Monday Meditation: RCL Year A, Lent 1, Matthew 4:1-11

On the first Sunday in Lent, the Revised Common Lectionary always turns us toward the temptation of Christ. This year, “Year A” Matthew 4:1-11 tells the story in detail, as does Luke 4:1-13 (Year C), while Mark 1:9-15 (Year B) mentions it only in passing. (If you’d like to see my children’s sermon on this text, it’s through this link.)

Last year I wrote extensively on Luke’s version, and I came to the text this week wondering if I would have anything new to write about.

The answer is “yes,” both because the story is so rich and evocative, and because Matthew’s version is different from Luke’s in a couple interesting details.

Matthew 4:1-11

The story seems the same at first glance.

1. The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

That’s a detail that should be taken into account whenever one thinks of James’ discussion of temptation:

No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.” James 1:13 NRSV

Okay, God doesn’t tempt you, but God, the Holy Spirit, can very clearly lead you to a place for the purpose of someone else tempting you.

2. Jesus fasts for 40 days.

3. Jesus is tempted in three very evocative ways.

However, in small but important ways, Matthew’s version is distinct. And the distinctions carry messages that sound familiar from the logic of childhood.

The Order of Things

Matthew and Luke present the three temptations in different orders.

For Luke the order goes like this:

1. Turn stones into bread.
2. Get the power and authority of the world.
3. Throw yourself off the temple.

In Matthew the last two are reversed:

1. Turn stones into bread.
2. Throw yourself off the temple.
3. Get the power and authority of the world.

Matthew’s Emphasis

Luke’s order draws attention to the different issues lying beneath the outward actions of the temptations: as I put it last year, in Luke Jesus is tempted by identity, allegiance, and authority.

With Matthew’s order those underlying issues are still there, but the first one is more strongly emphasized.

Both the first and the second temptation in Matthew begin with the identity issue:

First it is

If you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3 NRSV)

Then atop the temple, the devil says

If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down; …” Matthew 4:6 NRSV)

The words are the same in both Gospels — but Matthew having both of the first two temptations question Jesus’ identity shifts the emphasis. Matthew puts less emphasis on the action the devil invites, and more emphasis on the inner issue at stake: prove yourself.

Oh Yeah? Well, Prove It!

It reminds me of a schoolyard taunt:

Oh yeah? Well, prove it!

When a bully taunts you with that, it takes a pretty massive amount of self-confidence not to do something to prove it.

The devil came right up to Jesus and said,

You say you’re the Son of God. Oh yeah? Well prove it!

The proof sounds easy — and appealing. Hungry after a 40 day fast? Make some miracle bread.

Jesus clearly could have done it.

• He turned five loaves and two fishes into a feast for thousands — for the hungry.
• He turns bread and wine into his own body and blood every day — for our salvation.

He would willingly, happily, regularly do miracles with bread to feed the hungry and nourish our souls.

But he had the strength of character to refuse the devil’s taunt. He would not turn a stone into bread to prove himself.

He knew that proving himself to the devil was no way to live.

It’s true for us too. Trying to prove yourself is a never ending cycle of despair — there’s always a new need to prove yourself, whether to some devil wannabe or to your own doubts. So Jesus tells the tempter what real life looks like:

It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4 NRSV)

Know who you are: You are someone made in the image of God, called to love God with your all, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Nothing to prove. Just a life to go live.

I Double-Dog-Dare You

The second temptation was even more like a schoolyard taunt.

Oh yeah? Well I double-dog-dare you!

The devil takes Jesus to the highest point on the Jerusalem Temple.

If you’re really truly the Son of God, jump off! I double-dog-dare you!

The devil also had a theological argument up his sleeve. He had a Bible verse. Two, actually.

…throw yourself down;
for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot
against a stone.’” (Matthew 5:6 NRSV)

Even with the theological argument, we’re still in the territory of childhood logic. Jesus could have quoted every mother in the world when her child is being tempted to follow the herd:

What, if all your friends were going to jump off a bridge, would you?

No, no, no, we tell our kids, think before you act. Do the right thing. Accept responsibility.

The devil is telling Jesus to behave like a danged fool, jumping off a building and trusting God to pick up the pieces. Surely he could hear the Blessed Virgin Mary’s voice in the back of his head,

What, if all your friends were going to jump off the Temple, would you?

And thus, we again see Jesus behave with emotional maturity. Being the Son of God does not give Jesus the right to act like an idiot.

And it’s true for us too. Nobody should do something genuinely stupid on the theory that it’s okay because God will save them.

That’s what Jesus was getting at when he answered,

Again it is written,
‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:7 NRSV)

Get Lost

The final temptation in Matthew leads to the last difference with Luke.

The temptation is the same in both Gospels: The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, and offers them to him — on condition that Jesus worship the devil.

It is Jesus’ response that is different. In Luke, the devil sort of slinks away. In Matthew, Jesus sends him packing.

Away with you, Satan!
for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” (Matthew 4:10 NRSV)

Jesus stands up to the devil the way school kids sometimes learn to stand up to a bully.

In the long run, the most important thing is to live from the center, loving God and neighbor, trying to prove nothing.

But in the short run, we turn to the schoolyard response paraphrased by Jesus here:

Get lost!

Or as we used to say,

Bug off!

Last week in the Transfiguration, a fully human Jesus revealed that he is fully God.

This week, a fully divine Jesus reveals to us, by his temptation, that he is fully human.

Perhaps his words and actions in response to temptation reveal that he alone among us is indeed fully human.

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