{"id":8612,"date":"2022-02-28T17:04:49","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T21:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ecopreacher\/?p=8612"},"modified":"2022-03-03T13:29:34","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T17:29:34","slug":"resisting-malignant-power-what-temptation-of-jesus-teaches-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ecopreacher\/2022\/02\/resisting-malignant-power-what-temptation-of-jesus-teaches-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Resisting Malignant Power: What the Temptation of Jesus Teaches Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
The story of the Temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:1-15 equips us for resisting malignant power and tyranny.<\/em><\/p>\nPhoto by Nayani Teixeira https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/YZKurB7iEYo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
His hair still dripping with drops of the baptismal promise, Jesus makes his way to the wilderness of testing.\u00a0 Where his toes had wriggled in the cool waters of the Jordan just a short time ago, his feet now crunch the dry, pebbled ground.\u00a0 He is alone.\u00a0 He has left John the Baptist and the crowds behind to find out who he truly is.<\/p>\n
But Jesus is not really alone.<\/h2>\n
He feels a presence with him, like the little bird that fluttered around him as he emerged from the waters.\u00a0 And, of course, he knows who he is.\u00a0 That voice at the river was not just in his own head.\u00a0 Everyone heard it:\u00a0 \u201cYou are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what does that mean<\/em>, really?<\/h3>\n
Jesus needs to find out.\u00a0 So he follows the flitting little bird that leads him further and further from his home, deeper and deeper into the craggy landscape.\u00a0 Sleeping in caves in the heat of the day. Wandering and wondering in the cool mornings and evenings.\u00a0 Meditating and praying beneath the velvety, sparkling sky at night.<\/p>\n
He has practiced fasting many times before, so he is familiar with the pangs of hunger.\u00a0 Every time his stomach grumbles, he pauses to pray and recite the scripture verses he knows so well.<\/p>\n
The psalms are his companions.\u00a0 Torah is his faithful guide.<\/h3>\n
And always the little bird is just within sight, leading him to a stream when he is thirsty, into an outcrop of boulders when he needs protection. Until one morning he wakes up and the little bird is nowhere to be found.\u00a0 An eerie, silent stillness fills his chest.<\/p>\n
Suddenly the hunger pangs come upon him with ferocious need.\u00a0 How long has it been since he\u2019s eaten?\u00a0 A moon cycle? Longer?\u00a0 How long must he stay out here to prove to himself he is who he thinks he is, who the river voice told him to be?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you doing this to yourself?\u00a0 It would be so easy, so easy.\u00a0 If you are who you think you are, this is your moment!\u201d<\/p>\n
What is this voice?\u00a0 This is not the river voice.\u00a0 This is something else.<\/em><\/h3>\n
\u00a0<\/em>\u201cSeize your power.\u00a0 Just touch this stone and imagine it as a steaming loaf of yeasty, crusty on the outside, warm on the inside, bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
No!\u00a0 Just because I can does not mean that I should.\u00a0 This is not the way.\u00a0 Torah is the way.\u00a0 \u201cOne does not live by bread alone.\u201d\u00a0 But Jesus is so weak, he can\u2019t even finish the sentence:\u00a0 \u201cBut by every word that comes from the mouth of God\u201d (Deut. 8:3). He collapses in exhaustion.<\/p>\n
Jesus wakes up again.\u00a0 He feels an icy wind stinging his face and hands.\u00a0 Yet he does not shiver.\u00a0 Is this a dream?<\/p>\n
He rolls over onto his side and almost falls off the edge of a steep cliff.\u00a0 Scrambling back, his heart pounds in his chest.\u00a0 Where am I?<\/p>\n
He sits up and sees that he is atop some kind of mountain.\u00a0 Below him he can see the vast expanse of human civilization stretching out in every direction.<\/p>\n
He sees towns, cities, seaports, huge towers rising into the air. He watches tyrants rise into the air and smash fireballs into children\u2019s beds.\u00a0 His anger roils.\u00a0 He must do something to help!<\/h3>\n
\u201cYou can.\u00a0 If you are who you think you are, why waste your power?\u00a0 Why let them suffer?\u00a0 You can do so much good . . . together with me! We can rule everything you see. We can bring peace to this writhing, seething madness of humanity.\u00a0 Proskuneses.\u00a0 <\/em>Kneel before me.\u00a0 That river voice will bring you to your knees and you will suffer and die.\u00a0 But if you fall to your knees before me, I will give you life and strength and power. This is the way.\u00a0 Look around you.\u00a0 Your father doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing.\u00a0 Or he doesn\u2019t care.\u00a0 We know what\u2019s best.\u00a0 We can take control, you and me. Proskuneses.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n
