What was Jesus' Greatest Temptation

September 3, 2023

Why did Jesus who had praised Peter just  a few verses earlier in Mathew’s Gospel, (which we read last Sunday), and said that he was ‘blessed’ and that he would be the “rock” on which Jesus would build his Church - why did Jesus get so angry with Peter as to call him Satan?

For this we perhaps need to reflect on the concept of Temptations.  Temptations, of course, are not temptations if they are not attractive in some manner. And the attraction is further enhanced because the one who is tempted (rightly or wrongly) seems to see some ‘good’ in it.  In fact I would suggest that human beings never choose evil purely for the sake of evil, but because we always find or assign some ‘good’ to, our choice.   The terrorist who tries to kill others, or religious persons who harm others always justify what they try to do in their own minds by some ‘good’ that they see would come out of their actions. So the High Priest says with reference to Jesus: “You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” (John 11:50).   It seems to me that an ethical dilemma arises when we are forced to choose either between two ‘goods’ (which is the greater good?), or which is the lesser evil among two inevitable evils.  So a young girl who has been raped and is subsequently pregnant, has to choose between the life of the unborn foetus or her own right not to be burdened with the fruit of someone else’s crime (two ‘goods’), or between killing a foetus or allowing herself to be psychologically or otherwise ‘destroyed’ (two “evils’).  

However, we must not limit temptations only to the realm of ethical actions. A temptation could also be one that attracts us to choose a direction that may not be God’s will for us, even though in itself the action proposed by the temptation is not ethically wrong.  And these are more difficult to handle because what we are tempted to do is not ethically wrong in itself. And so, as a human being, Jesus was faced with multiple choices, multiple temptations to move in directions where his own discernment seemed to indicate was NOT the road that God wanted him to choose.  For instance, should he openly denounce and work against the religious authorities who were according to him destroying Judaism, or work with them to reform Judaism (two possible goods)?  Or again, if we assume that after some time Jesus began to feel that Judas was moving away from him, should he throw Judas out of the group of Apostles, or allow him to continue with the hope that Judas might change at some time (again two possible goods) ?

The story of the three temptations of Jesus that we find in the Gospels of Mathew and Luke tell us of the three main temptations of Jesus, as perceived by the Gospel writers.  One of those temptations is found in today’s Gospel reading.  If we remember the Temptations  story, we will remember that in one of them, Satan tells Jesus - perhaps something we often tell ourselves - that if God is with us, then God would not allow us to suffer. And so Satan, quoting scripture itself, tells Jesus to throw himself down from the top of a mountain, because it is written in the scriptures  ‘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.’”  It is also interesting that Luke’s narration of the temptation story ends with an intriguing sentence: When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. (Luke 4: 13) - which seemed to suggest that Jesus faced temptations again in his life.

Today’s Gospel reading seems to suggest that Satan had come back at an opportune time, this time in the guise of one of the Apostles whom Jesus really loved.    Remember Jesus too has read the Scriptures and believes that God will take care of his loved ones, and the devil is only reiterating that. And yet as he grew in his mission, he realises that he is destined to suffer and to suffer horribly.  And the temptation was: Why should he suffer? - couldn’t he use his power to avoid suffering and bring about the kingdom of God on earth? Of course this was most poignantly experienced by Jesus on the cross, when the high priests taunted him: “Come down from the cross and we will believe in you ..”  Such a temptation!  Wouldn’t it have served God’s purpose better if he had come down from the cross - after all he would be vindicated, and the entire nation of Israelites would listen to him and follow him, and God’s Kingdom would come to be???

Of course, like Peter, all the disciples, till even after the Resurrection, had still not understood the role of suffering, and that is why when Jesus meets the two disciples running away to Emmaus, he tells them: “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26)

The temptation of using power to relieve our own suffering, or the suffering of our extended selves (like that of our children or loved ones),  is perhaps one of our biggest temptations - whether we use the power of money, the power of God through special allegedly powerful prayers or devotional practices, physical power, or any other power we may have in our limited capacities.  For instance, a child of ours has broken a driving rule and has been caught by the police; or a child of ours did not get admission into the school of our choice, and so to help them avoid the ‘suffering’ that results, we pay a bribe, or a donation.  Perhaps, an acceptance of that suffering, rather than using our power to avoid it, could have perhaps pushed us (and our children) in a different direction - perhaps our child would have learnt a lesson for life about keeping driving laws and other legitimate laws even if it is inconvenient, or we and our children could have learnt that meaningful education is not necessarily only available in the ‘best’ schools!!!

Lord Acton famously once said: ‘Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely’, and we may need to reflect on our own use of power.  For after all, power can be used for good too, can’t it?  Power, then, is the greatest temptation we all face - for power is not bad in itself, it is a ‘good’, and that is why it is such a great temptation.  And we all have some power - especially in our relationships with our family members, or with our subordinates whether in religious or secular systems in which we function.

But how do we gain the wisdom to know when to use power, how to use power, how much of power to use, and so on and so forth. Obviously, there is suffering that one must fight against (which  means we need to use our power), but to know which suffering one must fight against, and which suffering one must accept as God’s way for us (or those we love) to grow, is not easy.  Normally, we only accept something as God’s will for us, when we can actually do nothing about it.  But what if we could do something - should we always do it?

Jesus’ life shows that he did have power.  But perhaps Jesus too struggled with this issue of if and when to use that power for himself.  And so he got angry with Peter, for  he heard in Peter’s words what he himself was deeply tempted to do, and his friend’s admonition was making it hugely difficult for Jesus to find that middle path between a legitimate use of his own power to fight against suffering, and when not to use power and accept suffering. Maybe it was easier for Jesus to decide whether to use power with regards to healing people and get rid of their suffering despite the apparent  Sabbath-rule, but not so easy for Jesus to decide whether to use that power to ease his own suffering. Despite the fact that he was deeply moved even to sweat blood (Luke 22:24) because his soul was  “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38), and despite the belief that he expressed to Peter that he could  appeal to his Father, and he would at once send more than twelve legions of angels to deffend him, (Mathew 26:53), Jesus felt that he had to make that anguished choice not to use such power.

And this is a question we too must learn to ask ourselves: When do we use power?  This is not an easy question to ask of ourselves, especially in situations when we can use our own power to help us or our loved ones.  This is something that is often spoken about in parenting manuals under the name of ‘tough tove’.  It is also the question we constantly face in a world where bribing in order to get one’s  work done has become so much the norm - that others think one is crazy, one is not in touch with reality, if one refuses to bribe.

Paul realises the difficulty and so he exhorts the Christian Community in Rome in today’s second reading: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.  In other words, Paul is telling them, and us, that we have to completely re-think our way of understanding what God wants from us, and how God functions, in trying to bring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, in this world. 

First Reading: Jeremiah 20: 7-9

O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

 

Second Reading: Romans 12: 1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Gospel: Matthew 16: 21-27

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”  But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their   cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and  those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will       repay everyone for what has been done."