We see the second temptation, immediately following in Jesus’ arrest. The temptation is to use what the powers of this world always use to fight off violence, namely another counter-violence: When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And He touched his ear and healed him. (Luke 22:49-51)
Isn’t this the age-old powers of the nations, the powers of Satan who rules them? The nations are ruled by the satanic powers of vengeance and hatred against one’s enemies. Rome keeps the peace through military might, brutally suppressing all rebellion.
In fact, seeing the Roman oppression in light of satanic power – in other words, that Rome is actually ruled by Satan -- is a key to being able to see why Jesus has taught something entirely new: love your enemies; don’t retaliate; live under the reign of God’s forgiveness, forgiving also those who sin against you. Enemies like the Romans aren’t our true enemy, in the first place. Forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. They are under Satan’s rule. And so are we when we try to strike out against our perceived enemies. So Jesus’ faces, through his disciples’ retaliation, the temptation to behave as the nations have always behaved. Satan is testing him to go against what He has been proclaiming about the new reality of God’s reign. A disciple cuts off the ear of a servant in the arrest mob. Jesus heals the man, and “No more of this!” is his firm response.
When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. Hmm. When do you suppose that opportune time was for the devil to test Jesus again? I imagine there were temptations all along the way in Jesus’ ministry. One of them came in the story that immediately follows the temptation of our Lord. It is the account of Jesus reading from the prophet Isaiah in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth. All his neighbors are waiting in anticipation that he will do great things for them and put them on the map. Once again it is a temptation that Jesus avoids. He is about fulfilling the Good News proclaimed by Isaiah, Good News to the poor, the sick, the oppressed. He is about Good News to everyone, everywhere, not just bringing easy answers to his hometown folks.
But the most opportune time for Satan to test Jesus will undoubtedly come as he faces and endures the Passion. One of the more intriguing aspects of Mel Gibson’s movie is the Satan figure who is present throughout the movie, representing temptation for Jesus to go another way.
I’d like to attempt two things evening. One is to see if we can see these three temptations in the Judean wilderness reappear in new but parallel forms during Jesus’ passion. Second, we will see these temptations in our own lives.
First, we see Jesus’ time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46). We find a parallel here with the first temptation, that Jesus end His fast by turning stones into bread. Luke’s Garden of Gethsemane scene is the one where Jesus is even sweating blood. He is in agony that there might be an easier way to accomplish God’s will for the salvation of a world in so much turmoil and suffering. Isn’t this like the first temptation, taking the easy way out of agony and suffering? Jesus is “famished,” and Satan tempts him to find an easy way out of his suffering.
Luke gives us a signal, that this is a time of temptation. Jesus’ disciples are about to take the easy way out by running away. While Jesus is praying, however, they’re sleeping through it. Jesus comes in His anguish and says to his disciples, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial” (Luke 22:46). Jesus uses, the same words as He did in teaching them the Lord’s Prayer: “...do not bring us to the time of trial,” (Luke 11:4b) -“Lead us not into temptation.” Luke begins his Passion story with prayer that Jesus not give in to this opportune time for the devil’s testing -- “Lead us not into temptation.”
Finally, the third temptation of this story. Comes in the Passion story when Jesus is seized and led away. The people stood by, watching. And all the disciples run and flee. Yet Jesus doesn’t save Himself. He is tempted to run and flee like the others and yet He must face the Fathers will and die.
However there is more to this temptation then testing God’s protection as a chosen one. There is the temptation to not follow through with God’s call to the end. Jesus has the last enemy yet to face, death itself. Because our human powers under Satan ultimately lead to death, Jesus has come to show us God’s power of life even in the face of death.
Jesus is treated like an normal criminal and yet He has the presence of mind to proclaim, “I am making all things new.” Isn’t that incredible? That really captures what we are talking about here. Jesus had to go all the way through His submission to our powers of death, so that on Easter morning His rising could reveal to us God’s power of life. On Easter morning, the dawn brought the first day of a new creation. God’s reign of unconditional love and life makes everything new through the Holy Spirit and those who believe in Jesus’ resurrection. A test of God’s protection for His Messiah isn’t the point of Jesus’ coming. The point is that we are saved from the satanic powers of sin and death only by Jesus’ going all the way through death to new life. “Behold, I am making all things new!”
But love is never creative in a forceful way, so the satanic powers have not come to end yet. We still face those same temptations as Jesus. Let’s recognize them. The first temptation, that of taking an easy way out of suffering, is about what we just said: love is never creative in a forceful, magical way. It doesn’t take shortcuts. It doesn’t attend to just one’s own needs. Where can we see this temptation in our life? Isn’t it always a temptation, to turn in ourselves and only attend to our own needs, our own suffering? We all fall into this temptation. We lose sight and fall to the temptation that Jesus faced in his hometown to take care of just His own people. We forget the message of the prophet Isaiah to proclaim Good News to the poor, the sick, and the oppressed. In other words, to all peoples.
Where do we face that second temptation? This is probably the easiest and the hardest to see at the same time. If we worship God in Jesus Christ, if we become disciples of Jesus, then it should be easy to see the new things God is doing. But the devil is constantly showing us the alluring powers of this world, the powers of the nations, and so we are constantly giving in to the peace of the world and not eternal peace.
But that’s also ultimately the third temptation, the temptation to settle for something less by not seeing things through to the end. Once again, for love there are no shortcuts. The powers of this world lead to suffering and death. The way to God’s power of life is the way through suffering and death.
But there also is something different about this temptation from the way in which Jesus experienced it. For He went through it on the way to Easter. We face it only after Easter has already dawned the beginning of a new day. God’s raising of Jesus has already let loose the power of compassion and life in this world through the Holy Spirit. So for us, this third temptation is the temptation to not trust this power of God. As long as there is suffering and death still in the world, the way will still be through them. But we face them with God’s absolution already working within us, constantly inviting us to join in what the Holy Spirit is doing in this world, with or without us. We are extended that invitation every time we gather around Christ’s Word and Sacraments. So we pray once again Christ taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil the evil one, for Thine is the kingdom, and the glory, forever and ever.”
