February 19: Christ Wrestles with Satan in the Wilderness
♫ Music:
Mark 1:12-13 (NKJV)
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Poetry
“Jesus in the Wilderness”
by Malika Booker
3. Sufferation
When his days stretched, curling into a river
whose undertow ripped his skin right to the soul
he who believed, stood firm in dry dust,
where flowers do not give birth from seeds,
where wild goats stroll. No one talks
of his trembling limbs, the gnawing rats
in his gut, the fleas congregating to party
in his hair. No one talks of the reptile’s guffaw
as the Devil sucked succulent orange over forty
days and nights, while he who believed stitched
then unpicked the stitches from his bloody lips
how the taunt of the orange juice ached
his neck back in the ripe stench of the boat’s belly.
How they gripe, the dry heaves scraping
his neck back his belly swelling pregnant with emptiness.
Since those days we fast in our thirst for salvation,
long forgotten, the bloodied scar on his nailed palm.
Christ Wrestles with Satan in the Wilderness
An inhospitable wilderness becomes the backdrop for a breathtaking reversal of the post-Fall human plight. Until this moment, the serpent has successfully enticed every human in history. Now he is focused on our Servant King, Jesus.
Blink and you might miss these brief verses. The events in Mark’s first chapter unfold quickly as he demonstrates that Jesus is the Son of God. Foretold by the prophet Isaiah (Mark 1:1-3) and John the Baptist (1:3-5), Jesus experiences the Father’s divine blessing and the Spirit’s anointing at His baptism (1:6-11) before the Spirit drives him into the wilderness to encounter His archenemy, Satan (1:12-13).
The wilderness is harsh. Deprivation and stillness are broken only by the ominous sounds of wild animals, driving wind, and the sneering seduction of a tempter (glimpsed in Edward Knippers’ Temptation of Christ).
In Knippers’ second painting, angelic beings extend a hand to hold up Jesus’ drooping arm. Jesus' face, drawn toward the ground, shows agony and resolve. The snake, the jackals, threaten. The sky is a clash of the angelic and the demonic, depicting the weight of the wilderness, the agony of the temptation, the endless forty days.
Mark’s brief sketch does not describe the temptations Jesus faced, how He used Scripture to confront Satan’s lies, or even Jesus’ victorious outcome. The parallel accounts in Matthew and Luke fill in these details, which Tyler Mabry weaves into his song, “Jesus in the Wilderness”.
Repeatedly, Satan attempted to thwart God’s redemptive plan by tempting Jesus to settle for immediate (and lesser) fame, glory, and satiated desires. Satan has, since the garden, offered an alternative to God. Our first parents fell for the temptation that the serpent offered something easier, more immediate, and more enticing than God.
Where Adam and Eve’s experience with temptation convicts us, Jesus’ experience of temptation should comfort us. The Savior King that we long to know, already knows everything about us and what we face. Temptation can leave us feeling tainted. Are we already guilty for feeling that the whispered temptations have touched something deep, something empty? Is there hope for when we succumb?
Booker’s poem captures the human experience of Jesus’ temptation. We can take heart; Jesus knows the full intensity and agony of temptation. C.S. Lewis observed what many have learned from experience: temptation is felt more strongly by those who fight it than by those who swiftly give in to it. Yet endurance is ultimately the way of escape. Jesus clung to desires for something greater than Satan could offer him, making it possible for us to experience victory over temptation.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, may we see and know you as our Servant King. Strengthen our feeble faith in the moments of temptation. May we delight in you more than we delight in the counterfeits offered by the enemy. Thank you for enduring temptation, shame, sorrow, and death to bring us new and everlasting life as adopted and victorious children. Amen.
Jeremy Labosier
University Librarian
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab near the top of the page.
About the Artwork | 1
The Temptation of Christ
Edward Knippers
1974
Oil on canvas
Used with the permission of the artist
Artist Edward Knippers’ painting entitled The Temptation of Christ depicts a face-to-face confrontation between Satan and Christ during Christ’s forty-day retreat into the Judean desert. As Jesus faces immense inner struggle, Satan entices Him with several temptations designed to cause Jesus to sin and break His commitment to fulfilling the Father’s will and His mission on earth. The painting’s meaning lies in its depiction of Christ's vulnerability, the pain He experienced as the fully human Son of God, and a commentary on the universal human experience of facing a pivotal moment of choice. Edward Knippers integrates Christian narrative within large-scale contemporary art, challenging modern secularism.
