Jesus in the Desert: a parable

Hint: it's about power

    Prompted by the chaos in the US at the present, 
    and by a need to speak from what I know, 
    this series is an examination of the Gospel of Luke 
    and its message of liberation and inclusion.  
    To see the introduction to the series, click here. 

So far we have examined the first three chapters of the Gospel of Luke. You can use the back arrow at the bottom of the page to read those posts. Chapter Four tells the story of Jesus being ‘tempted’ by the devil in the wilderness, how he responded, and what he did next. It also brings us to a new form of storytelling - new to this series, if not to the world of storytelling at large - parable. (You’ll find Chapter 4 here.)

The Temptation in the Wilderness, Briton Riviere

The term parable is a combination of two Greek words - para (close to) and bollein (to toss). In literary terms it means to toss two ideas together, to line up two story elements in such a way that they point the reader to a new insight. We’re told that Jesus spoke in parables - he told stories about mustard seeds and Samaritans, and he wasn’t actually talking about farming, or providing first aid to strangers. He wanted to provoke listeners into thinking in new ways - about how God works in the world, and about who we should care about.

It has also been observed that Jesus the teller of parables became Jesus the ‘parabled,’ the one about whom parabolic stories were told, and the story of Jesus in the desert is one such story.

Text and context: New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan’s two major works, The Historical Jesus and The Birth of Christianity, do a stellar job of placing biblical texts in their historical context, and in particular in their sociological context. Using what is known about life under Roman occupation, cross-referenced with sources on oral tradition, Jewish practice, and oppressed groups, Crossan identifies some of the background dynamics at play in the various gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. (For a briefer look at the same themes, you might want to read Crossan’s book, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography.)

In brief, Crossan identifies issues of poverty, power, and exploitation, as crucial to the Jewish community of the first century, the community to whom Jesus brought his message of liberation, inclusion, and abundance. Against the backdrop of Roman imperial occupation and subjugation, the gospels depict Jesus showing his people the way out of bondage - a story that his been central to the Jewish people since their beginning.

Reading back and forth: Reading back, in the first three chapters of Luke’s gospel we have heard Jesus acclaimed as the Son of God, the Messiah, and ultimately called ‘my Son whom I love’ by the ‘voice from heaven’ in chapter 3. The announcements have been made; it is time for the action to begin.

Reading forward, after the encounter in the desert, we find Jesus performing three significant acts. He proclaims his mission to set the oppressed free, he commands a demon to depart from a possessed man in the synagogue, and he heals those in bondage to disease. These demonstrations of power are compelling insofar as they show him doing what ordinary folk can’t do. But they are not the way Rome uses power, nor are they the kind of power that will liberate his people from Roman occupation.

So what happened in the desert?: After Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, Luke shows him going out beyond the Jordan Valley, already at the fringes of the region, into ‘the wilderness,’ a space which is uninhabited, barren, deserted. He is alone, but for the Adversary, the ‘devil’ or ‘tester.’ It is one thing to be proclaimed the beloved Son of God; now he will learn what that means.

Here is how Luke understands who the Son of God is, and what he is to do:

1. The Adversary invites him to become self-sufficient, using his power to create his own source of food. (‘Make bread out of these stones.’) Using power this way, poverty will never be a problem. But Jesus refuses to use power in that way - it’s not about what he wants, it’s about what God is asking of him and what God wants him to do.

2. He is invited to declare loyalty to the Adversary by worshipping him (literally, kissing his feet) in exchange for power and authority over ‘all the kingdoms of the world.’ Jesus refuses this use of power as well. His loyalty is to God alone, the Creator and Judge of those nations; he has no need of the kind of authority the Adversary claims to give.

3. Finally, the Adversary invites him to demonstrate his position of favor with God by throwing himself off the pinnacle of the Temple. The Adversary claims the angels will catch him, quoting Psalm 91. Jesus refuses this use of power as well, knowing that God’s favor is not to be exploited so lightly.

So what?: There are several possible take-aways from this series of incidents. Here are a few:

First, the encounter with the Adversary was not witnessed by anyone, and it is difficult to imagine Jesus returning to his community and saying, ‘Guess who I saw out in the wilderness!’ It is a parable, a story that shows us who Jesus was. The ‘tossed together’ elements are the Son of God and the various forms of power offered to him. The choice of temptations speaks to the social reality of Jesus’ time and place, to the politics of occupation and oppression under Roman rule. If we were to update this encounter, the Adversary might tempt him with wealth, social media influence, or a corner office in some large corporation. The point is that power and privilege require a moral compass, a commitment to doing the good and the right.

Furthermore, finding that moral compass often requires moving out to the fringes, to be in the wild, deserted places of life. Loss, suffering, heartache, empathy… these are the forces that drive us to a naked appreciation of what we can and cannot do, and what we are ultimately called to do. Avoiding the wilderness means we may never have that critical encounter with our own limitations, and our own extraordinary abilites as well. Until we go there and struggle, we cannot accomplish what we are meant to do.

Finally, these stories are about Jesus’ relationship to power, a relationship that is completely opposite to the exploitive, oppressive power of Rome. Jesus will not use what power and authority is his to engage in combat with any, not even the demons. He proclaims his newly-discovered truth, he releases a man possessed by evil, and he heals those who are sick and have no other means of attaining health.

His power is that of compassion, and freedom, and wholeness, a power that each of us is called to exercise in our own lives. Who can you approach with compassion today? Who can you set free from fear or anxiety with a word of empathy and care? Who can you invite to see themselves as free and loved and worthy? We are surrounded by folks who need exactly this - and if we are baptized into Christ, then this is our mission also.