Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

The temptation of the people of God, and therefore of Jesus also, begins in the task itself—in the heart of what Israel is sent to do: to live in the world as a people that gives honor to God alone, acknowledges God as its only Lord, so that others can see and understand from this people what faith is. But if the people of God lives not for God but for itself, if it seeks not the honor of God but its own, and if in the process God is even made an instrument for the accomplishment of its own interests—then the task and the mission are perverted in their inmost heart. Then what happens is not proclamation but self-exaltation, and in place of service to others comes service to one’s own interest. The story about Jesus’ temptations illustrates in the most sublime form the potential sin of all those who are called.

In the first scene people make use of the new possibilities opened up by the mission of the people of God for their own interests. They get bread for themselves (Matt 4:2-4). The history of the church will show that it is possible to earn money through the Gospel.

In the second scene people serve not God but their own project by putting themselves on display. Throwing oneself down from the pinnacle of the temple is an extravagant display to test what possibilities God has to offer that one can make use of for one’s own self-presentation, misusing Sacred Scripture into the bargain (Matt 4:5-7).

In the third scene everything that is going on in the depths finally comes to light: those who do not serve God alone and with all their strength, in fact, serve themselves and thus the chaotic powers of the world (Matt 4:8-10).

Only those who have understood how narrow and exposed is the path by which God is truly honored, and how quickly faith itself falls into self-help, giving oneself honor, making oneself master or mistress—only they understand the explosive point of the Matthean and Lukan temptation story: it is especially those called who can misuse their calling to serve their own persons, glorify their own deeds, and seek not to serve but to exercise religious power. And misuse of power in the name of God is the most terrible of all violations.

The stories about Jesus’ temptation immediately after his baptism are intended to say that Jesus too was repeatedly tempted by all these things, in the deepest depths of his existence. But he resisted the tempter, and he did so with ultimate clarity and determination. He could do so because he held fast to the word of God. Therefore he thrice quotes Sacred Scripture, the collected wisdom of Israel about how to distinguish and decide.

What the temptation story had summarized and distilled at the beginning of the first three gospels happened again and again in the course of Jesus’ public activity. To take one example: in the course of the Markan narrative Jesus asked his disciples who people said that he was. They answered that some took him for the Baptizer redivivus, others for the return of Elijah, and others for earlier prophets of Israel. Then Jesus asks the disciples who they themselves think he is, and Peter answers with his messianic confession. But what does the word “messiah” mean? In order not to be misunderstood, Jesus tells the disciples prophetically of his passion and execution. Then “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter [in turn] and said, ‘Get out of my sight,⁶ Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things’” (Mark 8:32-33).

It is out of the question that this little scene could represent a fictive narrative constructed after Easter to encourage the community to follow Jesus to the cross. Without a historical background, no one would have attached Jesus’ appellation “Satan” to Peter. The historical location was probably Jesus’ stated intention to go to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Apparently it was clear to all those involved how dangerous that would be, and Peter must have reacted accordingly in the situation. We can easily picture his attempt to talk Jesus out of making the Jerusalem pilgrimage. Probably he argued quite rationally. Perhaps he said, “Not to the capital, not now! Let’s stay in Galilee. We don’t have to go to this particular festival. Let’s hold back a little until the whole fuss has died down.”

Whatever Peter may have said, Jesus reacts with unbelievable harshness. He addresses the disciple he had once called and who has followed him to this hour as “Satan,” the tempter, the opponent of God, the one who confuses all people. And he does so because Peter is not thinking about what God wants but what matches his own ideas and desires.