer is, it takes faith and humility. It takes trust that God is working all things to their fulfillment. It takes a willingness to look deeply into our heart's motivations. It takes an acquired suspicion of the easy fix. It takes a willingness to let go of power. It takes a higher vision than efficiency. It takes a sensitivity to one's intuition and deep inner voice. It takes a willingness to say no to some good things in order to say yes to some better things. Above all, it takes willingness to follow God's will rather than our own willfulness. Even if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it won't be easy. Finally, when you choose wrongly and follow your own willfulness, it takes the willingness to recognize our failures and to start again with faith and humility.

God, help us to know your will, and then grant us the courage to do it. Amen.

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