LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION”
Matthew 4:1-11
The Rev. Ms. Laurie A. McNeill
Montclair, New Jersey
February 13, 2005
“Lead us not into temptation.”
We will extend this prayer during worship this morning. “Lead us not into temptation.”
We say these words every Sunday and any time we pray the Lord’s Prayer:
Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory,
forever. Amen.
As often as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, have we ever stopped to notice how odd it is that we
are praying to God that God lead us not into temptation?
This is not a request for our friends not to tempt us. This is not a request for our boss not to
tempt us. We are not asking our boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse or partner not to tempt us. We are
praying to God, “Lead us not into temptation.”
The prayer seems inconsistent with the way we ordinarily look at our relationship with God.
We acknowledge that we are in a covenant where God has promised to be our God and we have
agreed to be God’s people. We know that we have difficulty leading the righteous lives that God
desires for us, yet we seldom think of God as being the one to distract us from God’s path.
We tend to think of the attractions of the world as luring us away from the divine plan. In the
Lord’s Prayer, however, we pray that the power of the divine lead us not into temptation of the world.
We pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” because Jesus taught us how to pray. He gave us
the words. In the 6th chapter of Matthew and the 11th chapter of Luke, Jesus tells us how to pray to
God. Jesus knows that we would be wise to ask God to “lead us not into temptation.” He knows
firsthand that it is God who will test us. God will lead us into temptation, just as surely as God led Jesus
into temptation.
Jesus knows how awful it feels to be tempted, to go through the agony of knowing there are
choices to be made. Jesus knows the challenge of being confronted with enticing options because he
experienced temptation.
The Spirit of God led Jesus into temptation.
In today’s gospel lesson, we are told that immediately after his baptism, “Jesus was led up by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)
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