This Is a Test
When you are about to buy a house, you hire a home inspector
to test the construction and major household systems. When people about to
become a doctor, a nurse, a lawyer, a priest, an electrician and so forth, you
are tested and certified or licensed to go to work.
As it turns out, if you are going to be God’s anointed (christos) and God’s Beloved Son, you need to be tested. The Holy Spirit received at his baptism leads Jesus into the wilderness, an area beyond any of the regional settlements; an area of few resources, some danger, and inhabited by wild animals. A character familiar throughout his sacred texts shows up: known only as “the sat-tan,” or satan. Who is nothing like what we think of as “the devil.” No horns, no tail, no red leotard. He is more like a building inspector who is not opposed to God, but is sent to see just what shape God’s creation is in. As we know all too well, things are frequently in rough to bad shape with troubles of multiple kinds: pandemics, inflation, a fragile and threatened ecosystem, mass shootings, thirst for power, and war. If the satan were to turn in a quarterly report at the end of this month, it would certainly bring tears to the eyes of God.
The satan knows that human beings appear to have two inclinations: one good and one bad. The good inclination is the ability to follow rules, behave ourselves and cooperate. The bad inclination is to make our own rules, push the envelope and compete. The first woman pushes the envelope and reaches for the stars believing the slithering serpent’s Big Lie: you can be like God! And the first man, like most men, will eat anything put in front of him without a second thought.
The Jewish understanding of this story has nothing to do with “a fall,” but rather to recognize we need to learn how to cooperate and compete with some sort of balance: we need to clean our rooms and reach for the stars, and no real human accomplishment from walking on the moon to running a successful business is possible without the productive tension between these two inclinations.[i] When these two inclinations are out of balance, however, our troubles begin. All humans need to keep this in mind. Jesus is no exception, being flesh and blood like the rest of us.
In the fourth chapter of Luke we find Jesus Christos the Son of God on a silent retreat: away from so-called civilization, fasting, a traditional spiritual practice in Israel, and sorting out for himself just what happened down by the River Jordan when God’s Spirit-Breath took hold of him. And of course, the announcement that he is God’s Beloved Son. Note: the first thing the satan puts in front of Jesus is food: you have not eaten for a long time, why not turn stones into bread! Jesus quotes Moses from his farewell sermon in Deuteronomy to say that we need more than bread to really live in this world (Deut 8:3). The next two tests are for absolute power over all the nations of the Earth, and putting the way God’s mercy and love to a test. To which Jesus replies, “Only the God of love has absolute power, and I will not put God to a foolish test like jumping off the roof of the Temple (Deut 6:13 and 6:16). We saw Jesus talking with Moses last Sunday, and yet long before that he quotes Moses chapter and verse! This suggests if nothing else, Lent is a good time to re-read Deuteronomy since on that basis, and that basis alone, Jesus passes the test – and the satan leaves until some future opportunity makes itself available. In Luke’s story that will be when he whispers in the ear of Judas Iscariot. It does not turn out well.
It's interesting to note that when that happens, Jesus turns to the other disciples and says, “You have stood with me even in my sorrow and testing. My Father has made me Chief of the Good Road of God’s love. As Chief, I give you the right to walk the Road of God’s love with me, and share my table.”[ii]
The wilderness story has little to do with Jesus defeating the satan on our behalf. A brief scan of the day’s news tells us the sat-tan is alive and well. What this episode suggests is that what we need most has little to do with accumulating life’s externals: food, power, and trying to be our own gods. Rather, when our time of testing comes, will we walk the road of God’s love with Jesus and share his table? The Franciscan nun and theologian, Ilia Delio, calls this The Primacy of Love. Do we truly love God, our neighbor, and our enemies?
She reminds us that the deepest reality of love cannot be found in those externals found outside of ourselves, because divine love dwells deep within us.[iii] It is there that we discover that we are God’s Beloved. It is there we experience the mercy, forgiveness, and steadfast love of God in Christ that makes it possible for us to love ourselves, love our neighbors, and even love our enemies. Because love, says Delio and a host of scientists and theologians, is the source and energy of the entire universe.
“Given the primacy of love, if we
have only one choice to make today, let us choose to love, let us seek love in
all aspects of our lives. If love really is the truth of our existence and the
truth of God, then may we not aim to meet the minimum requirements of love;
rather, let us love to the point of tears. Let us
breathe in the pain of the world and breathe out the goodness of love, letting
go in love, from the simplest act of gratitude, to caring for another, or
perhaps risking out lives for a stranger – or better yet – loving our enemy. For
every act of love is a personalization of God, and when God is born through our
lives, heaven unfolds on earth. All that we long for and anticipate becomes a
reality in this moment, in the here and now, in every particular act of love.”[iv]
This life is a test: a test of the Emergency Love Network which Jesus passes with his knowledge of God’s Word. He gives his disciples and us just one choice to make: Do we accept his commission to walk the road of God’s steadfast love self, of neighbor, and of enemy? For it is not what we believe, but what we say and what we do that will reflect the mercy, forgiveness and steadfast love of God. Only our actions on behalf of others will tell the world whether or not we pass the test.
Let us breathe in the pain of the world and breathe out the goodness of love, letting go in love, from the simplest act of gratitude, to caring for another, or perhaps risking out lives for a stranger – or better yet – loving our enemy. Amen.
[i]
Richard Swanson, Provoking the Gospel of Luke (The Pilgrim Press, Cleveland:
2006) p.116.
[ii]
First Nations Version: An indigenous translation of the New Testament
(Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL:2021) p 156.
[iii]
Ilia Delio, The Primacy of Love(Fortress Press, Minneapolis:2022) p 51.
[iv]
Ibid, Delio p 82.
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