Distance Between Us

This first Sunday in Lent we always hear the Gospel story of Jesus’ temptation. All three synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark and Luke—tell how Jesus was driven into the wilderness immediately after his baptism and tempted there by Satan. It may seem a bit disheartening to think that temptation is the consequence of baptism. But it is, really. Not that baptism immediately propels us physically out into the wilderness as it did for Jesus. The world in which we live does not change when we get baptized. But the way we are called to live in that world does change profoundly. Only someone trying to live according to the baptismal covenant can be tempted not to.

So, like Jesus, all of us who have been baptized live amid temptation. We live in a world where we must continually choose between worshipping and serving God or the temptation of chasing after selfish goals. When the gospel writers describe Jesus’ temptation, they are describing a universal aspect of human life, at least for any human who wants to be faith-full. Jesus tempted is Jesus human like us. All human beings who seek to live as God’s beloved are tempted time and again to follow, not God’s love, but the devices and desires of our own hearts. So we might see, in this story with which we always launch Lent, a story that emphasizes Jesus’ solidarity with us, the reassurance that Jesus’ shares our human trials and challenges.

In an exploration of this Gospel passage, however, William Willimon makes an interesting observation. "Any of us," he suggests, "would have readily accepted Satan’s tempting offers—after all, bread, political power, and miraculous signs are all good things…. Jesus rejects what we would expect him to embrace, certainly what we would embrace. Thus, at the beginning of Lent, Matthew has placed some distance between us and Jesus, a distance we shall have ample opportunity to ponder as we make our way through these forty days."

Rather than illustrating how much Jesus has in common with us, this story actually highlights how little we have in common with Jesus.

Matthew tells us that Jesus was in the desolate wilderness and that it was the devil who was tempting him. What if we didn’t have that part of the story? What if we didn’t know up front that this was the devil’s doing? Maybe these were just opportunities that came before Jesus. Have you ever wondered why the things that Jesus was offered were so bad? The opportunity to create bread out of stones. Not unlike changing water into wine, except maybe even better when people are hungry. Jesus himself was famished and at other points in his ministry he was called upon to feed others who were hungry. What’s wrong with changing stones into bread? Stones are a virtually limitless resource in the Holy Land. Jesus could have ended world poverty and hunger in the blink of an eye.

Or if he were just to jump off the pinnacle of the temple Jesus had the chance to perform a little personal razzle-dazzle dancing through the air with the angels instead of conforming to the more normal power of gravity and crashing to the stones below. Surely a dance with the angles would fill the people with awe and wonder at God’s power and establish Jesus as one specially favored by God. Or Jesus was offered political power over all the kingdoms of the world. What better way to spread God’s kingdom? But even when the tempter was subtle and deceptive, Jesus recognized the tempter and resisted temptation. What would you have done?

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things. Temptation is often that way. Willimon again: "Generally, the Bible knows that temptation is rarely a simple matter of rejecting something that is bad in order to receive something that is good. Temptation is far more subtle than that; Satan often masquerades as an angel of light." Temptation exists in our lives because whatever tempts us is attractive, seems life-giving (at least to us and to Eve), may even seem to be serving the common good.

But is it serving God? That is all that really matters. Jesus rejects all that the tempter offers. Jesus knows and loves the will and word of God above everything else. And everything the devil offers Jesus that day in that place is contrary to the will and word of God. At first glance they may seem to be things that would even help Jesus’ skills and self-image as Messiah, but Jesus knows and loves the will and word of God even more than his personal skills and self-image. As one of the Eucharistic proper prefaces for Lent says, "Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet did not sin." Jesus did not sin.

This story is not about how much Jesus is like us. It is about how little we are like Jesus. We succumb to temptation all the time. We justify it, rationalize it, deny it, try to excuse it, put a positive spin on it. And, sometimes, even if we really, really try to follow the will and word of God, we (unlike Jesus) cannot always be completely sure what God’s will is, such is our human frailty and limitation. We mistake our will for God’s will. We put our words into the mouth of God. We succumb to temptation daily. We sin. Jesus did not. In the story of Jesus’ temptation, Matthew has placed some distance between us and Jesus.

In contrast to acknowledging this distance, it is tempting to cast Jesus in our lives as the perfect best friend, close to our hearts, sharing all the ups and downs of our lives, celebrating the good, supporting us when times are hard, always focused on us, always… always affirming. Jesus as grandmother. Ever tolerant and affirming, no matter what, spoiling us out of his deep love.

Even in Lent, it is tempting to talk and think in terms of our shared journey with Jesus, buddies walking step by step, hand in hand. We take spiritual pride in "carrying our cross" like him and walking beside him to Jerusalem. We may both be on the way to Jerusalem. But Jesus is on his way to be crucified on the cross. We are on our way to join the crowd that cries "crucify him."

Matthew has placed some distance between us and Jesus. That is Willimon’s phrase. I don’t know if "distance" is the best word, although it gets our attention. It might be better to think in terms of difference or distinction. As much as we may want Jesus as friend-who-always-understands, Jesus just-like-us… As tempting as that Jesus may be, that is not the Jesus of the Gospels. During Lent especially, our focus should be on how different we are from someone who lives a truly faithful life… how great the distinctions are between us and Jesus who always served God’s will and word and did not sin. This story does not affirm how much Jesus is like us, it emphasizes how different we are from Jesus.

But Jesus did walk side by side to Jerusalem with Peter… with Peter!! Now Peter was like us at our best and our worst. Impetuously passionate about God and very muddled about God’s will in the world. Jesus did walk close by with James and John on the way to Jerusalem. James and John, who over and over confused their will with God’s will, their desires with God’s desires. Jesus, though he did not sin, did not distance himself from those who did.

During Lent we have the opportunity to rediscover how much we need a Jesus who is not just like us. We need the Jesus who has the power and will to turn back Satan, as he did in this morning’s Gospel, even when we do not have that will or power. We need a Jesus who can offer us, not just human friendship, but God’s own mercy and forgiveness. We desperately need a Jesus who does not share our sins with us… who is not hopelessly captive to sin as we are… yet, knowing our sins, still chose to die so that we might be reconciled to God. It was the crowd who cried out "crucify him" that Jesus came to save.