4 - A Time of Testing

What we used to call Jesus’ temptation is now described as testing. That is certainly the more accurate translation of the Greek word. It also more accurately defines his experience immediately after his baptism. This is further confirmed by the repeated use of the conditional form Luke gave to Satan's challenges to Jesus: “If you are the Son of God .... If you will worship me ....” Luke thus created the impression that we are hearing the inner spiritual struggles of Jesus as he meditated
on how to proceed with the mission for which his birth and baptism had prepared him.

Another significant aspect of this experience was the role of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the forty days in the wilderness, Jesus was surrounded and supported by God’s active power. Matthew and Mark represented this power by the presence of angels, generally regarded in biblical language as spiritual agents.

The time spent in the wilderness was not as important as we might think. It was a symbolic number merely recalling OT references to similar experiences of Moses (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 9:9) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:4-8).

Nor can the scripture quotations Luke put into the mouth of Jesus be ignored. The three tests were all symbolic and had biblical precedents. Moses had provided food for the Israelites in the wilderness. Where famine was frequent, turning stones into bread would have been extremely popular. It would not be wrong, but neither would it be adequate as Moses had said to the Israelites (Deut. 8:3).

The second test was equally seductive at that time when Roman power brutally subjugated the Jewish people. But to accept the promise of absolute power would have been a denial of God’s sovereignty and an obstacle for the reign of God’s justice and love promised throughout Isaiah 40-66. By deciding to worship and serve God alone, Jesus accepted that goal as primary and vastly better than any other possible means. The implication is that those who seek security by violent means will ultimately fail. Divine mercy, justice and love are the only means God uses to bring about God’s reign on earth.

The biblical precedent for the third test lay in Psalm 91:8-9 where the righteous are promised God’s special protection. To jump from the pinnacle of the temple would have won Jesus instant fame and credibility, but would also contradict his real message. Like the other tests, this one would not have been inherently evil, and in each case some good would have come from what was proposed. More important than what any religious leader might do was whether or not it would enhance the relationship of all the people with God.

Surprisingly, each of the tests also involved activities that were expected of Israel’s promised Messiah. They all had social and political as well as religious manifestations that lay within the Jewish belief system. Luke presented them as being very much like the Israelites’ misunderstanding of God’s purposes for them and their failure to trust God during their time in the wilderness.

Note especially that Luke did not provide an alternative means for Jesus to proceed. All we have is the ominous note that Satan left Jesus “until an opportune time.” As we shall see the testing of Jesus was to go on throughout his ministry.

The testing of Jesus’ mission in and to the world is still going on.