Jesus Was Tempted As We Are Tempted: What does that mean?

The well known story about the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness after his baptism is heard in many churches on the first Sunday in Lent.

In it, Jesus was tempted by Satan to turn rocks into bread, assume the kingship of the earth, and boldly declare his divinity in human form.

I don’t think that’s the way it happened.  Jesus’ humanity is without doubt, and there had to be a time when he had to wrestle with the realization that he was, in fact, the long awaited messiah, and that his relationship with God was far more than that of a devoted prophet.  The temptations he faced were not from Satan but from himself.  If he really was the Son of God then why not pull out all the stops and use his power to restore righteousness to humanity, displace corrupt human kings and queens with his own rule of divine justice, and publicly declare his divinity in human form, showing similar claims by pharaohs and emperors to be the frauds they always were.

However long he was in the wilderness wrestling with these and other thoughts, his obedience to the God of which he was a member prevailed against normal human temptations.

In His failure to act as any normal human messiah would is what made it so hard for the rank and file to believe in him, no matter what he said or did.  It’s still a problem, and many end-of-time evangelicals are convinced he will return soon to get it right this time.  Their conversations are peppered with citations from the books of Revelation and Daniel as proof texts.  They could be onto something.  Who knows?  In the meantime the rest of us are called to follow where Jesus has led, doing what we can to make this world a better place.  What new and better life lies ahead on the other side of the grave is unknown, but we trust with absolute conviction in God’s promise of it.

There is yet more to consider about the temptations Jesus faced, and it has to do with the temptations we face.  The writer of the book of Hebrews observed that Jesus was tempted just as we are, which is why we can come to him “just as we are without one plea.”

It is easy for us to hoard resources for our exclusive use while many others are hungry, even starving, for the same.  Miserly hoarders can give some of their stuff to the hungry, and feel good about their philanthropy, but it’s better not to hoard at all so that others can work to get what they need from the abundance of the earth.

Most of us desire to maintain as much sovereignty over our own lives as we are able defend.  Especially true of American way rugged individualism, which isn’t all bad, it becomes bad when we move to extend our powers of sovereignty over others by denying them the same freedoms and privileges we grant ourselves.   Racism and nationalism are the hot topics of the day, but there’s more.  Desire for and position of power over others is abused when it demeans, oppresses, and does injury to others.

Especially for religious folk harboring confidence, complacency and self righteousness about their own essential goodness is akin to taking a dive onto the the rocks thinking nothing will happen. It’s a curious thing because it exists side by side with anxieties and uncertainties about who we are, what our status is, and what the future will hold.  Nevertheless, there it is.  Jesus would have us give up self righteous hubris.  We’re not very good at it anyway and a more honest self identify as a sinner of his own redeeming and sheep of his own pasture is much healthier.  It’s a form of humility that becomes the strongest kind of self confidence.

And so it is that Jesus faced temptations very much like our own, but with greater intensity and danger.  Since he already knows from personal experience what we go through, why not trust him to lovingly understand?