Being led in the desert
The following reflection flows from the devotions during our mission trip to Rehoboth. These devotions primarily focussed on the testing of Jesus in the desert and how the prayer of Jesus can help us when we are tested.
During our time in Rehoboth, we drew lessons from our desert surroundings. In the Bible, the desert is often the place of testing. I’ll be referring to this repeated biblical theme as “the test.” After being freed from slavery, Israel must be sifted through the sands of the desert to become the people of the promised land. It took an entire generation dying off in the 40 years of wandering for this lesson to sink in.
Our devotional time began overlooking the desert landscape. I asked the question, What makes something a desert? Indira, one of our students, responded. “It lacks.” It lacks water, food, sufficient shelter, and shade. The desert is the land of lack.
That’s precisely why God wants his people to experience the desert. Walking with the living God, we learn to lack nothing (Psalm 23:1). Here’s an interesting fact about this biblical theme. The word for “desert” in Hebrew (mdbr) is spelled the same as “by the word.” According to this image, God guides us as a desert shepherd does—by the word from his mouth.
In Deuteronomy 8 we learn the purpose of the desert wanderings.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
In Jesus, God enters into Israel’s story to pass the test that Adam, Israel, and all of humanity failed. By doing so, he teaches us that we don’t live by earthly satisfaction, but by being animated by the life-giving Word of God. We see this as Jesus is tested in the wilderness by the devil.
Temptation 1 - To gratify our momentary desires
Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the slanderer. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
In his humanity, Jesus was extremely hungry. In his deity, his momentary problem could be solved by a word. From the mouth of the deceiver, this temptation is no surprise. Think back to the first test humanity faced in a garden. They were given a choice: trust in God’s abundance or grasp their own means of satisfaction.
Short-term gratification is a constant temptation for us. Every day there are moments when two paths appear before us. In a digital world, we are flooded with little tests to gratify our momentary desires, and to live impulsively. For ancient Jews and Christians, fasting is the practice of controlling our impulsive desires instead of them controlling us.
Instead of gratifying his desire, Jesus recites the lesson of the desert wanderings of Israel. A human doesn’t live by short-term gratification alone, but on the Word of our Father who speaks all life into being. Each of us needs something to sustain us beyond our immediate needs; a meaning that sustains us through catastrophe. Our fundamental desires are important, but they shouldn’t control us. Instead, we can trust our Father to give us what we need for each day.
Matthew 6:11
“Give us this day our daily bread!”
Temptation 2 - To be spectacular
Matthew 4:5-7
Then the slanderer took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Don’t be fooled. The slanderer is not trying to get Jesus to be a daredevil (pun intended). The location matters here.
Jesus is taken from the red stones of the desert to the top of Jerusalem’s marble majesty, the temple, the place where God’s glory was to descend. For Jesus to descend from the temple’s peak would be the most symbolically spectacular thing Jesus could do in his day. It would make him a public spectacle as God’s presence descending so that there would be no doubt that he is one with his Father.
But is this what Jesus came for? To draw attention to himself?
The second temptation is to be spectacular. This observation was borrowed from Henri Nouwen. It’s easy to be a spectacle today, especially through social media. Many of us carry this temptation in our pockets every day. Understandably, we want to be loved, to be recognized. But so often we do pursue recognition with selfish motives. Grasping towards these ends is not the way of Jesus.
Compare the temptations to how Jesus actually lived. Jesus could have easily preached at the biggest amphitheaters. Or he could have transfigured himself in front of thousands (instead of only 3). He could have marched right into the holy of holies in the temple unscathed. Instead, much of what Jesus does subverts what would’ve been considered spectacular in his day.
Jesus worked on the outskirts. He spent most of his time with a dysfunctional group of disciples. He only revealed who he was to the few with eyes to see. On top of that, the large crowds that followed him often followed for the wrong reasons. Even the miraculous healings of Jesus were not to “prove he was God” or draw attention to himself, but rather to show that God’s kingdom is arriving in our midst. Jesus entered the holy city not with triumphant pride, but with grief. Only after Jesus breathes his last, his identity is confirmed in the mouths of those standing by, “Surely he was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54).
When facing his final test to escape this horrible spectacle, Jesus didn’t call down angels to solve his problem (Matt. 26:53). Instead, he drew from the words of the prayer we know.
Matthew 26:42
“...your will be done.”
Temptation 3 - To be powerful
Matthew 4:8-11
Again, the slanderer took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the slanderer left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus is brought even higher to a (cosmic) mountain from which he can see all the nations. The final temptation is to be powerful. What does it mean for Jesus to be powerful? Jesus is God’s Son, the Messiah. He knows all nations will be subjected to him (Psalm 2). The question is how. The temptation for Jesus is to seize all nations here and now. But God’s kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world. Contrary to being weak, Jesus has a different kind of power, a different kind of kingdom, that is more powerful than anyone can imagine.
Contrary to love, our temptation is to control. We constantly exercise our lust for power by obsessing to control our lives down to the last detail. It’s easy to control. After all, control is comfort. We get anxious, irritable, and impulsive when we aren't in control.
“It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.” -Henri Nouwen
What would it look like if we subjected ourselves to the highest power instead of subjecting the world to our control? What if the worship of God was truly our highest aim? It would look like giving our attention to the true center of power, the lamb on the throne. Jesus gave his life in the ultimate display of his power—sacrificial love. This fact is proven by the mere existence of the church, God’s kingdom. Other kingdoms of rise and fall. The kingdom of Jesus is eternal because the love of the Father never fails.
It turns out that self-giving love is the animating principle of God’s kingdom. And love isn’t something we can subject to our control. Let’s be clear. God’s kingdom is not something we control in some ultimate sense. We don’t build it. We don’t own it. And when we oppose it, we should hear the same rebuke Jesus gave Peter, just as he did the slanderer. “Get behind me satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Matt. 16:23).
However, through love, we can put God’s kingdom on display. And we continually ask God to establish His kingdom here through us on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
God tests us because he loves us. And by testing us, he creates opportunities for his kingdom to be displayed.
When we endure times of testing, we become more like Jesus.
Like sheep of our good shepherd, we learn to live as the one who lacks nothing. With that, let’s close with a word from James, the brother of Jesus who reflects on this reality.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face tests of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Let’s pray together.
Father, don’t lead us into the test,
but if you do,
deliver us from the evil one.