This little passage comes from the Gospel of Mark and describes the 'temptation of Jesus' at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry. It was most certainly not the last time Jesus was tempted, and possibly not the hardest of the temptations to endure. Matthew, Mark and Luke all contain this story, although Mark is not interested in any of the details. It happened. Satan was involved. It took 40 (a very important number BTW) days. Then Jesus was comforted by the wild beasts.
Apparently, temptation was integral to the start up of Jesus' ministry. I think we can be safe to assume that we are not talking about the temptation of cookies, or fast driving or even a snooze button.........unless, of course, we are. The difference here is God.
And Satan.
Satan is the clue that there is something bigger, one might even say 'cosmic' in this encounter in the wilderness. Satan tempts Jesus. Satan who is Not God. Satan who wants Jesus to play on his team. Jesus needs to choose between God and Not God....because, my friends, you can only play on one team. You can only serve one end. You need to choose between good and evil. You need to decide between self preservation and community health. You need to choose between 'me' and 'we'.
For Jesus, the one who was called to be the Anointed One (the Christ, the Messiah: they all mean the same thing) had to choose whether to live out his call as the Son of God, or not. That choice needed to be made at the very beginning: listen to God's call to be who God made him to be - or walk away from it all. As elevated as that sounds, it would involve cookies and fast driving and snooze buttons.
Matthew and Luke want to make all of this perfectly clear so they expand this two verse story into a wonderful scenario of jumping off high places and turning stones into bread. Mark figures we can figure all of that out for ourselves. Jesus would face times when who got to eat was a choice, one that he had to make. Jesus would face times when showing off how powerful he was, because he was, in fact, the Son of God, would have made everything so clear and be especially satisfying. Jesus would face times when stepping back, easing the tension, walking down a different path was right there on his fingertips.
Jesus was asked, again and again, to walk the God path and follow where it led. He did it in the face of ridicule, rejection, betrayal, isolation, Roman power and, finally, death. Throughout his life it was always the temptation to choose God .......or to go another way. To choose love ....or to choose safety. To choose everyone.......or to stay with his kind. To give.......or to demand. God or Not God.
We might comfort ourselves with the knowledge that none of us is the Son of God and therefore talk about temptation is a moot point. Except, even for us, there will be times when cookies or a snooze button or 90 miles an hour will be a choice between 'me' and 'we', between God and Not God....which is really a choice between God and Myself As God.
When you are exploring the possibilities that lie in a relationship with the Divine Creator of All, the crucified and risen one named Jesus, then temptation becomes something more. It's not about being perfect or feeling guilt. It's about living your life in tune with this God, the source of all life, or living your life in tune with your own needs or desires.
As we enter the season of Lent, we consider again our call to live as God's people and to speak the truth about the constant temptation to turn away......to eat the cookies.......to choose Not God. In the crush of managing life as it is, Lent provides us with a time set aside to consider this all again. We begin this journey talking about the choice between God and Not God.
May God bless your journey.
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