Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time (Luke 4:1-13).
The Reader’s Temptation
To interpret this story of Jesus’s temptations in the desert, we must first overcome a temptation ourselves: the temptation to read as spectators. Yes, none of us can claim that a dove descended upon us at our baptism as God’s voice spoke audibly, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well-pleased” (3:22). The Holy Spirit will not likely take us by the hand to the desert where we fast for forty days. Nor will we square off with the devil face-to-face there to fend off temptations. So why not sit back and watch Jesus do all the heavy lifting for our salvation?
Granted, we have no salvation without the passion, death, resurrection of Christ. Yet, Jesus says, “Follow me.” We too are baptized. We too share in his redemptive suffering in our context, and we too will rise again. And all along the way, the devil lurks, trying to draw us from the love of God in Christ to something less. In answer to the temptation to stay home and watch, we must get off the couch, pack, and start walking.
First Temptation: Silence and Hunger
So paradoxically, Old Scratch tempts us as he tempts Christ. I see four temptations here. The one hidden in plain sight comes first. In the desert for forty days, the devil tempted Jesus as he fasted. After that, the devil, a coward who only works on us when we are weak as Jesus was with hunger, bid him turn the stones into bread and chow down. Then what of the forty days of temptation that preceded that?
Presumably, the devil said nothing for forty days. Why say anything when the voices inside mortal heads can do all the work? Indeed, what happens in our heads in long silence? Given enough silence and forgetfulness of God, we drive ourselves mad with boredom and restlessness and hunger, with inner chatter, the monkey mind. We turn to distractions from our inner lives, to preoccupations and obsessions, to lusts and strategies to survive or control.
It resembles withdrawal from gin or TV or work or whatever our addiction. No, it is withdrawal from whatever addiction to some substitute for God. The object of our addictions may vary, but each of us finds some idol, or the idol finds us. And unless we name those idols, step back from them, and wait for God in the hungering dark, we will never know the freedom to love for which God made us and to which God invites us. Unlike the idols, unlike the devil himself, this God calls us, “Beloved,” at our baptism and never withdraws. Meanwhile, we go prodigal numerous times a day.
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope,” sings the psalmist (Ps 130). Such is the sweet, hard work of silence and hunger. We do the inner work of faith amid silence and hunger whenever we, like the Prodigal, return time and again, moment-by-moment to the God who runs madly out to meet us every time.
Second Temptation: Settle for Survival
Of course, the old coward, Satan, lurks in the shadows whispering as he did to Eve, distracting us with a flattering question: “Why go through all this? Why not live just to survive? You can take the one talent the Master gave you, bury it, and keep it. You’ll never starve again, never have to wait in all the boredom and heat for something more. Do not follow idealistic dreams of a heavenly kingdom. Just make it through life comfortably. God gave you the power to turn these stones into bread or at least to feed yourself. You need never feel hunger again. Be comfortable in survival mode. If you are really a beloved child of God, why not cash in on your powers now and save yourself all the trouble that comes with giving your life away?”
Jesus answered with a phrase from Deuteronomy 8:3, “One does not live by bread alone” (v.4). In Deuteronomy, that verse states further that one does live “by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” God did not make us just to survive. God made us to thrive in relationship with God who addresses us with a word. Furthermore, you and I are words spoken by God, full of meaning and purpose, full of a power that God will realize in time. God has much more in mind for us than mere survival.
Third Temptation: Sell Your Soul For Dominance
So the devil says in so many words, “All right, you do not want merely to survive, but thrive! Very well! God gave me charge of all political and economic power in the world. If you do not believe me, just check the news. Well, I will make you president – no, more than president, king of it all! You need only worship me, and you will dominate the world. The world will work on your terms. No worries and all the glory. What do you say?
That temptation spills over today not only to oligarchs and political strongmen with their insatiable egos. It spills over to us. We see it in the active and passive aggressive manipulations between family members and work associates. We feel it in the false sense of importance that propagandists give us, making us feel like experts on social, political, and economic forces over against our presumed foes. It shows up in our resentment and desires for revenge, our entitlements and envies, our building of walls and trails of tears to keep out people unlike us.
To that, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy again, “Worship the LORD your God and serve only him” (v. 8; Dt 6:13). When we pursue dominance, we choose the devil’s way to security, a way based on a transactional relationship, not on grace. Notice that nowhere does God offer a quid pro quo. Grace means no quid pro quo, just the free gift of salvation and invitation to a loving relationship with God who meets us face-to-face. God offers not a deal, but something better: an embrace. Accepting grace means accepting the reality that all power comes from God. Then God enlists us to share in that power through acts of love with gentle strength, not dominance.
Fourth Temptation: Spiritual Pride
“So,” says the devil, “You want more than survival and will not accept dominance. What a loser! Prove me wrong. See if you can cast all your doubts aside about this God you worship and throw yourself from the pinnacle of the temple and let God’s dutiful angels catch you. If you are God’s special child, show me your special faith. Blow my mind.”
Every time we try to make ourselves so good and holy that God cannot possibly deny us, that Christ need not die for us but only for other poor slobs who cannot muster faith like ours, we succumb to religious pride. Jesus confronted it in the scribes, Pharisees, and his own disciples. He answered the devil with another pithy quote from Deuteronomy: “Do not put the LORD your God to the test” (v.12; Dt. 6:16). Again, God does not operate transactionally with us, but graciously, generously. We do not muster our faith. God gives that to us too, not to show off in high-wire acts, but to give back in humble service.
Beating Old Scratch
The devil, the old coward, walked away then to return in the final act to successfully tempt Judas Iscariot. Meanwhile, Jesus did more than turn stones to bread; he fed 5000 with a few loaves and fishes. He seized more than temporal power; he ushered in an eternal kingdom of God. Neither did he merely leap from the temple into angels’ waiting arms; rather, he suffered death and rose to life. All along, even during his sordid trial and crucifixion, Jesus refused to perform miracles to satisfy, glorify, or even save himself. Rather, he performed them for others and, in doing so, bore witness to God’s unfolding reign in which all not only survive but thrive.
Later, the Apostle Paul urged, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” not exploiting divine power for himself but descending to the lowest place among us, submitting even to the most humiliating death, to ascend from there to glory, having saved the world that killed him (Philippians 2:5-11). So it is with us. Baptism empowers us with the Holy Spirit, and in whatever our context, with whatever gifts, for whomever God puts before us – even our enemies – we serve as Christ served. As Old Scratch lurks in the shadows, whispering diversions and doubts, we need only call on the same Christ who sent him slinking away at the end of the desert temptations to send him away empty-handed again.
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Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:5-6).
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