Our Lord’s Temptation

S. Mark i. 12, 13

There is a special attraction for us in the story of our Lord’s Temptation, and it lies in this: it is the one page which He must have written, as it were, by His Own hand; a personal revelation of what no human eye but His Own could possibly have witnessed.

His miracles and sermons had been seen or heard by many, and the memory of them was cherished and handed down from mouth to mouth; but that strange conflict with the Evil One — that triple wrestling with His ghostly enemy — it was witnessed by no earthly spectator. Alone He had trodden the winepress of temptation; alone He had vanquished His foe, and He alone could repeat to the Apostle or Evangelist its wonderful history. And we feel quite sure that of all the marvels they were called upon to record, nothing could have filled them with such amazement as this revelation from His Own lips.

Now it would be no little satisfaction if we could identify the scene, but it is surrounded with uncertainty. It may have been the wilderness of Jericho, the Quarantania of later days, that region of barren limestone rock with its endless fissures and caverns, where hermits have often fled from the world, where year after year pious pilgrims encamped for penance and prayer, because they believed that a vivid realisation of their Saviour’s victory would make resistance easier and deliverance more certain. Or it may have been that He was carried by the Spirit into the more distant desert of Arabia, to the scene of Elijah’s preternatural fast of forty days, where Moses also had tarried in the mount for a like period, and “did neither eat bread nor drink water;” and this would complete the analogy. The Three who appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration had each inaugurated a vast Dispensation; each had been prepared for the work by the same miraculous fast, and in the same silent and secluded spot.

But wherever the desert lay, what was it that Jesus Christ was subjected to? S. Mark is very brief in his description, but it is most suggestive.

“He was with the wild beasts.” Is this only one of those graphic touches which this vivid writer so often gives us? Was it a forcible way of describing a total absence of human sympathy? No doubt it served this purpose, but this was not all. When we recognise the correspondence between this and Adam’s temptation, our thoughts fly at once to Paradise, and we remember that he too was with the wild beasts, and that God had given him dominion over them, and that during the brief duration of his innocence he must have exercised it unfearing and unfeared. And we fancy we can see in this short but pregnant sentence a hint that He Who came to inaugurate an era of restoration, and bring back the times of man’s innocence, was not unmindful of the lower creatures and their subjection to vanity. It was a promise of what should one day come to pass when broken harmonies should be restored, and the prediction of Eliphaz receive its fulfilment, and man “should be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field should be at peace with him.”

It matters little that we can point to no evidence of its accomplishment as yet, because with the Lord “a thousand years are but as one day, and one day as a thousand years.”

There is no question that the hope was created, and that it laid hold upon the mind of the early Christians, in support of which we have the testimony of the Catacombs, where our Lord is so frequently represented in the character of Orpheus attracting wild animals of divers kinds by the sound of his lyre. The same was perpetuated by later legends, which made the surpassing goodness of S. Francis throw a spell of mysterious influence, not only over his fellow-creatures, but over birds of the air and beasts of the field.

Of the Temptation itself S. Mark speaks with even more than his usual brevity. We are obliged to look for the details to S. Matthew and S. Luke. From them we find that Jesus was tried at every point. Three forms of temptation only are spoken of, but they are intended to embrace all that man is liable to. They were the same that were presented to Adam — “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.”

“Command that these stones be made bread.” The appetite craves for food: give rein to the indulgence of your lower nature; if you cannot satisfy it in one way, have recourse to another; you may not always be able to choose your mode of subsistence, but you must obtain it somehow.

“Cast Thyself down” from the pinnacle. Make an ostentatious display of your power and win the admiration of men.

“All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Seek wealth and power; you know not what influence they will give you in the world; have no scruples, therefore, about the means — think only of the end.

Or we may look at them in another light, as persuasive of mistrust, presumption, and avarice.

Of mistrust: God has forgotten you — take care of yourself, for is not self-preservation a duty incumbent upon every one?

Of presumption: If you are a Christian you will be safe, do what you will and go where you may; 1 it was in view of this that a guardian angel was appointed to keep you from falling.

Of avarice: If you have set your heart especially upon some one thing, be prepared to make a sacrifice to obtain it; the principle of compensation runs through life.

Such are the forms under which the Tempter tries the mettle of the Christian character of what sort it is; and if he be met in the same spirit and with the same weapons as he was in the wilderness, the test will be satisfied

S. Mark closes his account with the notice that “angels ministered unto Him.” We find elsewhere that their ministration only began when the Tempter left Him. They gave Him no support whilst He was passing through it, as in the Agony, but stood aloof as spectators of the struggle, waiting to see what Humanity was capable of, and only stepped in at the close to honour Him for His victory and enhance His satisfaction. Men share this blessed experience when they feel that inward sense of joy and peace which crowns every success in the conflict of life.

An objection has been raised that as an example the Temptation of our Lord is a failure; that it can be no real help to us, because by reason of His sinlessness successful resistance on His part was a foregone conclusion. The whole subject is full of mystery. Holy Scripture teaches, directly 2 and indirectly, that He was incapable of sin, and also that He was tempted. They appear irreconcilable statements, but, like the doctrines of Freewill and Predestination, they will be

1 This will recall a familiar story. A Christian woman, trusting to be preserved by her principles, ventured into a place of a questionable character and came back “possessed.” When the exorcist asked the evil spirit how he dared to enter into a Christian, his answer was, “Why not, when I found her upon my own ground?”

2 Heb. iv. 15.

3 1st, The union of the Divine and Human involved impeccability, e.g. the Beatific Vision consequent upon such union is inconsistent with a capacity for sin. 2d, The Atonement necessitated the perfection of His Nature. The typical victim was free from all defects, either natural or accidental. The Antitype the same, Heb. vii. 26. Heb. ii. 17 must be read in connection with what follows. “In all things” is modified by the object to be attained, viz. the reconciliation of sinners, which can only be effected by a perfect Being. It seems impossible, therefore, that the posse non peccare can satisfy the requirements of the case, but non posse peccare alone.

fully harmonised when we see no longer “through a glass darkly.” We can, however, obtain a glimpse at the reality of the Temptation. For instance, He was hungry; l He had a human desire and craving for food, which nature prompted Him to gratify. Now it would have been easy for Him to turn the stones into bread to satisfy His hunger, as He satisfied the famished crowds in the wilderness; but to do that under the circumstances at the bidding of the Tempter would be to act against the Will of God, which was the law of His life.

Thus on one side there was a strong desire, albeit in no way a sinful one; on the other there were facilities for its gratification. It was a real temptation, and His victory lay in making the lower will bend to the higher. Possibly His example would have been more forcible and helpful, had He been capable of sin and triumphed over the tendency, but such a nature would have impaired the efficacy of the Atonement. The lesser would have been gained, the greater lost.

Note: Thomson testifies that Copts and Abyssinians occasionally visit the place now for the same purpose.

Note: Cf. Catacombs of Rome, by the author of The Buried Cities of Campania, 145; Stanley’s Eastern Church, Lect. vi.; and the Author’s observations in After ipeath, 83, 84.

Note: This may have been either on the aroa. /3acrtli«:r/, from which the descent into the valley was most precipitous. It would have been a most appropriate spot if the Temptation was simply to test His supernatural power; but if it had for its object a public display of it, then it was more probably an apex of the building overlooking one of the Courts of the Israelites, about 200 feet high. C

Note: I owe this pertinent illustration to that very thoughtful and helpful book, Hutchings’ The Mystery of the Temptation.