The Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is about power. There is no getting around it. And avoiding that idea is unconscionable.
Of course, there are a few different ways to explore this moment.
The various sources of power:
- God
- The Tempter
- Jesus
- People
There’s also the question of how to deal with the concept of power itself. Is it inherently bad? Is it bad in use? What then, of nature and the basic contours of power?
There are few stories that make avoiding the metaphysical and the big questions of faith harder than this one. At the same time, the impulse for some may be to explore the proverbial scenery. I say resist that temptation.
We may also need to resist the temptation to make this a feel-good story about Jesus’s sacrifice or about how stupendous he is. As much as Jesus refuse to take shortcuts to power, we must avoid the shortcuts to simplistic faith.
In the end, we’re wrestling with temptations to control people, the world, and God in this story. We need to wrestle with the fact that virtually all of us try to do this ever day of our lives.