A human condition
Today’s scripture passage from Mark has Jesus making his first appearance in that gospel. It’s not preceded by any other stories of his life. Mark chooses to begin here, with Jesus coming from Nazareth to be baptized by John.
It’s not reminiscent of an infant baptism you might have seen take place at a church’s baptismal font, however. The water is not sprinkled on his head with parents cooing nearby. No, Jesus was submerged in the water, and when he surfaced he “saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” A voice from above proclaims, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Early readers of Mark would have been all too familiar with the context in which this story took place. Biblical scholar Raj Nadella describes it thus: “It was no ordinary time. There was rampant economic and political oppression. Herod Antipas was about to execute John the Baptist for challenging those oppressive structures. Jesus was baptized into this context, into a movement of national repentance initiated by John. When Jesus saw the heavens torn apart, he also saw the existing world order rip open — and the possibility of a new one.” (Nadella, 47)
Some might ask why Jesus needed to be baptized, given his divine nature. It may have been a nod to tradition, or a way to identify with fellow Jews. It may have signified a “surrender to God’s will, his divine commissioning by God, his rejection of the dominant culture, and/or his identification with sinners.” (Lettsome, loc. 40289) Mark doesn’t tell us exactly why, but the occasion was important enough that the authors of Matthew and Luke also chose to include the story in their respective gospels. Jesus is named as the Son of God from the start, and the manner in which that occurs suggests that world-changing events are about to take place.
I could speak more about the baptism of Jesus, but due to a recent conversation I want to move to the next part of the story. A fellow Intertwined Sojourner asked me about the time Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. I mentioned it in passing in a reflection a few weeks back, and as luck would have it, that story follows the baptism of Jesus in this week’s scripture passage.
In fact, Matthew and Luke again join Mark in moving directly from the baptism story to the temptation in the wilderness. The same Spirit who descended on Jesus like a dove then drove him to face Satan.
Mark provides few details of the encounter. Matthew and Luke add several, so I’ll attempt a compilation of all three renditions with the understanding that each writer had a reason for including only those details they did.
Jesus is driven into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan. He fasted for forty days and nights, and was with the wild beasts.
Satan tempts Jesus to turn stones to bread, to elicit the aid of angels, and to accept authority over all the world’s kingdoms. Each time, Jesus denies him with a line from the Hebrew book of Deuteronomy: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”
After the temptations concluded, angels came and waited on Jesus.
Not all of the temptations Jesus faced resonate with me. I remember hearing these scripture passages as a child and understanding why Jesus would be tempted by hunger after fasting for forty days, but the others weren’t as relatable. Temptation is something we all face at one time or another, though, so that which tempts us might not be as important in light of today’s passage as the experience of being tempted.
Last week as I was preparing this reflection, we had a convergence of the Lunar New Year, Fat Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, and Ash Wednesday. In our house, that resulted in there being a variety of sweets within a few steps of my work area, from a Chinese New Year wafer collection to some Dunkin’ Donuts Munchkins purchased on Fat Tuesday to Valentine’s Day candy and cookies. Needless to say, I was surrounded by temptation, and it was often difficult to concentrate on research and writing when taking a break also offered the opportunity to enjoy a Reese’s peanut butter heart.
I could spend a lot of time writing about food-related temptations since it’s something we all share to some degree, and the consequences of which can range from simply needing to spend more time on the treadmill to serious medical conditions requiring hospitalization. That topic perhaps deserves its own reflection, though, so I’ll move on to others.
What do you think of when you hear the word “temptation?” Do you think of something that tempts you, or something more generalized? The more I thought about it, the more things came to mind for me: Temptation to veg out and binge watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith rather than doing work. Temptation to roll through a stop sign. Temptation to cheat on your taxes. Temptation to succumb to anger, perhaps to the point of violence. Temptation to brag. Temptation to fall off the wagon. Temptation to take more than your share. Temptation to cheat.
There’s a lot of variation in those, in form and in consequence. And some might find more fault with some than with others. For instance, you’ll find people who are quick to condemn those with alcoholism or other substance abuse conditions, but who are perfectly willing to accept bribes. Or people who are hyper focused on what they perceive as sins related to sexuality, but who live a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption.
This leads me to return to the temptations Jesus faced and how maybe they aren’t that different from the temptations we face. Turning stones to bread might have meant Jesus consumed more than he intended and didn’t trust God to provide. Putting God to the test might have allowed Jesus to demonstrate his power and flex his ego. Putting his needs ahead of his service to others might have meant he had strayed from his mission.
So often the temptations we face call us to exchange long-term gain for short-term, or greater good for our own benefit. Thus we are all engaged in similar struggles which are part of the human condition. With that in mind, perhaps we should overcome the tendency we might have to frown on those who fall to temptation, and respond with sympathy instead.
It’s perhaps easier to offer sympathy to Jesus in the wilderness, whether because one must become very hungry after fasting for 40 days, or because we know he’s ultimately facing these temptations for our benefit. But that doesn’t tell us why he had to engage in this showdown with Satan.
