Temptation—Why is it so Good?

So, I sat down to write down my sermon to be preached at First Church in Marlborough this Sunday.

The text is about temptation—the famous story from Matthew about Jesus being tempted in the desert. And here are my thoughts, questions and comments:

Why is temptation so bad? Or is it? I mean, we all have been there, we all have been tempted by different things. But why are they always so good aka "tempting"?

Secondly, why does temptation always come in such a bad time for us? And by bad time I mean, when we are prone to fall victim to it, or give in if you will? Its almost as if there was a master plan to prove, that we are not all that perfect as we assume ourselves to be.

Third, why does temptation almost always expose the difficulty of our path? From my experience, temptation was always a shortcut to the goal I wanted to reach. A nice, comfortable, sweet, tempting shortcut! Had I stuck to my principles I would have probably been still struggling like Sisyphus. So, why would I not give in?

In Matthew's story Jesus is tempted by three tings: food, Scripture, and power.  What would you do with those three temptations? What would tempt you?

Come on, help me out with this!

PS- This Sunday at 5 p.m. at First Church in Marlborough we will be showing the movie "The Mission" (1986). The question there is somewhat similar - how do we respond to violence? All are welcome!