The Temptations

(Let Me Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse)

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13

Somehow, when I sat down to write this sermon my vivid graphic imagination got away with me again. As I read the gospel lesson about Jesus out in the Wilderness being tempted by Satan, I was suddenly reminded of some movies I have seen in the past, not about Jesus in the Wilderness, but about organized crime, otherwise known as the La Costa Nostra, the Mafia, the Mob.

When you condense all those movies down into one what you get is a movie about a guy named Mugsy who runs a gang of thugs who need a shave, wear three piece suits with guns under their armpits, and make their money selling protection for area businessmen, providing services for local gambling operations, and running cement overcoat companies. And there are several phrases that you hear these guys say. One of them is, "You kilt my brudda." "All right you guys!" And another one is, "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse."

It's this last phrase, with all of its ramifications, that captures my imagination. In the Mafia movies the implications are clear. It often happens like this: You're a mom and pop neighborhood grocery, located on the corner in the Bronx. You're standing behind your check out counter, wiping it with a wet rag. Along the counter in front of you are some large glass jars containing hard candy that you sell to the kids for a penny a piece. Behind you is a shelf full of cigarettes and hard liquor.	Suddenly, over to your left, the door of the store opens and in walks someone who is all too familiar to you: Pugnose Parbozzi. He's a thin man, not too tall, with what we used to call a pizza face, wearing a light tan three piece suit with a tan felt hat. Following him into the store walks Crusher Candessa, standing at about 6 foot 8, weighing in at 350 pounds, and wearing a checked sports jacket.

Walking up to the counter, Pugnose says to you, "We're here for your weekly insurance payment."

A cold sweat hits you. You'd forgotten that it was Thursday, the day that you had to have your $150 dollars ready for Pugnose and Crusher when they walked in the store. "Gosh, Pugnose," you stammer. "I forgot you wuz commin' in taday. Can you come back tomorrow?"

Suddenly, Crusher knocks takes the jar of jaw breakers sitting on the counter, takes one out, puts it into his mouth and then deftly drops the jar onto the floor, with a sneer on his face. Jaw breakers and broken glass scatter across the floor. At the same time you find Pugnose's hand on your collar, pulling your face into his pizza face, saying: "Let me make ya an offer ya can't refuse!" And then he tells you how much you'd better have ready by when or else.

Sounds wild, doesn't it? But, it still happens today. Yet, for most of us it happens on a much more subtle level. We hear "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse," on T.V. and radio, we see it in the newspapers, and on billboards.

Take that Jordache Blue Jeans commercial, for example. They're just bluejeans, right? Not any different from the kind you from Levi Strauss. But, in this commercial they have supernatural powers. You see this girl and a guy. She's wearing a dress that's unzipped in the back, and he's wearing nothing but his Jordache jeans. As the commercial progresses they start making out and end up doing who knows what? But the subtle message of this commercial is "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse." Without these Jeans you won't be anything, you'll be nothing, you'll be a nerd. But with them, you'll have fulfillment, you'll have everything, you'll be happy.

And this is what the first temptation in our gospel lesson is all about. Jesus is out there in the Wilderness. He hasn't eaten in three days when he meets Satan who tells him, "Turn these stones into bread" and you will be satisfied.

As far as Jesus was concerned, the message was clear: Satan was telling him a person can find his or her satisfaction in material or concrete things. And, for Jesus, this was wrong. For Jesus, a person's relationship with God was much more important than misusing one's power to fill his stomach or fulfill a physical need or desire. And Jesus believed that turning a piece of rock into a piece of bread would be a misuse of his power.

Jesus was out in the wilderness for forty days, not to feed his face, but to feed his soul. And that is what the season of Lent is all about. You've heard, over and over again, the question, "What are you going to give up for Lent?" And the reason you hear that question is that traditionally the Church has used the season of Lent to remind people that it isn't our possessions, it isn't our wealth, it isn't the food we eat or the clothes we wear that nurture us and prepare us for the kingdom of God. Rather, it is the time we spend in prayer, it is our relationship with Jesus. It is our faith in him, alone. And when we spend so much of our time working on having the physical things, we sometimes find ourselves neglecting the spiritual. Thus, we hear the question coming from the pious: "What are you going to give up for Lent?" And, certainly, this goes against the notion that is so pervasive in our society, today, -- of getting things. Of wanting an offer that we can't refuse.

But, let's take a look at our gospel lesson, once again. After being tempted to turn stones into bread, Satan made Jesus another offer he hoped he wouldn't refuse. He said, "If you worship me I'll give you the kingdoms of the world." But, of course, Jesus knew that this was wrong. His reply was, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." Jesus rejected the temptation to compromise his beliefs: to worship Satan, even for just a little bit, even if it meant getting something good in return.

And, my, but aren't we tempted to compromise our beliefs, today! How many times have we sold our soul to the highest bidder? High many times have we had to bend our principles to keep a friend, or a job, or an important position? When was the last time you turned your back while someone did something that was clearly wrong?

Take the large company that makes a product that has a dangerous defect, for instance. Pity the poor, honest, worker in that company who refuses to compromise, but blows the whistle to the news media or to the government. We can recall many instances where such persons have been fired, or worse, for standing up for their principles when it would have been much easier for them if they'd just gone along with the corruption. Remember the controversy about the breast implants made by Dow Chemical? Remember Karen Silkwood? Remember those two guys at GM who apologized for installing the breaks wrong on that car and wound up getting at that embarrassing publicity?

The temptation is always there for us to compromise our beliefs, to look at the world as being full of grey areas, rather than simply black and white. Satan wanted Jesus to look at the world this way. But Jesus wouldn't do it. And we are challenged to refuse that temptation, as well.

The third temptation of Jesus was when Satan took him to the highest tower of the Temple and tried to make Jesus an offer he wouldn't refuse. This time he told him to jump off, saying that the angels would catch him before he hit the ground. But, again, Jesus refused to go along with this temptation. As far as Jesus was concerned, jumping off so that the angels would catch him was senseless sensationalism. Jesus knew that if he jumped off, only to have the angels catch him, certainly this would impress a lot of people. People would surely follow him if they saw such a thing happen. But, it would be for all the wrong reasons. They would be following him for the magic he could do, not for the love he wanted to bring into their lives.

Yet, Satan comes to countless people, in our own time. He says, "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse." He says, "Go ahead and have this one experience, you won't get AIDS." He says, "Use safe sex!" He says, "Go ahead and cross the boundaries, it won't hurt you, it won't be a problem." And, so we're faced today with a plague of AIDS. We're faced with the problem of millions of unwanted, abused children. We're faced with millions of abortions every year, and strains of VD that are getting to be impossible to cure. We're faced with millions of young persons who can't finish school because they've got their lives wrapped around having to take care of a little one.

I was watching the Maurey Povish show the other day. He had Mitchell Fink, editor of People Magazine, on the program. Fink said that what we have in Hollywood, lived out in our society, is the disregard for boundaries and morals. Fink said, "Hollywood doesn't care where you came from, what you've done in the past, what laws you've broken, or what you've done or do that is immoral, as long as you make money for the studios. These people get on the screen and they become the role models for our children, for our teenagers, and even for adults."

So, we hear Satan saying, "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse! Go ahead, break the boundaries! You'll be saved in the end. It won't be all that bad."

[PAUSE]

And Jesus said, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Amen.