Today’s author is Prince of Peace member, Scott Tunseth.

Yesterday we looked at the first two tests the tempter served up to Jesus in the wilderness. Today we hear test #3: “The devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, ‘All these I will give, if you will fall down and worship me.’”

Temptation of Christ, 12th-century mosaic in St Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Here’s the ultimate temptation. The devil wants Jesus to skip the whole journey that lay ahead. Skip right to the end where Jesus is ultimately ruler of all, the earth and its kingdoms and the universe itself. Right here in the wilderness, Jesus can have it all. No need to suffer and die on a cross. There’s no power in that. Of course, the wrinkle is a big one: Jesus simply has to agree to switch teams. Join the Satan Flames! But Jesus once again resists, saying, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Deut 6:13).

Readers of the Hebrew Scriptures would have heard echoes of the first and most important commandment given to Moses and the people of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me” (Deut 5:6-7).

Easier said than done apparently. The words had barely passed from Moses to the people when in their fear and in Moses’ absence they created a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32). So much for “no other gods.” Not surprisingly, they defaulted to worshiping a god they could see and touch, one that was tangible. Power is like that. Power is about controlling, about owning, about being in control. It’s about trusting in something, anything, but God. In fact, Luther turns that around, saying that anything we put our trust in is a god.

Jim Nestingen, one of my professors at Luther Seminary, died recently on the last day December 2022. He wrote a book called Free to Be with Gerhard Forde. I’ve quoted it before. In his commentary about the first commandment, they say this: “God has made a decision about you . . . God comes straight out with it: ‘I am the Lord your God.’ God has decided to be your God. For God wants to be as close to you as your next breath, the one who gives you confidence and value” (p. 6). And I could add, “gives you purpose.”

It is fitting also that I give Martin Luther King Jr. some space to speak two days after we have celebrated his life. He has this to say about power in his book Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (Beacon Press, 2010, revised ed.): “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

Jesus gave up Satan’s promise of tangible power in the wilderness and in later in his ministry also. He even called out his disciple Peter who rejected the idea that Jesus must suffer and die. To punctuate his point, Jesus says to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matt 16:23). No, his power was to be found precisely in the cross, the worst symbol of weakness. But this is power at its best, implementing the demands of justice. And it is a tangible everlasting reminder that God has claimed you once and for all.

Gracious God, my shadow side lusts for power in ways both subtle and overt. Open my eyes and my hear to a new way, to the way of love implementing the demands of justice. Amen