Every year on the first Sunday of Lent we hear a version of this story, and this year’s version has at least five characters. There’s Jesus, of course, we know him. There’s the Spirit – Pneuma – who compels Jesus into the desert. Then there’s ho diabolo, which our English bible translates as ‘the devil’ and whom Jesus addresses as Satana which our English bible unhelpfully translates as ‘Satan’ as though it is a proper name. Then there’s a couple of angels who appear right at the end to serve Jesus.
The story appears in the three synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – but does not appear in John’s gospel. The earliest version of the story is in Mark, and it is very brief - so brief I’m going to read it to you:
And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. (Mark 1:12-13)
Luke’s account of the story is substantially the same as Matthew’s, with some notable differences. In Matthew the temptations go:
Stones into bread
Chuck yourself off the temple
Bow down and worship me.
But in Luke the temptations go:
Stones into bread
Bow down and worship me
Chuck yourself off the temple.
And in Luke, there are no angels at the end and Jesus doesn’t address diabolos as Satana (the enemy). Instead diabolos departs until an ‘opportune time’ (which is all very ominous and foreshadowy if you ask me)
It’s a fun, nerdy activity to watch the story evolve from Mark’s very basic version, to the denser version in Matthew, and the revised version in Luke. But it’s important to recognise that the literary account evolves over time, because the story is more like a parable than anything else. It’s pointless trying to surmise, but one can imagine that the historical Jesus had some time in the desert, and one can imagine either Jesus or the early church teaching these pithy responses to various temptations, and then the gospel writers some decades later drawing on the oral sources (and probably a written source that we’ve lost) to create a parable which is as powerful today as it was back then.
If we accept that this story is parable-ey (parabolic?), then we begin to understand why it has been overlaid with so many interpretations over time. You’ve probably heard different interpretations of this story, just as you have for the parables which are written as though Jesus told them (you know, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan and all those). So I’m going to have a tilt at an interpretation today, recognising that the story itself is bigger than any one interpretation, and strong enough to withstand even the most stupid exposition.
I really want to consider the characters in this story, starting at the end. There’s at least two angels who come and serve Jesus once he’s been tested. I say ‘angels’ but this is another of those English words that’s borrowed from Greek, as if we all just know what angels are. The Greek angellos means something like ‘messenger’, or ‘envoy’ and when we meet angellos in the scriptures they are generally in attendance around the throne of God, or doing God’s work. Now, I have to say my primary source of knowledge about angels came from that trashy TV show ‘Touched By An Angel’ where there were hardworking figures interfering in the lives of humans. That is, until I read Milton’s epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ in Year 12 English. (When I say ‘read’, I mean I read the Cliff notes, it’s actually very boring and I had places to be). But, (and I almost can’t believe I’m saying this) the characterisation of angels in Touched By An Angel was pretty close to the view we see in the scriptures. These angels are distinct characters, with agency and decision-making capacity, who are despatched by God to do holy work. The perceived barrier between the natural world and the supernatural world was very thin, and angels could flit back and forth all the time. Likewise, though we might today have a frightfully sophisticated understanding of the Holy Spirit, in the first century there was a sense that God’s spirit was how God’s self invaded the natural world to get things done, to influence or drive behaviours and events. So we see in this story an exposition of the tenuous curtain between the natural world we inhabit, and God’s supernatural realm.
Then, of course, there’s this other character diabolo which literally means The Accuser, or the One Who Slanders. We might call this character the Smack Talker – everything said by diabolo is to run things down, to destroy, to attack. Diabolo is nasty. But the thing about diabolo is that in the first century, it was understood to be an angel who had gone bad, and who had invaded the natural world and seized control. Smack Talker was in charge of things, which is how this nasty character can find Jesus, take him to the top of the temple, take him to a mountain, and offer him authority over the world – because Smack Talker, diabolo, is the boss of the world.
Now, we know from the parable that Jesus resists all three tests. He won’t misuse power, he won’t test God, he won’t betray God. Because - and I don’t mean this to sound simplistic but I think it really is this simple – Jesus is good. Diabolo is bad. Diabolo usually wins. But on this occasion Jesus beats him. I think the intent of the story is that simple. The bad guy usually wins but on this occasion the good guy wins. [SPOILER ALERT] this will happen again at the end of the gospel, but on a cosmic, eternal scale.
This story of the testing in the wilderness is, in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the opening act (as it were) after the overture. So we have the birth narratives, then John the Baptist, then this showdown of Smack Talker and the Hungry Peasant. The two great forces are arrayed against one another. In one corner is diabolo with all the kings and kingdoms of the world, all the wealth, all the corrupted people, Justin Bieber, overripe avocados, everything that is bad and wrong in the world. In the other corner is a hot, tired, thirsty peasant who lives in an occupied territory in enforced poverty. And the winner (again, I don’t want to ruin the ending, but...) the winner is Jesus.
Now, if you’re anything like me, you look at the way that the world is dominated by lust for power, acts of base treachery, and constant destructive rivalry and you just want to give up and go and live in cave. Like, hopefully a nice cave with wifi, but a cave nonetheless. But when we are called to follow Christ, it means we don’t get the cave option. We don’t get to put our face in our hands and play video games or do needlework or whatever until the pain subsides. We are the Body of Christ, and we have been deployed against evil and darkness and hatred and despair. And the reason this parable is gifted to us at the start of the gospel texts and the start of Lent is just to say psssst, your side wins. I know it seems hopeless, but the bad guy actually loses. You will have to suffer and sacrifice and let go of things you think are important, and you will have to deal with your own shadow with God’s help, but you won’t have to worry, not really, not ultimately, because goodness and light and compassion and truth actually win. It’s already decided, it’s just that we haven’t got there yet.
It’s hard, right? Living as though the battle is won while looking around at the carnage that surrounds you? I’m constantly sucked down into a vortex of hopelessness and despair. Please don’t be fooled by the ceaseless jovial positivity I spread about the place. I don’t trust God, I want to, but I don’t. But fortunately, the victory over evil and death doesn’t depend on me trusting, it doesn’t depend on me achieving, it doesn’t depend on us being good enough. We just give ourselves over, each day, as best we can to the struggle. And God works it out, because God doesn’t just love us, God loves this whole sorry mess and will never abandon us.
The confusing, frustrating paradox is that we have chosen the winning side, which makes us look and feel like losers while the allies of greed and destruction play merry hell. But even though the story is incomplete, we know how it ends, and we know that even our worst enemies will be made whole in the new creation. And that, I hope, gives us hope.
The Lord Be With You