Striking Out The Devil

'Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.'

--Matthew 4: 1-11

  Jesus was tempted.  It's a somewhat uncomfortable fact for some Christians, but he was.  In every way as we are, and if we look closely at this story we call The Temptation in the Wilderness, we see that those temptations fall into three categories:  temptations for possession, prestige, and power.  

A mosaic depicting the temptation for possession.

So let's look at his first temptation.  Jesus is wandering in the desert, no doubt starving, and the devil comes and tells him to turn the stones into bread.  Feed himself, and he'll be satisfied and full.  The implication is that if Jesus had enough of a  material object--in this case bread--everything will be alright.  This is the temptation for possession;  the illusion that bread will satisfy Jesus' hunger,  and he will be happy and secure.  But Jesus resists, saying that one does not live by bread alone.  He knows that material goods, even bread, are not the means to ultimate satisfaction, only God is.  Strike one for the devil.

 A children's Bible depiction of the temptation for prestige

For the second temptation, the devil says, "Hey, if you're the Son of God, jump off the temple, and let the angels catch you."  The devil even uses a portion of Psalm 91 to convince Jesus that it's ok.  This is the temptation for prestige.  Take up this position atop the temple, symbol of God's authority, jump off, and if you're really so special, God will save you! But Jesus resists; one shouldn't put God to the test because one needn't prove one's worth before God.  The devil's promoting a form of idolatry, making ones ego into ones God.  But Jesus does not seek the gratification of his own ego, he seeks only God's will.  Strike two for the devil.

 An icon depicting the temptation for power.

 Finally, for the third third temptation the devil offers Jesus dominion over all the kingdoms of the world.  This the temptation for power.  There's no vulnerability here, only the lure of control over of everything and everyone.  This is top-down power, the kind Pharoah's Egypt exercised, the kind Rome exercised.  But Jesus resists; this is not God's brand of power.  That power is shown in vulnerability, in self-sacrifice, not glorification. Strike three.  The devil is out.

There was a movie in 2015 called Last Days in the Desert, which tells this story of Jesus wandering and being tempted by the devil, and it stars the best Jedi ever, Evan McGregor, as Jesus.  What's fascinating is that he doesn't just play Jesus, he plays the devil too.  Here the devil comes to Jesus looking and sounding exactly like Jesus.  The message is clear:  these temptations are coming from Jesus himself.  We may not be comfortable with this idea, but if the Incarnation is real, and Jesus actually is fully human, then that means he would be tempted as we are.  It also means that those same temptations are there inside each one of us.  

 The trailer for Last Days in the Desert, starring Ewan McGregor as Jesus (and the devil).

We know these temptations well, and honestly I think every temptation we feel can be classified under one of these three--possession, prestige, and power.  They come from a place of fear.  Our temptation for possession comes from our fear of being without, and it tells us that if we get more and more stuff--more money, more possessions--then we will be filled and satisfied.  Our temptation for prestige comes from our fear of losing our identity, so we build up our egos and try to prove our self worth because then we'll make other people love us, including God.  Our temptation for power comes from our fear of not being in control, resulting in us creating top-down power structures that put ourselves--and those like us--in the positions of control because, after all, we know we're right. Yes, brothers and sisters, I'd say we all know these temptations very very well.

Jesus resisted these temptations, but how?  I suspect it was because Jesus knew who he really was, knew whose he was.  He knew that no amount of bread or any other possession would satisfy him, only God could.  He knew that he didn't have to put God to the test and seek any prestige because he knew he was already loved by God.  And he knew that power-over others only breeds fear and resentment, but God's vulnerable, bottom-up power breeds hope, and love, and respect, especially for those he called "the least of these."  Jesus resisted because he knew that possessions, prestige, and power would never bring him true fulfillment or satisfaction.  Only God could.  But what about us?  How can we possibly resist such temptations? 

Maybe you're thinking, "That's because he was God Incarnate, and I'm not him."  No, we're not Jesus.  But we do have a spark of God inside each of us.  Call it a soul, a conscience, or whatever, but it's that part of us that came from God and will return to God.  It's also the part that tells us, deep down, that possession, prestige, and power will not ultimately satisfy us. Only God can do that.  Each of us has that Divine spark in us, and each has that voice speaking to us, reminding us who we are and whose we are.  The difference between us and Jesus is that he heard that voice more clearly, but that voice is calling to us as well.  Our hearts and minds are so often cluttered by what the world tells us we need that we become afraid and what we really need gets distorted:  we need more stuff, we need to be popular and satisfy our egos, we need to gain more power and be the boss.  But what if we could shut the world out for a minute and hear that divine voice inside us?  Maybe then we'd actually believe we are made in the beloved and beautiful image of God.  Maybe then we'd know that all we really need is God, not stuff,  that our egos need not be inflated because we are already loved and have nothing to prove, and that true power  is God's alone, and it looks like the vulnerable power shown by Jesus.  We may not be Jesus, but we can resist the world's temptations like he did; we just have to block the world out, look inside us, find that Divine spark, and hear that voice telling us "You are my beloved!"

Saint Augustine summed it up when he said "our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God."  Jesus was able to resist his temptations because he knew this fact.  And deep down we do too.  Possession, prestige, and power may tempt us, but they belong to the world.  We belong to God.  Find your Divine spark and listen to that voice telling you, like Jesus, to resist. Remember, brothers and sisters.  Remember who and whose you really are.  And you'll strike out the devil, too!