Saturday, March 23, 2019
Temptations to Quarrels Bred In A Loveless Desert: On Luke 4
**another reflection given in a time of prayer the morning of Saturday, March 16th (which I'm just now getting around to recording here)**
In prayer this morning, I was gracefully given a flash of what I take to be helpful insight.
From what I saw in prayer, I don't think the point is really about the scriptures at all. At least, not primarily. I think it's more like, when Satan offers Jesus the kingdom's of the world if he would worship him, and when Jesus tempts Satan to affirm his identity by performing some extravagant miracle, Jesus' response was a reminder to Satan of who he was talking to.
"You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve."
and,
"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."
Prayerfully, I kind of hear Jesus implying to Satan: "Who do you think you're talking to? 'All this authority and their glory...has been delivered to you' BY ME. Who do you think you're testing here?
In other words, the central point and thrust of the story is the person of Jesus and the actual words spoken from his actual mouth. Jesus wasn't referring to and didn't have in mind an abstract theory of the authority of scripture, and he didn't have to mediate or filter his response to Satan through such a secondary power from a distant God above to whom the abstract theory points and on whom the theory supposedly relies. Jesus IS the authority. The scripture he quoted only has any power because of him, to whom said scripture points.
Further, he identifies with us in his baptism with us. We are extensions of his body, authority, and rule in the world. If we are living as ambassadors of our King in and of the world according to his "new commandment" of love - which also came from his mouth, in his person, and is embodied by his life - then why do we fight so hard to miraculously and extravagantly prove a mediated and distanced authority of a set of words that stand alone in a conceptual world outside ourselves and our King?
As one of many potential demonstrations of my point, pictured above is a cartoon depicting the loveless debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham over the authority of scripture. We are all at least tempted to vicariously participate. Bill Nye: "Science is how you get bread, fame or identity, and power!" How we tend to respond: "No, you get them through trust in the scriptures!"
Of course, my point isn't to discard scripture. But, perhaps the real temptation of our day isn't so much to distrust the authority of God but, rather, "foolish, ignorant controversies" that only "breed quarrels." The good news is, that's not something we have to fight or quarrel over. Trust in God, thankfully, isn't so much something we fight for as much as a gift from the One in whom we trust.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,In The Temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness, I've always imagined and been taught that Jesus is quoting scripture on the authority of the God above who inspired the scripture he's quoting to the face of Satan. This is usually in the context of teachings and conversations about the power and authority of scripture with the marginal caveat to be careful, since Satan knows the scriptures, too. I've always been a bit uncomfortable with this, and I was never enough of a theological master to put my finger on why.
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
- from Luke 4
In prayer this morning, I was gracefully given a flash of what I take to be helpful insight.
From what I saw in prayer, I don't think the point is really about the scriptures at all. At least, not primarily. I think it's more like, when Satan offers Jesus the kingdom's of the world if he would worship him, and when Jesus tempts Satan to affirm his identity by performing some extravagant miracle, Jesus' response was a reminder to Satan of who he was talking to.
"You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve."
and,
"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."
Prayerfully, I kind of hear Jesus implying to Satan: "Who do you think you're talking to? 'All this authority and their glory...has been delivered to you' BY ME. Who do you think you're testing here?
In other words, the central point and thrust of the story is the person of Jesus and the actual words spoken from his actual mouth. Jesus wasn't referring to and didn't have in mind an abstract theory of the authority of scripture, and he didn't have to mediate or filter his response to Satan through such a secondary power from a distant God above to whom the abstract theory points and on whom the theory supposedly relies. Jesus IS the authority. The scripture he quoted only has any power because of him, to whom said scripture points.
Further, he identifies with us in his baptism with us. We are extensions of his body, authority, and rule in the world. If we are living as ambassadors of our King in and of the world according to his "new commandment" of love - which also came from his mouth, in his person, and is embodied by his life - then why do we fight so hard to miraculously and extravagantly prove a mediated and distanced authority of a set of words that stand alone in a conceptual world outside ourselves and our King?
As one of many potential demonstrations of my point, pictured above is a cartoon depicting the loveless debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham over the authority of scripture. We are all at least tempted to vicariously participate. Bill Nye: "Science is how you get bread, fame or identity, and power!" How we tend to respond: "No, you get them through trust in the scriptures!"
Of course, my point isn't to discard scripture. But, perhaps the real temptation of our day isn't so much to distrust the authority of God but, rather, "foolish, ignorant controversies" that only "breed quarrels." The good news is, that's not something we have to fight or quarrel over. Trust in God, thankfully, isn't so much something we fight for as much as a gift from the One in whom we trust.
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