March 9: The Temptation of Jesus
♫ Music:
Day 24 - Friday, March 9
Title: The Temptation of Jesus
Scripture: Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
Poetry: Carrion Comfort
By Gerard Manley Hopkins
Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee;
Not untwist — slack they may be — these last strands of man
In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;
Can something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be.
But ah, but O thou terrible, why wouldst thou rude on me
Thy wring-world right foot rock? lay a lionlimb against me? scan
With darksome devouring eyes my bruisèd bones? and fan,
O in turns of tempest, me heaped there; me frantic to avoid thee and flee?
Why? That my chaff might fly; my grain lie, sheer and clear.
Nay in all that toil, that coil, since (seems) I kissed the rod,
Hand rather, my heart lo! lapped strength, stole joy, would laugh, chéer.
Cheer whom though? the hero whose heaven-handling flung me, fóot tród
Me? or me that fought him? O which one? is it each one? That night, that year
Of now done darkness I wretch lay wrestling with (my God!) my God.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
“Jesus, lover of my soul…,” “for God so loved…,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself….”
Yes, indeed: amen, and amen!
But how does this God love? “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned” from the spiritual highpoint of His baptism in the Jordan River, and “was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness,” “being tempted by the devil.” God so loved… that He led Jesus. So far, so good. But led into temptation?
Indeed.
God so loved that He led Him in the path of Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent. He led him into the wilderness where Israel succumbed and worshiped what it had made. Led Him in the loneliness, grief, and confusion of Job. God so loved, He led him into temptation. “Lead us not into temptation,” says the Lord’s Prayer—for that, we know, is the way you led Him in our place.
But is there any other way to the table set before us (Ps. 23)? Is there any other way to the cup that overflows, and the oil anointing our brow? The way of the cross we think we know, the way of suffering—but the cruel way of temptation? Or are they one and the same? Is the way of the valley of the shadow of death another name for the valley of pleasure, the valley of temptation?
A moment’s thought reveals their identity, for it was here that the devil found a more “opportune time,” the temptation to crown all temptations: the temptation of goodness, of life (“take this cup from me!”). For there are things greater than life, but in this, the hour of temptation, these fade and lose their luster, their shine. The diamond, obscured by dirt, or hid from the light, sparkles no more, and it is an act of faith to cling to this small stone, selling all we have or might have, to possess this one treasure.
Why did God become man? That He might be tempted. That in Him, Adam and Eve, Job, Israel, and ourselves might walk this dark yet strangely tempting valley, that together we might “dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” a house darkened by no shadow of temptation. But until His second coming, when the shadow will fall no more, until then…. “Lead us not into temptation.”
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed by Thy name.
Spare us the full weight of Your love—
Lead us not into temptation.
Or, better still,
Love us in Your precious Son,
For He was tempted for us,
He fought the devil. He won.
Amen
Adam Johnson
Associate Professor of Theology
Torrey Honors Institute
Biola University
About the Artwork #1:
Temptation of Christ
Peter Paul Rubens
1620
Oil on panel
32.9 x 31.6 cm
Courtauld Gallery, London, England
This is one of six oil sketches from the Courtauld Gallery Collection that relate to Rubens’ decoration of the Jesuit Church at Antwerp in 1620. Rubens was commissioned to provide thirty-nine paintings for the church ceilings. Rubens’ contract with the Jesuits required him to paint the sketches while mostly pupils, including Anthony van Dyck, did the final execution of the ceiling painting. In 1718, the vault of the nave, including Rubens' ceiling paintings, was destroyed by fire. In this sketch, Christ is depicted being tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread to break his fast during his forty days and nights in the wilderness.
About the Artist #1:
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He engaged in an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and historical paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. Rubens' skill at arranging complex groupings of figures in a composition, his ability to work on a large scale, his ease at depicting diverse subjects, and his personal eloquence and charm all contributed to his success.
About the Artwork #2
The Temptation of Christ by the Devil
Christoffel Jegher
1633
Woodcut in black on cream laid paper, tipped onto ivory laid paper mount prepared with ochre wash
324 x 432 mm
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
This woodcut by Christoffel Jegher was done in reference to the painting by Rubens formerly on the ceiling in the Jesuits' Church at Antwerp that was destroyed by fire in 1718. Rubens made the preparatory drawing for Jegher.
About the Artist #2:
Christoffel Jegher (1596-1652) was a Flemish Baroque engraver printmaker, draughtsman, and publisher. He settled in Antwerp in 1627 where he worked for and collaborated with Rubens on woodcuts. He became a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1628.
About the Music:
“Prelude No. 12 in G# Minor Prelude, Op. 32” from the album Alexis Weissenberg - Rachmaninov Preludes
About the Composer:
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), born in Semyonov, Russia, is remembered as one of the most formidable pianists of all time and the last truly great composer in the Russian Romantic tradition. He studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1892. His composition style is characterized by rich harmonies and soaring melodies. Rachmaninoff wrote extensively for solo piano, writing, among other things, 24 Preludes which covers each of the 24 major and minor keys.
About the Performer:
Alexis Weissenberg (1929–2012) was a Bulgarian-born French pianist known for his thundering aggressiveness and rational detachment at the keyboard. In a career that began in the late 1940s, Mr. Weissenberg appeared as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestras, played recitals on celebrated stages and made many recordings. A naturalized French citizen, he was a Romantic specialist, most closely associated with Schumann, Chopin and perhaps especially Rachmaninoff, whose percussive pyrotechnics suited him. In 1947, Weissenberg made his New York debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and George Szell in Rachmaninoff's “Piano Concerto No. 3” and with Philadelphia Orchestra. Between 1957 and 1965, he took an extended sabbatical for the purpose of studying and teaching. Weissenberg resumed his career in 1966 with a recital in Paris. Later that year he played Tchaikovsky's “Piano Concerto No. 1” in Berlin conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who praised him as "one of the best pianists of our time."
About the Poet:
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) was an English poet, both a Catholic and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame established him among the leading Victorian poets. Two of his major themes were nature and religion. He is regarded as the greatest Victorian poet of religion, of nature, or of melancholy. However, because his style was so radically different from that of his contemporaries, his best poems were not accepted for publication during his lifetime, and his achievement was not fully recognized until after World War I. Hopkins's idiosyncratic creativity was the result of his extended family where studies of religion, language, and art were encouraged and promoted.
About the Devotional Writer:
Adam Johnson is a theologian and a professor for the Torrey Honors Institute, who focuses on the doctrine of the atonement, exploring the many ways in which the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ affect the reconciliation of all things to God. His most recent book is: The Reconciling Wisdom of God: Reframing the Doctrine of the Atonement. He and his wife, Katrina, have been married 12 years, and have three sons. They love camping and exploring America's National Parks.