The Biblical stories of Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden, and Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan, are stories about our
destiny as human beings. What is
the direction of our lives? Where
are we headed? What is God calling
us to be and do? The Biblical scholar
Walter Brueggemann said our destiny is "to live in God's world...on God's
terms." To put it another
way, our failure to live on God's terms results in alienation from God. That was the result of eating from the
"tree of the knowledge of good and evil." The same outcome would have resulted had Jesus yielded to
Satan’s temptations and failed to worship and serve only God.
Matthew's account is a description of what Jesus
encountered as he confronted the power of evil in the world. “After Jesus was baptized, he was led
up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Adam and
Eve's temptation by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and Israel's experience
of being tested in the wilderness, form the background of this story. Where Adam and Eve gave in to the
serpent, and where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded and drove Satan away.
Jesus was tempoted three times. His first test was about turning stones
into bread, and it dealt with his role as Messiah. The devil suggested a political or social dimension for the
role of messiah, allowing Jesus to feed the hungry. But Jesus quoted the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy:
"One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of the Lord." He
pointed to the fundamental nourishment and direction provided by God's word. Jesus relied on God's will and sought
to be faithful to God and to God's authority.
In the second temptation the devil took Jesus to the
holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple. He was tested again, with the devil
quoting scripture for his own purposes.
This time it was Psalm 91: "He will command his angels concerning
you, and on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your
foot against a stone." Jesus
was urged to force God's hand by throwing himself down, trusting that God would
protect him. Think of it this way:
Jesus was not to be transformed into Superman or Batman. He refused the temptation and again
quoted Deuteronomy, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the
test."
For the third temptation, Jesus was taken to a very
high mountain, the place of revelation and teaching in Matthew's gospel. Here, the devil tempted Jesus by
offering him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” if he would
worship him. This temptation is
reminiscent of Israel's sin of idolatry.
Jesus' role as God's Son would be negated if he succumbed to this
temptation. He forcefully
declared, again quoting Deuteronomy, "You shall worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him."
In these temptation stories Jesus repeatedly refused
to manipulate God or to rely on anyone other than God. Feeding the hungry was a primary
responsibility for Jesus and his followers, but not by miraculously turning
stones into bread. Jumping from
the top of the temple would have been a spectacular act, but it would only
result in a cult following and would not have glorified God. Turning to the easy way of idolatry
might have resulted in personal power and prestige, but it would not have
resulted in faithful service and honor to God.
The story about Jesus’ temptation is instructive. Jesus showed us that God is the God of
history, a history that is a dynamic and ongoing process. God is known in and through
relationships, our relationships with one another and with all the natural
wonders of the world and the universe beyond. God transcends all that happens, and God rejoices and
suffers with all who are rejoicing or suffering. The work of Jesus’ disciples is to be faithful, to provide service
to those in need, and to worship God.
Our Bishop, Nicholas Knisely, has written a book of
meditations for Lent. It is
titled, “Lent Is Not Rocket Science: An Exploration of God, Creation, and the
Cosmos.” In it he invites us to
see Natural Theology “as a channel of revelation about the nature of God that
is not absolute in itself, but is an equal partner in conversation with Holy
Scriptures and the traditions of the church. Paying attention to the world around us – to the intricate
structures of nature, to the mind-bending reality of the cosmic and microscopic
realms – will invite us to recognize that the God we worship, and with whom we
have n ongoing relationship, is present in the raging storm, the fiery whirlwind
of the surface of a star, and the deep silence of intergalactic space.”
Reading Bishop Knisely’s meditations reminded me of a
letter I signed in 2008 about Evolution and Holy Scripture. The theme was titled Evolution Week and
11,000 clergy were signers. Here is an excerpt from the leetter: “Within the
community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement,
including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and
hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming
majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science
textbook. Many of the beloved
stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark,
[Jesus’ temptations] – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the
proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form
capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order
from scientific truth. Its purpose
is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.
“We … believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the
discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist…. The theory of evolution is a
foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and
upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests…. We believe that
among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the
failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our
Creator. To argue that God’s
loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the
God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God,… Science [should]
remain science and…religion remain religion, two very different, but
complementary, forms of truth.”
Bishop Knisely strikes a similar theme. He writes, “Science is built on a
ladder of deductions and observations.
Religion, particularly in the case of Christianity, is built on
revelation and experience.” In
relating this to the temptation stories of Adam and Eve in the Garden and Jesus
in the wilderness, it is clear that the real test is for us to be focused on
God. As
Christians we should understand that what we know through science is part of
God’s creation. To be fully human,
to live a life of faithful service, to honor God and use our knowledge
responsibly by understanding science and religion as complementary forms of
truth -- these are the challenges we face. May this season of Lent be a time for us to worship the Lord
our God, and to serve God in all we do.
Amen.
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