No!\u00a0 Just because I can does not mean that I should.\u00a0 This is not the way.\u00a0 Torah is the way.\u00a0 It is written, \u201cWorship the Lord your God, and serve God only.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suddenly his head spins with vertigo and bright sun blinds his eyes.\u00a0 Where is he?\u00a0 His hands grip carved stone.\u00a0 His body sways with a wave of nausea as he realizes where he is.<\/p>\n
This is Jerusalem.\u00a0 There is the city gate.\u00a0 At the far edge is Gehenna, the trash dump.<\/h3>\n
How did he get up here to the top of the temple? Did he climb?\u00a0 Did he fly?\u00a0 How is this possible?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything is possible for you, because you are the Son of God.\u00a0 Show them.\u00a0 Show them all who you are.\u00a0 This is your moment. Listen to Torah!\u00a0 You love God\u2019s word!\u00a0 Torah teaches us, \u2018God will command his angels concerning you to protect you.\u2019 It is written: \u2018On their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone\u2026\u2019 Let them see your power.\u00a0 If your father loves you so much, he will not let you die.\u00a0 If you are so special, so beloved, that little bird will come swooping out of the sky and give you wings.\u201d<\/p>\n
No!\u00a0 Just because I can does not mean that I should.\u00a0 This is not the way.\u00a0 Torah is the way. \u201cDo not put the Lord your God to the test!\u201d<\/p>\n
And the next verses sprout like green shoots in his mind, its roots reaching down into the gaping hole of his hunger and his anger and his weakness. \u201cYou are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes God has given you. Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD . . .\u201d (Deut. 6:17-18).<\/p>\nPhoto by Aaron Burden on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Torah blossoms from his heart and mind like flowers in the wilderness.\u00a0 This is the way!\u00a0 Torah is the way!<\/h3>\n
Jesus opens his eyes.\u00a0 The little bird chirps in the branches of the bush above him, flitting amongst flowers blooming right here in the wilderness. \u00a0\u00a0The hunger pangs are stronger than ever.\u00a0 And his hands are red and raw, as if he has been climbing rocks in a blizzard.\u00a0 But he knows what he must do.\u00a0 He knows where he must go.\u00a0 The little bird leads the way, all the way back to Galilee.<\/p>\n
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My siblings in Christ, the story known as the Temptation of Jesus isn\u2019t a morality tale meant to bolster our resolve when we\u2019re lured by sweet treats and bright, shiny new things.<\/p>\n
This is about the forces that are at work in the world right now battling for our allegiance.<\/h3>\n
We are witnessing raw, cruel power that has aligned itself with evil while having convinced itself that it is actually a force for good.\u00a0 This power believes it knows what is best and will destroy anything or anyone who gets in its path of domination.\u00a0 And this power will use the church, will use the Bible, to justify its domination of countries, of women, of people with black and brown skin, of Jews, of people whose gender and sexuality defy patriarchal norms.\u00a0 This power would destroy even the Earth itself.<\/p>\n
These forces are using the Bible as a crowbar to pry us away from God and from each other.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an exaggeration to say that the fate of the church, and even the fate of the world, hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n
Of course, this is not the first time God\u2019s people have been caught between cataclysmic clashes.<\/h3>\n
The ones who originally heard this story, especially the people in Luke\u2019s church, knew what it was like to see empires try to bring down the nations that resisted their iron fist.\u00a0 The cult of Caesar, like every dictator before and every dictator after, thinks itself to be God.\u00a0 Or at least so closely aligned with the gods, that they are completely subsumed by their own sense of self-importance.<\/p>\n
We have been governed by this kind of malignant power in our own country.\u00a0 We are watching a version of this malignant power invade a peaceful country. This malignant power that has designs to expand its reach even further.<\/p>\n
And, yes, this malignant power finds its way into the Christian church.<\/h2>\n
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