For Sunday
Lent 1C
Collect
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where Satan tempts him with three specific opportunities to express divine power. The first, over his environment, so that he might create something for himself to eat. The second, to control the people of the world, so that he might have social, political, national power. The third, to take control of God themselves in an act of selfish pride, instigating heavenly protection.
That Jesus doesn’t bite at these tests is important. But just as important is for us to reckon with what these things all represent. These aren’t just tests of Jesus’s mettle. It isn’t nothing or a time to see Jesus’s inhuman capacity or his extraordinary grace, etc. These are three examples of the same temptation: Control. Power. And the will to dominate: the environment, other people, and God.
These aren’t temptations for Jesus because they aren’t his desires. He doesn’t want to take the easy way. The easy way isn’t the work or the point. Because the Missio Dei is a group project we all have to participate in willingly. The whole point is that it is good. We are seeing the ultimate example of the ends never justifying the means — because the means are the ends.