Discernment in the Desert
15 February 2016
I Lent | Luke 4:1-13 The Temptations
The story of the Temptations is one of the most important theological passages in the New Testament. It falls into the category which theologians call “Christology,” – that is, what was the nature of Jesus’ Messiahship, and what was the nature of his relationship to the God whom he called father.
Jesus has been baptized by John at the Jordan, and he has heard a voice from heaven saying “You are my beloved son.” Immediately after this, he is driven out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit for a significant period of time. It is described as a time of Temptation, and in our little cartoon version of Jesus and the devil, we see it in fairly simple form. But I think it represents a far more profound time of reflection and discernment for Jesus.
The story of the Temptations gives us Jesus’ strategy – his call – his understanding of how he might approach the transformation of human society. If we believe that Jesus accurately represents the methodology of God, it gives us a clear sense of God’s primary methodology for healing and transformation.
In this story, Jesus makes three discernments: he considers and specifically rejects three different strategies for the transformation of the world. When these three have been rejected, he begins his ministry and announces his own strategy for all to hear.
In the time in the desert, and through wrestling with and rejecting three strategies for transformation, Jesus
- Identified what God doesn’t do.
- Described the opening to the spirit.
- Identified the path of salvation.
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Jesus identified what God doesn’t do.
A really good temptation always attempts to appropriate our better instincts. Then it’s just a little off –in a way that just misses the essence of things.
The three temptations we have here are all aimed at the goal we all share – the goal, we assume, of God; the goal of the Messiah-king whom God would appoint; the goal of any son who represented God. That goal is the healing and transformation of the world, the establishment of a kingdom of justice and righteousness.
In his time in the desert, reflecting on his call and vocation, Jesus asked whether he should begin putting the kingdom of God together by
- taking care of the material needs of folks by turning stones into bread;
- taking military and political authority over the nations of the world by whatever means necessary;
- or drawing people’s attention to his leadership by jumping from the temple and being caught by angels.
Frankly, we don’t know if these things were possible or not for Jesus or anyone else. I know we say God can do anything – but do we really mean to say that God ever would do something he has told us is against his nature? These things may have been just pure fantasy. In each case, Jesus hears a verse from Scripture which suggests that he should not pray for these.
He has just been called, and called son of God. He’s wrestling with what that means. And what it doesn’t mean is these things. It doesn’t mean that these things don’t happen, or even that they may not be done and even done well sometimes. But they are not the end which God was seeking in Jesus. I think that’s probably because they have no transformative power. God did not create the world in order to control the world. He created the world in order for it to come alive and be transformed into a spiritual engine of extraordinary and unique capacity.
What’s fascinating, of course, is that we are still asking God for the things of the desert, asking God to provide the solutions which he clearly indicated are not a part of his intention — that is, if we believe Jesus is the representative of God’s intentions. God does not intend magically to transform stones into bread; he does not intend to control the world without transforming it; and he isn’t content just to attract people’s attention by signs and wonders.
All of these things may occur, and God may even use them for good, but they are not the core of his creative intention. Jesus identified what God doesn’t do.
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Jesus identified the opening to the Spirit.
It’s in the way that Jesus said “No” to the devil that we are given the privilege of seeing the gateway out of pure control and materialism which he was walking through.
Recall these responses. Jesus is trying to figure out what the voice from heaven at his baptism meant when it said “you are my son, the beloved.”
The devil says, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus responds with a statement from a sermon of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses said, “[God] humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
Whether or not Jesus could be in the business of transforming stones to bread, this is not what is going on as his primary mission. Like Moses in the desert, Jesus is involved with material resources not only for food but because they are a window into the care and the guidance of God, which has been learned not only by satisfaction, but also by hunger. God is known in both the emptiness and the fullness.
Next the devil says that he will give authority over all the world’s people and governments to Jesus if he will worship him – presumably meaning using his methods of control. Jesus responds by quoting Moses in Deuteronomy again: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
The spirit of God is different from the spirit of the Devil. It is not the accomplishment itself – that is bringing the kingdoms of the world together under a single rule – but the Name and spirit in which the accomplishment is made, that is determinative. You cannot accomplish God’s ends by someone else’s methodology.
Finally, the devil suggests that Jesus should jump from the temple and get God’s angels to catch him. Again quoting Moses in Deuteronomy, Jesus says, “Do not put the LORD your God to the test.” God is not to be manipulated. Faith and trust are not a game. The way of the spirit is to follow where the spirit leads. There are no trial runs.
In his work in the desert, Jesus identified the opening of life to the guidance of the spirit. God is known in both emptiness and fullness. You cannot accomplish God’s ends by someone else’s methodology. Faith is not a game – there are no trial runs. These insights provided parameters for Jesus’ essential vocation — what the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes as “the race that is set before us” as well – where Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:1-2)
Jesus identified what God doesn’t do. He identified the opening to the spirit. And he identified the path of salvation.
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Jesus identified the path of salvation.
The purported goal of all of the temptations was the proper order of the world – bringing about the longed-for kingdom of righteousness and justice which the prophets had predicted, a healthy and just human society. This was the work of the messiah, and it appears that it was Jesus’ work as God’s representative in that time and place. This transformation, this salvation, could not be accomplished by the usual methodologies, however. The path of salvation was a powerful and unusual path, right through the gateway pointed out by Jesus’ temptations.
When he returned from the desert, Jesus identified the path of: The kingdom of Heaven is at hand, that there is good news to be heard and identified, the captives are going free and the blind are seeing. This new way, a way of truth, love, and obedience, was fully bathed in the spirit and guidance of God – no tricks, no testing, no mistaken guidance or ugly spirit. It was instantly transformational on a small scale, and its integrity promised a level of salvation that was stronger than death.
Jesus retained the messianic goal to bring in the kingdom of God, but he pursued a different, authentic methodology – one which was completely dependent on the Holy Spirit of God, which moved through love, and which progressively involved more and more people as actors – one which could affect the entire world and spread across the ground – one which had both instantaneous and long-term effect – one which could continue its course for centuries, we do not know how many.
The paths he rejected were dead ends – attempted instant cures and conquests that had nothing to do with God’s hopes for creation and had no knowledge of the true spirit of God. But when Jesus identified the true spirit, he was on his way. There was nothing to be gained by the spirit of magic or control, he knew. In the name of the eternal God and his creation, the only way forward was the way of the Servant.
Following his baptism, trying to understand the particularity of his call, Jesus did a job for us that is essential to our own calls, our own lives and faith: He identified what God doesn’t do. He identified the opening to the spirit. And he identified the path of salvation. AMEN.
The Rev. B. P. Campbell
Richmond Hill, Richmond, Virginia
