February 29th, 2020

The first Sunday in Lent has a theme that is easy to remember. This is the Sunday where we look at the temptation of Jesus after his baptism. And with three gospel accounts that are quite similar to each other, it is easy to have enough material for the three-year series. And, although this year we are looking at the temptation of Jesus from the perspective of the Gospel according to Matthew [4:1-11], I would like to consider a temptation account within the Gospel according to John.

The following work really helped to get me started on this topic. If you would like to read about this in much more detail, I would highly recommend a chapter entitled, “Jesus the Baptist: The First Temptation of Christ.” It was written by Sean M. McDonough. And it appears in yet another book with a long title (although, surprisingly enough, not incredibly costly): In the Fullness of Time: Essays on Christology, Creation, and Eschatology in Honor of Richard Bauckham. It was published by Eerdmans in 2016.
Jesus’ being tempted by the devil deserves a prominent place at the start of Jesus’ ministry. In the Gospel according to Matthew, within this text, there is large number of historical presents (where the writer could have chosen to write in the past tense, but he chooses to write in the present; instead of ‘the devil took Jesus into the holy city’, he writes ‘the devil takes Jesus into the holy city’; all translations are the author’s). In the Gospel according to Mark, the first historical present is within this short account of his temptation (Mark 1:12): ‘And immediately the Spirit throws him out into the desert.’ In the Gospel according to Luke, the devil does his three temptations—although they are in a different order—and then he leaves, but the text says that he went away from him ‘until the proper time (Luke 4:13b)’. The devil comes back near Jesus’ crucifixion, obviously at an important time for all involved—including us. The only time Satan is mentioned in the Gospel according to John is when he enters into Judas Iscariot, and he gets things ready for the betrayal.

Is it possible to have a temptation at the beginning of the Gospel according to John? If so, it would look significantly different in this account, as many things do. The perspective, other than being different, is one of an eagle—that is the living creature most often associated with this account. And the eagle usually flies high overhead and is usually not bothered by things that happen below.

I am proposing that Satan need not be mentioned for there to be a temptation. Although the devil is not mentioned, Jesus is certainly ‘troubled’ as he gets closer to the cross in this gospel account. Jesus says (12:27): ‘Now my soul has been troubled, and what may I say? Father, save me from this hour? But because of this I came to this hour. At John 13:21, the text says this: ‘Saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and witnessed and said, “Amen, amen, I tell you that one of you will betray me.’

Things go quite well for Jesus at the beginning of this gospel account; there is no description of him being ‘troubled’. (The only thing ‘troubled’ near the beginning of the account is the water in John 5:7.) People are making great confessions about him. The closest thing to a temptation at the start of Jesus’ ministry may be at the start of John 4. There the text reads as follows (verses 1-5a):

When, therefore, the Lord knew that the Pharisees heard that Jesus was making more disciples and baptizing more than John (though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples), he left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria. He comes, therefore, to a city of Samaria called Sychar….

The text continues with the story of the woman at the well (which will come up soon as a gospel text this year in Lent). So Jesus may have been tempted to popularity.

If so, there is another time that this happens, although not at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. When he feeds the five thousand, in the Gospel according to John, Jesus knows that they were about to seize him to make him king, he departs again, to a mountain this time (John 6:15).

What is interesting about these two texts (and, with the Gospel according to John, there is a LOT within the category of ‘interesting’) is that both of the texts call Jesus ‘Lord’, a title usually connected to him after his resurrection. (This is also somewhat prominent in the Gospel according to Luke). You can see this in the quotation above in 4:1, but the word also appears in 6:23. The first time it was connected to baptism, and the second time it is connected to giving out the bread, and the Lord is described as ‘having given thanks’, and this word, in the Greek, is a word that has, as its base, the word ‘Eucharist’. This word is an ancient term for the Lord’s Supper.
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Jesus was tempted to become popular with baptizing, and Jesus was tempted to become popular with giving out his special bread. Pastors can become tempted as well. With Jesus having the title ‘Lord’, we are reminded as to who is in charge—and what has to happen first on his cross.