The Drive into the Desert

In looking over the synoptic accounts of Jesus going off to the desert to do battle with Satan and the temptations that await Him, one sees that there is complete agreement among the three Evangelists concerning both the length of His struggle and what exactly He was doing before and after. Forty days is the figure they each report; and all agree that on one side there was a baptism to be performed, while on the other there will be a public ministry to begin.

But it is that long stretch in between that arrests the attention. It is the perfect theme, by the way, for the long Lenten slog that looms before us. And certainly, by any human measure, forty days is a very long time indeed. Yes, even if you are the Son of God. There can be no question, therefore, but that Jesus is going to be hungry. Very hungry. And not too long after stepping into the desert, too, despite the divine Spirit prompting Him to go there. 

Isn’t that the whole point of Temptation Number One? That it should all turn on Jesus’ obvious need to eat. “If you are the Son of God,” says the devil, mockingly, “command this stone to become bread.” Satan may be the soul of malice, the very quintessence of evil, but he’s not stupid. He knows the force of hunger, that it is primal, and that unless one were determined on starvation, which is hardly the best move when one is about to launch a global enterprise, he is going to need a bit of nourishment to stay in shape.  

So, how does Jesus reply to the trap set by Satan? Will a loaf or two of bread suddenly materialize out of thin air? No, He refuses the offer, telling him, “One does not live by bread alone.” Only the greatest hunger of all, in other words, which is for God, will satisfy those longings which are deeper than mere appetite. It is the bread of meaning on which we were meant to feed. It is the Father alone from whom Jesus draws His strength and sustenance. 

All of which must have greatly disconcerted Satan, for he then turns to Temptation Number Two, the offer of all the kingdoms on earth so long as Jesus agrees to fall down and worship him. Will Jesus acquiesce to such an offer? What could be more tempting? 

I mean, has Jesus got a better plan for saving the world? Why not take up the offer so that they might work together? And, yet, notwithstanding the attraction, Jesus refuses, reminding Satan what has long been written: “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.”

Having nearly shot his wad, Satan then turns to Temptation Number Three, taking Jesus to the topmost point of the temple in order to issue his final challenge: “If you are the Son of God,” he tells him once again, “throw yourself down from here, for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you…With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Once more, however, the offer is rebuffed, Jesus telling the Old Guy, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” At which point, the devil goes away, but only, we are menacingly told, “for a time,” suggesting that he’ll certainly be back to bedevil the Son of the Most High God and Lord of history.

At which point one is tempted to ask oneself, what sort of Lordship can this be if the spurious version exercised by Satan is never driven quite definitively away? If his sham kingdom can survive a dustup with God Himself, if he lives to fight another day, what does that tell us about the Powers and Principalities of this world? That nothing, not even God, can vanquish them?  At which point one is tempted to ask oneself, what sort of Lordship can this be if the spurious version exercised by Satan is never driven quite definitively away?Tweet This

I mean, if the devil can promise ownership of the world to Jesus, in return, that is, for His submission to the rule of Satan, doesn’t that rather suggest that he already owns it? “For it has been handed over to me,” he declares. “I may give it to whomever I wish.” But only, and here’s the catch, if Christ accepts the offer, which we know from the rest of the story He does not. Or if His followers are likewise persuaded to accept, whose numbers will increase dramatically over time, spreading to places far from the familiar haunts of Judea. And yet, many will have taken the offer, separating themselves from the One to whom they had once been joined by baptism.  

It all turns on freedom, doesn’t it? That “terrifying compliment” the Lord pays each of us, taking our liberty with an ultimate seriousness. It will require us to choose, at every turn, for or against God; either to give in and submit our wills wholly to the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, or to resist altogether, casting our lot with Christ, who is our only hope of getting out of this world alive and into the next.    

“We are bidden to put on Christ,” C.S. Lewis reminds us, “to become like God. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” It is the most pressing question we face. What finally is true? And am I willing to sign on with it, even to organize every moment of my life around it? 

Or, putting it a little differently, where in the perspective of eternity do I choose to stand? Do I say yes to God and the plan He has for my life, which will carry me finally into the arms of God, or do I take myself off to a place of unending misery, where there is neither light nor warmth nor peace nor joy?  

But if we choose God, we must remember that there is no other way to reach Him and the joys He has promised save through the desert of temptation. He will not leave us to face the desert alone, however, which is why He has given us Lent as a most apt preparation for the journey.