In the Desert
Jesus is like us in all things but sin. Just as temptation is a part of our lives, so also temptation was part of His. Recall the Agony in the Garden as the culmination as well as the triple temptations to come down off the cross as His enemies taunted Him.
It is important to recognize that while Satan challenges Jesus as the Son of God, Satan is not strictly referring to Jesus as the Second Person of the trinity. Rather, the term, “Son of God”, as it has been used thusfar in St Matthew’s Gospel readers more to Jesus as the personification of Israel at its very best. Remember when the prophet Hosea said, “When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt, I called My Son.” In addition, Jesus tells us all to address God as Abba, Da or Papa. Therefore, we are all (daughters and) sons of God.
It is important for us to recognize honestly that it is impossible to delve into the mind of another person, especially a divine person, with a divine and fully human nature. (We can’t even know sometimes what is going on in our minds. Psychologists refer to human behavior as “epiphenomenological”, viz., behavior is a manifestation of many hidden factors below the surface.)
While Jesus probably told His disciples that He was indeed tempted at the start of His public ministry, St Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is presenting an illustration of what happened to Jesus as Jesus tried to get His act together in the desert for 40 days.
We read in the Gospel today that Jesus remained faithful to the vocation to which God the Father had called Him. He resisted temptation (as Adam and Eve did not) to go and do things His own way. Unlike our first parents Jesus did not fall for the Original Lie, viz. you too can be like God. He refused to use power to dazzle crowds. He refused to use His power to impress and fulfill the requests if cynical non-believers. He refused to use His power to gain political hegemony.
As a member of Israel, Jesus relies on the faithfulness of YHWH. He quotes the Book of Deuteronomy three times as a means of strength to resist temptation.
The Book of Deuteronomy is addressed to Jews who, with God’s Help take responsibility for their lives in the midst of their Jewish culture. Deuteronomy is for the mature.
The three quotes which Jesus uses can work for us as well as we try to live our own lives as God wants us to live them. When He is tempted to turn stones into bread, He reminds Himself that “Not by bread alone does one live, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. These days, we think of bread (lehem in Hebrew), not only as bread, but also as food, sustenence, but also the money (bread) that buys what we all need. The quotation takes on a different meaning for us, doesn’t it?
When Jesus is tempted to do a trick to impress skeptics (read publicity stunt) He reminds Himself, “You shall not put the Lord Your God to the test.” We are reminded that God has no obligation to live up to the demands which we make upon God.
Finally, when Jesus, Israel personified, is tempted to be a political Messiah, interestingly Satan claims that he will give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Many have commented that the systems of the world of power, domination and control which masquerade in many ways and in many places, really, indeed do belong to Satan. Most of us deny that we are addicted to dominant consciousness (conventional wisdom, Western civilization, whatever) and the dominant consciousness is addicted as well to power, wealth, control, petroleum The ideal Jew responds again by quoting Deuteronomy “The Lord your God, you shall love and respect, viz., acknowledge as the source and centre of your own life; “this Lord you will serve.” When we think of temptation, we are reminded at times that the things we serves can become the things that dominate us, becoming the basis of an ultimately false security.
We are all tempted to live on everything else but God’s promise. We are all tempted to make God live up to our terms. We are tempted to find in other things the security only God can provide. We are tempted very easily to forget that it was God’s Space before I made it MySpace.
May the example and Help of the Son of God made human in Christ Jesus guide and strengthen the rest of us (all daughters and sons of God as well) as continue to experience the temptations which lead us all to succumb to the Original Lie, both as individuals and as cultures. 031311AD jfq
