A few days ago, we noticed that we start Lent with the same reading every Ash Wednesday, and it is true also for our First Sunday in Lent – although we read each time from a different Gospel; Mark, Matthew or Luke – we always start with the famous stories of Jesus in the wilderness where for forty days (and forty nights) he was “tempted by the devil”. There are no major differences in the way the evangelists tell the story, even though Matthew and Luke give more details about the nature of the temptations. We often summarize them as the temptation of the flesh (with the bread), the temptation of power (the kingdom) and the temptation of pride (the temple). If we have a closer look, we can’t avoid realizing though that all these temptations Jesus had to face are actually the temptations the Hebrews themselves had to endure during their forty years in the wilderness, when they were facing their thirst and hunger, when they were tempted to worship other gods, when, at last, they were tempted to believe that nothing could go wrong for them since they had God’s favor (a temptation our first reading in Deuteronomy alludes to, as the people are asked to remember God and obedience to God’s law to be able to enjoy peace and prosperity in the land).
So there are two things that we can notice right away:
– Jesus endured the same temptations as the people – and although there were no eye witnesses to Jesus’s temptations in the wilderness, we can believe he told the story to comfort and encourage his disciples.
– Unlike Israel and unlike the people though, Jesus was victorious against temptation, and he does so, not by using supernatural powers, rather by refusing to use supernatural powers and by showing himself obedient to God and to God’s word. In this, he shows himself and prove to the world (and to the devil!) that he is indeed the Beloved, the “Chosen one” we have heard about on Transfiguration Sunday in our lectionary. The passage we have today in Luke’s follows also the same statement made at Jesus’s baptism Ch 3 v 22: “(…) the Holy Spirit descended upon [Jesus] in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’”. And so we learn today that right after that: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness” (Ch 4:1).
It’s very interesting, if you think about it, that Jesus finds himself in the wilderness right after he received the assurance of God’s election, and now he has to face temptations from the devil. Luke’s way of putting it is even more precise than that: Not only Jesus “finds himself in the wilderness” but he actually “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”. It’s like God has planned that Jesus needs to face temptations,it’s like God is sending temptations to Jesus, or at least leaves Jesus in a place where he will necessarily be tempted. It’s interesting because if you remember from a few years ago, Pope Francis himself thought it would be a good idea to change the wording (or at least the translation) of the Lord’s Prayer when we ask God to “not lead us in temptation”. Pope Francis recommended that we use instead: “Do not let us enter in temptation” making the point that God does not tempt us – it would conflict with God’s goodness to do so – rather, it’s our own sinful nature that leads us to be tempted.
It’s probably not my calling to discuss the Pope’s theology but I think it’s really worth looking closer at what the Scriptures tell us, so we understand better what temptation is really about – and knowing that – we may have better tools to be victorious against it.
1. First of all, if we believe that we are tempted because of our sins, we cannot understand why Jesus would be tempted. There was no inner / natural disposition in Jesus towards sin, and yet he was violently tempted – not just by stealing a little bit of food, but to the point of thinking about killing himself (the last temptation in Luke’s). Jesus was tempted not because he was sinful, but because he was human and the Scriptures show us that humans are tempted all the time. Moreover, rather than a connection between sinfulness and temptation, there is a connection between holiness and temptation.
2. We cannot decide from the Scriptures that God actively tempts us, but we need to acknowledge though that in the Scriptures there is a strong connection between election and temptation (rather than between sin and temptation). In the Bible, who is violently tempted? Adam and Eve, the perfect first creation, Job, a man who lived a perfect life in God’s eyes, and of course Israel (the elected people) and Jesus (the elected son). In the Bible, there are no stories of wicked people being tempted. They just do evil. Sinful people aren’t tempted: They just sin.
3. In the stories of temptation in the Bible, if God is not actively tempting people, yet it is clear that God puts people in situation where they will be tempted: In the garden of Eden, by the tree. Forty years in the wilderness. Authorizing Satan to attack Job. And of course in our passage today, leading Jesus in the wilderness.
So what can we make of this and what does it mean to us?
1 – If we are close to God and desire to walk in God’s ways, we will also be tempted and we should expect to be tempted. The way we experience temptation does not compare to our degree of sinfulness, it’s rather the other way around: temptation comes to the faithful. A Saint had a sharp way of putting it: “The devil does not bother those who already belong to him”. So indeed, I really believe that Jesus told this story to comfort and encourage his disciples. He himself was tempted. So neither the disciples nor ourselves should despair in case of temptation. It’s bound to happen and Jesus shows us a way out: We certainly do not need supernatural powers to resist temptation: humility, faithfulness and prayer are our way out.
2 – What is temptation about? To overcome temptation, it’s also necessary to understand what temptation is about. What the devil tempts Adam and Eve with (and Job, and the people of Israel and in the end Jesus himself) is to doubt God’s goodness and provision for God’s people, to question God’s love. Temptation is not so much about committing this or that specific sin – although that’s the way temptation can present itself to us – in the end, it’s about rebellion against God: We start by doubting God’s provision (Jesus is tempted by the bread), then we want to assert our own power and use our power over people (the temptation of the kingdom) then we are tempted by self destruction in defiance towards God (temptation of the temple). Temptation is about rebellion and destruction. The devil tries to destroy our relationship with God and as he does so, our relationships with others and even with self. If we understand that in the end temptation, behind all its seduction (being full, powerful, special), is what brings destruction in our lives, it will be much easier to resist.
3 – Lastly, and probably the most difficult to understand, is that we have to see that God allows temptation in our lives and even leads us in places where we will be tempted. Pope Francis wonders: Why God would do that? And we can wonder about that too. My sense though is that it does not contradict God’s goodness. As in the beginning in the garden of Eden, we are given the choice. And we have to choose ourselves and who we want to be. Jesus has just been confirmed as the elected, God has chosen him, yet he still has to choose God. This is the same story with Adam and Eve, Job, the people of Israel. It’s only through specific situations that we can decide who we want to be. If we want to have a relationship with God, we have to choose God. There are many times of wilderness in our lives, and we can all think about what this wilderness looks like for us: isolation, unemployment, illness. Yet in the end, wilderness is always about the absence of God. God withdraws from our lives in the same way God withdrew from the world: so we can make a choice. Jesus told many parables about servants whose Master took off, was delayed, and what will the servants do during this time? Will they wander off or remain faithful and even bear fruits? We’re still in the process of being created, of becoming God’s people. Sometimes the Spirit leads us in the wilderness so we have to make a choice – it’s not so much a test, a test that we will “pass or fail”, it’s rather allowing a process of transformation to take place.