There And Back Again
A New Ending for An Old Story
No, this is not that story.
This “There and Back Again” isn’t about a pilgrimage, an adventure, or a Hobbits Tale. It’s Jesus’ own story, one which we’d never have known if Peter hadn’t taken Jesus aside and gave him a talking-to about an ending which didn’t sound right. And we all know what came next:
Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
My own suspicion - though I can offer no proof - is that this was the moment when the twelve apostles first heard the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. As you may recall, they weren’t around him at that point. In fact, no one among those who would follow him was present.
Before Jesus set out from Nazareth into the land of Israel, he had an appointment. The time of fulfillment was at hand, but would not proceed without Jesus making a journey of sorts. Jesus intended to revisit the past.
“The Past” was Israel’s own journey in the wilderness, which is recorded in the Penteteuch. It was a story of unbelief, cowardice, rebellion, and failure on the part of God’s “firstborn son.”
It’s no coincidence that the time appointed for Jesus in the wilderness is forty days; for that is the number of years Israel chased its own tail while an entire generation of Israelites lived and died. Like Israel long before, Jesus was tested in the wilderness. But unlike Israel long ago, this Son Jesus did not fail or falter. Indeed, what he did was to write a new ending to this old story. We’ll return to the “why” a bit later. What concerns us now is what Jesus did to change the story.
Let’s Pretend: This is Bread
Much has been written over the centuries about the devil’s temptations, and I profess no studied wisdom to add to it. But I would hazard this much of an observation. At the heart of the devil’s temptations is his attempt to distort reality.
In the wilderness, the devil suggests that the dry stones to be found on the ground could easily be reconfigured as bread. Jesus surely could pull that off. Forget the dry, arid, barren land where Jesus walked. We [Oh, yes…”we”] could make this place into a regular bakery.
But Jesus’ response shatters the illusion which the devil wanted to project: It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’
Just as it was no coincidence that Jesus’ time in the wilderness was measured with a 40, so is Jesus’ answer. He quotes from Deuteronomy 8, where Moses recounts to the next generation what transpired in the wilderness:
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart…And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
This is the truth which Jesus speaks into the wilderness he inhabited. The wilderness is what it is because God intends for his people to become what we should. In the face of the devil’s illusions, Jesus takes his stand: No bread except God’s bread.
Let’s Pretend: All That Glitters Is Mine to Give
In the wilderness, the devil’s next tactic is to project over the dry, barren landscape a vision of everything. All the kingdoms. All the power. All the glory. All for Jesus. Why? Because it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
The devil’s words represent an inversion of the authority of God. Consider the fate of Nebuchadnezzar, who took quite a shine to his palaces and kingdom:
Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30)
In response, we’re told, a truth bomb dropped from heaven:
And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. (4:32, emphasis mine)
This, then, was the devil’s illusion. “If it glitters, it’s mine, and what’s mine, Jesus, is yours.”
And once again, Jesus brings truth to bear against the devil. Once again, he quotes from a Deuteronomy text which Moses had spoken to Israel. Jesus had taken his stand. No kingdom except God’s kingdom.
Let’s Pretend: Who’s the Man?
Whoever said, “Good things come in threes” may not have consulted the gospel accounts of the devil’s temptations. Jesus had effectively swatted down two of the devil’s illusions; but there was one remaining.
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here…”
“Yes, Jesus - The Show must go on, and You’re the Man! Imagine the cheers! Imagine the pictures! This would be a media event unlike any other, and you would be The Star!”
So once again, the devil superimposes onto the flat, dry rock-like earth something out of place - the temple of Jerusalem, reconfigured as a bungee-jumping venue, without the bungees. It would be a fitting redesign for the old place, especially if Jesus would be the first one down. And we all know that there’s no such thing as “bad publicity” - it’s all good.
But as with the previous illusions, Jesus failed to cooperate. He wouldn’t be goaded into glory. Just the opposite. No glory except God’s glory.
A Better Ending
Here’s something to remember: none of us gets to go back into the past. We are stuck in this one frame of a movie not of our making. Or to change the metaphor, we exist in a story not of our choosing, occupying a page beyond which we can’t see. All we know is that things are not the way they’re supposed to be, and our hands are red with blood which can’t be removed. Even the very people of God, when faced with a test, came tumbling down, and neither the king’s horses nor the king’s men can change the story.
But Jesus can. And Jesus did. He was appointed for the wilderness to replay the story, to reveal himself as the true Son who would bring many sons to glory.
And he was just getting started.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. (Luke 4:14-15)