Biblical scholar Raquel Lettsome provides some insight, writing that “Jesus is cast out from human company, much like the demons he will cast out in his ministry. Both his location and length of stay are important to note. They allude to the children of Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness for forty years. Jesus is also in a place of testing, suggesting that his departure from this place will be the fulfillment of another divine promise.” (Lettsome, loc. 40289)
Biblical scholar Osvaldo Veda elaborates:
“Like Israel in the Sinai desert, Jesus has to undergo a spiritual preparation for his ministry. He has to get ready for the work ahead, which he will share with his disciples in the same way that John the Baptist shared it with him. But before he can even get started, after having decided to follow John into the Jordan and having received God’s word of approval, Jesus has to face the reality of the dangerous path that awaits him. His will be a task of gigantic proportions. Announcing God’s kingdom will set him up against human foes and cosmic forces. Satan himself shows up in the wilderness in his traditional role as a tempter, and even though Mark does not tell us, as Matthew and Luke do, about the nature of the temptation, it is safe to assume that Satan is trying to make Jesus abandon his call to be a disciple of the kingdom. Perhaps Satan is trying to convince Jesus that he needs to embrace a triumphal Messiah sort of vocation, but one in which Jesus would first have to pay homage to the tempter. . . . With this experience, Jesus begins to learn something about the nature of his vocation, namely, that it will entail provoking the very forces of evil.” (Vena, 78–79)
That provides some answers as to why Jesus went through this time of temptation, as well as some of the symbols that are represented in the story. Another detail is that the wild beasts were there. This is easy to overlook, but likely serves as a symbol itself; just as the forty days is a reference to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, Jesus peacefully co-existing with the animals there recalls the Garden of Eden or some future paradise. (Carter, 108)
By overcoming every temptation he faced, Jesus also overcame the forces of sin. His victory over Satan in the wilderness represented a reversal of the gains sin had made dating back to the earliest stories of our spiritual ancestors. He was now ready to begin his public ministry. Not only that, but by experiencing temptation as he did, he became aware of that human experience. He is able to relate to our experiences of temptation, and to accompany us when we seek to overcome them.
In writing about the tearing open of the heavens at the baptism of Jesus, Nadella says we are offered “the promise of a grand divine intervention and . . . arrival of a new world that would be completely different in character from Rome.” (Nadella, 47) For us, the new world remains on the horizon, but the forces delaying its realization are perhaps not as easy to pinpoint as they were during the Roman occupation. The sources of temptation for us individually and collectively can be more diverse and complex than they were in biblical times. But the consequences might look the same: We stray from a path that is in the best interest of ourselves and our neighbors. We do harm to another, or we don’t become involved when harm is occurring. We allow ourselves to be drawn into societal patterns that cause local or widespread damage.
Falling to temptation is part of the human condition. As theologian Douglas Ottati writes, we
“are caught up in the grip of a tendency from which we cannot extricate ourselves, a disorientation that brings with it a train of bad consequences. . . . The world at large suffers destructive consequences of the human fault. If the world is a good creation, a gift and structured matrix of further gifts, it is also a place of corrupted persons, commitments, communities, and institutions, a place of skewed cultures and damaged ecosystems, a place of oppression, injustice, holocausts, and hates.” (Ottati, 77–78)
Opportunities for disorientation abound. It can be tempting to buy into the scarcity mentality, accumulating more than we need for fear there won’t be enough rather than trusting God to provide. It can be tempting to promote ourselves, letting pride drive our perspective instead of being grateful for the support we’ve received along the way. It can be tempting to accommodate our own desires first, ignoring the needs of those around us.
In the face of negative news cycles, exaggerated divisions, and the threats being realized due to climate change, it can be especially tempting to simply check out. That’s not a luxury available to everyone — particularly those suffering the effects of injustice and unchecked capitalism — but for those of us who aren’t as affected, it’s easier to look the other way and mind our own business.
Following Jesus can prove challenging, but at the same time, the model he provides does not suggest a life of complete self-denial. Jesus enjoyed spending time with his friends, eating and drinking and sharing stories. In fact, the company he kept and his embrace of life led to accusations that he himself was overindulging. So being a Jesus-follower doesn’t equate to a life of squalor and unhappiness.
My friends, the season of Lent, which began last week on Ash Wednesday and concludes with the celebration of Easter, offers an opportunity to reflect, re-center, and re-orient. I hope during this time you are able to adopt a practice that proves life-giving, or to decrease a practice that is not.
We may not be able to aspire to such a lofty example as fasting for 40 days or overcoming every temptation we face, but that’s not what Jesus’ time in the wilderness was about. What we learn from this story is that when we face temptation, Jesus has been there. He can relate to what we’re facing, and does not condemn us when we fall short. He’s alongside us in our struggles, and his example moves us to share in the struggles of others.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Works Referenced
Carter, Warren. Mark (Wisdom Commentary Series Book 42). Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2019. Kindle Edition.
Felicetti, Elizabeth. “In the Lectionary.” Christian Century Vol. 141, №2 (February 2024): 28.
Lettsome, Raquel S. “Mark.” In Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, edited by Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, Jr., Matthew J. M. Coomber. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. Kindle edition.
Nadella, Raj. “Living the Word: Good News for Whom?.” Sojourners Vol. 53, №2 (Feb/Mar 2024): 47.
Ottati, Douglas F. A Theology for the Twenty-First Century. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020.
Perkins, Pheme. “Mark.” In New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VII. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Wills, Lawrence M., annotator. “The Gospel According to Mark.” In The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Second Edition, edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Mark Zvi Brettler. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Kindle Edition.
Vena, Osvaldo D. “The Marian Construction of Jesus as Disciple of the Kingdom.” In Mark (Texts @ Contexts), edited by Nicole Wilkinson Duran, Teresa Okure, and Daniel Patte. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Fortress Press, 2011.
