Why was Jesus tempted?
In our Gospel reading today we have heard a passage which describes the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. It is such an important passage that all three of the synoptic Gospels recount the story.
Instead of just reading the passage, I want to explain how those of us who are called to study, question and interpret scripture go about decoding the text and the challenges it presents.
The fact that all three synoptic writers recount the same event tells us of the particular importance the theme had at the time. Remember that each gospel was written for a different audience: Matthew, whom we heard from today, was most likely writing for a Jewish audience who were in the process of converting to following Jesus Christ.
Mark was almost certainly written for an audience that was made up of gentiles. How do we know this? Well the texts have comparatively little reference to the Hebrew scriptures or the law. This is in direct contrast to Matthew.
I bet if I was to ask you “what did Luke do?” many of you would be able to answer –“he was a doctor.” Whilst this is true, the person who actually wrote the Gospel of Luke may well have been someone completely different. Luke had many supporters, he was an educated man, and he attracted educated men to him. Many scholars believe Luke was written by a Syrian author based in Antioch. This follows extensive textual analysis and consideration of the clues buried in the subtext.
So always remember that you are reading a Gospel written for a specific audience. If a passage appears in all three Gospels we can assume it has a particular significance. Our passage today deals with temptation. But temptation to a Jewish audience had a different meaning to an audience of gentiles. This is significant when we try to understand the text.
Next we need to consider the genre of the text. In the case of this passage it isn’t as simple as you might think. William Barclay was a prolific scholar. When I was a child my mother always used his bible commentaries to help her understand the texts and I remember reading most of his commentaries as a teenager. I still have many of them on my bookshelves and I use them regularly. Barclay is particularly well known for his thoughts on this passage.
Barclay believed that this passage was a parable. He did not believe it was not historical text, as most of the synoptics are considered to be, but instead considered it to be a story that Jesus told to an audience to explain the theological significance of temptation. Barclay looked closely at the text and analyzed it. He comments on a number of things that make him question the passage as a historical text. One such comment is that the mountain description is unrealistic; Barclay reminds us that there is “no mountain high enough in all the world to see the world.” But I have visited the Mount of Temptation and it looks over vast swathes of empty desert on one side, and down to the city of Jericho on the other. It does rather feel like one is surveying the known world when one is up there! Although the hawkers and beggars are a little off putting!
William Barclay is of course correct; there is no mountain from which we can see the whole; there can be no arguing that. What Barclay did was pick the text apart and cast a 20th century view on the passage. He picked up on work that had been done in light of the reformation by Benson and Farmer who began the same debate. But when we consider Barclay’s scholarship we must always consider the lens through which he looked. Barclay was a minister in the Church of Scotland, a strongly protestant organization.
A catholic view of the text we read today would be that the temptation of Christ in the desert was a literal event. Thomas Aquinas believed that the Temptation happened so that we might understand Christ’s humanity as sinless. He is the High Priest who took human form yet did not succumb to human temptation.
Lets look for a moment at how Christ was tempted. Christ was taken to a place away from society. The desert is barren and Jewish Law associated it with scapegoating. In Leviticus we are told of Azazel. He is a scapegoat on which the sins of the Jewish people were placed and then banished to the desert. In Jewish, Christian and Islamic narratives the desert is a place for banishment, sacrifice and atonement for sin.
So Jesus’ temptation in the desert has very specific connotations. There is no doubt that anyone who read the Gospels in biblical times would understand the significance of the place and its meaning. In our modern world, we really don’t have anything quite like it. We tend to shun people by social media these days, but back in Christ’s time, the desert was the equivalent!
Jesus’ first temptation was food. The devil encourages Jesus to turn stones into bread. The famous response Jesus gives, Man does not live by bread alone, is recorded more fully in Matthews Gospel. He suggests Jesus actually said Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This is a refence to Deuteronomy chapter 8. This chapter of the Torah speaks to God’s reason for putting his chosen people through difficulty in the desert. God did it to help them understand the fullness of his promised land. First they suffered so they could fully realise the beauty of God’s creation. So Christ does this for us in the wilderness. He is the fulfillment of the new Covenant. He is the promised land.
Next the devil takes Jesus to the Holy City of Jerusalem. Here Jesus is asked to prove his divinity by demonstrating his supernatural powers. The Pinnacle of the Temple from which Jesus is asked to throw himself was probably the tower high above the sanctuary. Jesus is having none of this and instructs the devil do not put the Lord you God to the test.
Finally Jesus is taken to a mountain where he can see all of the world. He is tempted by the suggestion that he can rule everything he sees if he just gives in and worships the devil. Christ stands firm and instructs the devil by quoting the Law back to him:
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.”’
Once again Jesus speaks of the importance of the law. He will not be tempted to act against it and act against God. Jesus was tempted. But he didn’t give in, he wouldn’t cooperate with the devil.
I began this sermon by asking the question why? Why was Jesus tempted? Ultimately, Jesus was tempted because we face temptation. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we hear this:
Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. (2:17)
Jesus was tempted so he could be in every respect like us. He had to know the world as we do and experience the challenges we experience. He does this so he can understand our humanity, so that when we are in the depths of despair, when we have really messed up, he can be with us. Jesus faced the most extreme temptation so that he can say I know how feel and really mean it. Jesus didn’t resist temptation as a deity, he did so as a human being.
This lent we should all consider how we respond to temptation. We should consider our human frailties and know our own weakness. We should pray to God for the strength to overcome our temptations, and give thanks that Christ modelled a life to which we can aspire.