Matthew 4: temptation and all that jazz

Today, it's true, I don't want to talk about the scripture I read, the temptation of Jesus. I want to talk about how I'm using my brief quiet time in the morning to learn Portuguese. Instead of reading the Bible, I've found an online audio version of it in Portuguese. I listen to the chapter for the day, then listen again while going over the words. It's one more reminder that I am frustrated by the level of my connection with Mozambique, Angola, and South Africa (even though they don't speak Portuguese there...) I'd like to be more connected, to have a home there that I go to regularly, to have a community there that I'm actively involved in. I'm tired by this American life. In fact, so tired that I don't participate in it much. Don't get me wrong, I like the museums that I almost never go to, and the live music that we go hear at least once a month, and the literary readings that I rarely attend...I love the safety I feel--that I can walk anywhere in Livermore and feel perfectly at ease. But it's not enough and my lack of participation in the life here suggests something to me. I'm always longing for there.

As far as the reading of Matthew 4 and the temptation of Christ goes: I already confessed yesterday to being tempted by fame and glory, though not particularly by power. Satan, of course, tries to tempt Jesus by giving him what he's already destined to receive...and Jesus resists because he wants not temporary, earthly glory and power, but eternal glory and power. If he does it Satan's way, he'll have it--here on earth. If he does it God's way, he'll have it forever. Like any foresighted person, Jesus chooses to have it forever, even if that means he can't have it immediately. (A dollar in the savings account means more than a dollar later...but a dollar spent now is only a dollar....)

I don't want to be disrespectful or blasphemous, but I struggle with this Scripture. I struggle with the suggestion that we should give up earthly glory and riches so we can get it after we die. I don't mind the idea that we should give up glory and riches, but why should we do it when there's a promise of it later? The only thing we're doing is *delaying* the glory and the riches, not really giving them up.

I also struggle with the idea that it is God who leads us into temptation ("Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil." Matthew 4:1.) What does that say about God? Why should God want to test us? I've never liked Job for that reason, God colluding with Satan. It always suggests to me that the lines between Satan and God are not clearly and finely drawn as I'd like them to be. I'd like God to be perfectly good and Satan to be perfectly evil, but when they collude together like this, I just don't know about it. And also, in this very scripture reading, Jesus tells Satan that the scriptures tell us not to test God (Matthew 4:7). Why isn't God held to the same standard? Why does he get to test us if we don't get to test him? Talk about a double standard.

I do love the brief passage at the end of Chapter 4 that talks about Jesus healing the sick. Without a doubt, we humans are desperate for physical healing, and we will follow those who offer it to us. We offer our loyalties, our lives, our fortunes, our families--everything--if somebody can give us healing. So Jesus was/is a healer and that is a HUGE part of why people follow him.

I'm currently writing a book about the ways that we (and especially the ways that I, in particular) seek healing. We tend to go about it erratically, slap-dash, without thinking about what it all might mean. When we are desperate, we listen to the promises that people can make to us, and we want to believe so much that we are willing to try whatever.

Maybe Jesus really was a healer. I'd like to believe that Jesus was different than the people I've seen in South Africa who promise healing and offer nothing. But I do wonder sometimes if Jesus is so very different than the Isaiah Shembes of the world. Isaiah Shembe was an African prophet who lived at the turn of the 20th century. The stories about the miracles that Shembe performed rival the Gospel stories. And the people who follow Isaiah Shembe (who is now long gone, but his descendents have taken up the reign of power) believe wholeheartedly that he is the African Jesus--a prophet sent to his own people. Do I believe the stories of Isaiah Shembe's healing? Not really. Sometimes, I think it's possible, maybe he really did have a healing gift, and maybe many people have a healing gift. But other times, I'm pretty certain that it's just people's wishful thinking, their deep desire for healing, that created the stories and the legends. And so I wonder the same about Jesus.

I *want* to believe in spiritual power and spiritual healing. But I just can't. I've never seen any evidence of it.