When you first glance at our Lord's Temptation in the Wilderness, you might get the idea he is being tempted to show off, do something showy, call attention to himself, aggrandize himself. The sort of undeniable dazzle and amazement you can create with miraculous power, spectacularly displayed. If you think this, you would be wrong. When I looked closer, thought about it a bit, I realized I was hasty and misled. I caught a glimpse of the real temptation here. The Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness was not to show off shamelessly, it was the temptation to be less than he was, not more, less miraculous, less powerful, less noteworthy--less worthy-of-note. We too are tempted to be less than we are and can be. It is rare that we are tempted to try more, to assume too grand an opinion of ourselves, plan too grand a role for ourselves. Far more likely that we think we can achieve less, assume we are less, capable of less, and so take the easier route, the cheaper way out. I imagine you are just as immune to our Lord's wilderness temptations as I am. We are not, most likely, ever tempted to turn desert stones into bread, to hurl ourselves from high buildings in order to show the Evening News team we can do it without a scratch, can pop up perky as ever, and then sell the story to the Tabloids for a fortune. I doubt we face such temptations. Almost sure of it. But I am equally sure, more sure, that we do, over and over and over, face the temptation to be less than we can be. Isn't there an ad that enjoins us to be all that we can be? Maybe it's for the Army, I forget. Good music in the background as I recall. "Be .. all that you can be!" Or am I thinking of the Gospel. God has plans, hopes, intentions, images of us that surpass what we probably think of ourselves, that sees something grander finer, better, than we see ourselves. The Temptation, the be-deviling fear and worry and concern we face is to give in, give in to our own assessments, fears, insecurities, fantasies, and end up less than we are, less than we were a created, redeemed, and sanctified to be. That is the work of the smiling, seductive, sweet-tongued Satan, whoever or whatever that is in our lives, the one, the person, the situation, the experience, the fear, the memory, the whatever, that consistently plays with silly alternatives, offers alluring chances to be really grandiose, instead of just grand. To show off, instead of to show forth. Tempted to be less not greater, less, far less, than God intends. This Gospel passage and its message might be troubling, even a little confusing. Jesus refuses the cheap miracle, the easy shot, the making of bread, miraculously. But wait, doesn't he do that, to God's approval and the Church's enduring devotion? Doesn't he pull one off with Bread, somewhere or other? Indeed he does. But what a difference. If he had turned those desert stones lying about his feet, that would have gotten my attention, I'll tell, I love that sort of thing. Adore magic tricks. always have. David Copperfield amazes me. I might even go to Vegas, not to gamble, not for the chorus line, not for Wayne Newton. Or even Elvis Presley. For David Copperfield. I love magic tricks. And I am impressed. Always say, always wonder, "How did he do that?" I'd have wondered the same with Jesus, bet others would have too. How did he do that, just how did he do that? Slick. He's good. Clever. Sometime later, when Jesus takes, not stones but ordinary bread, five little loaves of it, and feeds 5,000 people, no one there, and not even me, says "How did he do that?" They all say, and I wonder too, "What is this, what does this mean? We have never seen anything like this." Indeed not. Magic tricks we've seen, and applauded. Miracles--that's different. What do they mean? Jesus was tempted to be less than he was, and when 5,000 were genuinely hungry, genuinely in need of genuine bread, miraculously created and offered, God empowers Jesus to do just that--to be more than he might have thought he could be, be much more than the disciples thought possible. So he could dazzle, impress, show off? No, so he could feed the hungry. So he could give evidence of God's glory and the riches of his blessing. Big difference. The Episcopal Church itself is being tempted to be less than it is, less than it always has been, less than it is called by God to be. It is being asked, pressured, tempted, to be more exclusive, more restricted in its ministry and mission, more inward looking more self-protective, more judgmental, narrow-minded and mean-spirited than our history and tradition and glorious legacy which had been heretofore entrusted to us by our Lord and by our God-given understanding of Scripture and the teaching of the Church. St. Paul today show no temptation to devalue--himself for others, and he shows no doubt. "God bestows his riches upon all who call upon him--for everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved." The final Temptation of Jesus, the worst, is the present temptation of our worldwide church, and also the worst in centuries - anglicanolotry - worshipping the Anglican Communion rather than God, instead of God--the God of Justice, the God of the Prophets. That sly Tempter with horns and hoofs, or purple shirts and pectoral crosses, says to us, to our Church, to our faith and our vision and testimony: "Fall down, just for moment, and worship, treasure, prize something else to the exclusion of God and his requirements, God and his intentions, God and his loving purposes for all of us. Fall down before something else, not forever, just for a moment. No one will see, no one will know, it is a doubtless necessary, a desireable accommodation. And think of the benefits, think of the payoff! All the Kingdoms of the world, or at least the Anglican Communion". Jesus says, "Get thee behind me Satan." Can we say less? We are tempted to say less, to be less than we are called by God to be, enabled and empowered by God to be. And with God, with us in this wilderness just now, with him we can withstand the Tempter, resist the Temptation, get on with being who and what and all we are called by God to be.