“Afterward, Jesus was led into the Wild Place by the Spirit to experience temptation by the Devil” (Matthew 4.1).
Why did Jesus say no?
Think about that for a moment. You’ve heard this story before. Jesus, right after his baptism is led into the Wild Place and, at his weakest, is tempted with means to accomplish what he hopes to do. That we’re told they come directly from the Evil One predisposes us to thinking that they’re the wrong way to go, that the correct response to each one is no. But they are temptations because they would work, after a fashion. They aren’t ineffective methods to accomplish the goal of bringing all things to the consummation of all that God has ever dreamt.
It’s not just turning stones to bread. It’s fulfilling needs by a wave of a hand, a word from your lips. It’s filling pantries and providing medicine, clothing those in threadbare garments and sheltering those in the rain and cold. It’s what gains followers by the bushel. With mouths full and a warm fire on the grate and people will follow you anywhere, do whatever you ask.
It’s not just the spectacle of a swan dive off the temple heights, but the celebrity and the notoriety. It means your name on all the websites, top notification on everyone’s phone. Overnight, you’re an icon, an idol. And everyone can paper their hopes and dreams for themselves upon you. You can be everything they wish they could be.
And, of course it’s not just the power to rule the world but the ability to set things right. No questions asked. People will do what you say, fall at your feet because you hold the ultimate authority. They can live knowing all is calm and bright because you have come and set it all aright.
Jesus never responds that these plans and ideas wouldn’t work or wouldn’t, at least, provide a fast, measurable path to success and attaining the goal. And, that’s because they would have worked. People have come to power and authority through just such actions in the past two-thousand years. The only shortcoming was that those who have done so in human history were…human.
So why did Jesus say no? When it all could have been so much easier?
Maybe the more important question is if we wish Jesus had said yes. Sure, we know Jesus did the right thing. You’re supposed to say no to temptation. Everybody knows that’s why you cheer for Jesus in this story.
But it’s tempting, isn’t it, to wish things were a little bit different: that the hungry would be fed, that Jesus was more like a movie star or pop musician who could be who we dream of being; that there was a hard rule of right and wrong.
Maybe the story isn’t just about Jesus’ response but about our own. About how we wish Jesus was someone else or did things in the way we’d have chosen.
And if our love is for him as he is or who he was tempted to be.
Tempted One, as we enter this Lenten season, challenge us, reveal to us where we love who we wish you were more than who you are.