About the Artwork | 2
Christ in the Wilderness
Edward Knippers
2011
Oil on canvas
Used with the permission of the artist
According to biblical text, following His baptism Christ "... was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him." (Mark 1:13). Artist Edward Knippers depicts Christ, not as a divine figure, but as a suffering, conflicted human being enduring the physical and psychological hardships of the Judean desert and the temptations set before Him by Satan. Almost engulfed in shadow and threatened by rabid black dogs and demonic beings, Jesus is tenderly attended to by angelic beings that lift Him from the swirling chaos around Him. Knippers' use of nudity of figures aims for timelessness, removing cultural distractions from spiritual messages.
About the Artist | 1 & 2
Edward Knippers is a painter and speaker, widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the interdisciplinary conversation between Christian faith and contemporary visual art. He is a nationally exhibited artist, with over one hundred one-man and invitational exhibitions, including a four-person show at the Los Angeles County Museum. Knippers’ work has been published widely, can be found in Life magazine and Christianity Today, and in numerous public and private collections, including the Vatican Museum, Rome; Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the University of Oklahoma, Norman; and the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL. His work is primarily described as figurative paintings of biblical narratives—dramatic tableaux that are baroque in their expressive intensity. Knipper recognizes the importance of the flesh-and-blood body to the biblical narratives of creation, incarnation, and resurrection. His work aims to restore the human body to its central place as the locus of the divine/human encounter.
About the Music
“Jesus In The Wilderness”
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days, forty nights.
Jesus in the wilderness, fasting and praying.
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days, forty nights.
Then he heard the devil saying,
Jesus, you’re a hungry man
Do yourself a favor
Save yourself if you’re a Savior
Send forth your power
And turn the stones to bread
That’s what the devil said.
Then Jesus answered
We live by the word of heaven
We live by the word of heaven
We live by the word of heaven
Not by bread alone.
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days, forty nights
Jesus in the wilderness fasting and praying
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days, forty nights
Then he heard the devil saying
Jesus, You’re a holy man
Show the world your power
Throw your body from this tower.
Surely the angels will lift your sacred head.
That’s what the devil said
Then Jesus answered
Believe in the power of heaven
Believe in the power of heaven
Believe in the power of heaven
Never test your God.
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days, forty nights
Jesus in the wilderness fasting and praying
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days, forty nights
Then he heard the devil saying
Jesus you’re a mighty man,
You're beyond temptation
You deserve to rule the nations
Kneel down and serve me and I will crown your head.
That’s what the devil said.
Then Jesus answered
My Lord is the God of heaven,
My Lord is the God of heaven,
My Lord is the God of heaven,
I serve God alone.
Jesus in the wilderness, forty days and forty nights,
Jesus in the wilderness, alone.
Oooo
About the Composer
For over a decade, Tyler Mabry has composed and performed original music in the Austin, Texas, area in collaboration with various organizations, collectives, and performers. Mabry is a Vortex company member, music director for kidsActing, and pianist at Berkeley United Methodist Church. Persephone, his first full-length musical for adult performers, premiered at Vortex earlier this year. He has been nominated twice for a B. Iden Payne award for Best Original Score, for Persephone and for Running Wild (ACT). He has also composed numerous sacred choral works, including a Christmas cantata (The True Light with Victoria Schwarz), and “I Heard the Voice of Jesus” (soon to be published by Shawnee Press). When not in rehearsals, he plays with the neo-soul group Jade and the Foxtones. Tyler Mabry holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in piano performance from the University of the Ozarks.
About the Performers
Hal Leonard Singers are associated with Hal Leonard, a company that is the world's largest sheet music and instructional music publisher.
About the Poetry and Poet
Malika Booker (b.1970) is a British writer, poet, and multi-disciplinary artist, who is considered "a pioneer of the present spoken word movement" in the UK. Her writing spans different genres of storytelling, including poetry, theatre, monologue, installation, and education, and her work has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. Organizations for which she has worked include Arts Council England, the BBC, British Council, Wellcome Trust, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Arvon, and Hampton Court Palace. She has written for radio and for the stage, and her work has appeared in journals and anthologies including Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women’s Poetry (1998), The India International Journal (2005), Ten New Poets (2010), Out of Bounds, Black & Asian Poets (2012), and New Daughters of Africa (2019).
About the Devotion Writer
Jeremy Labosier leads the library team at Biola University, creating spaces and collections that foster deep engagement with written texts. He has published articles on spiritual formation and library leadership.