Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record how the Devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness for forty days — temptations that Jesus overcame before embarking on his mission. The story does not appear in the Fourth Gospel (more on that later).
Mark only mentions the temptation story in passing. Matthew and Luke describe the three Satanic temptations in some detail — these being turning stones to loaves, absolute earthly power, and achieving authority through miracles.
Had Jesus surrendered to these temptations, He would have gained what Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor defines as “the only three powers on the earth that are capable of eternally vanquishing and ensnaring the consciences of those feeble mutineers, for their happiness — those powers are: miracle, mystery, authority.”
Put another way, if Jesus had succumbed to the Devil’s temptations of miracle, mystery, and authority, He would have become the absolute ruler of the world. Moreover, He could have united the people in peace and kept them well-fed and happy forever. Yet, as the Grand Inquisitor laments to Jesus in the Seville prison cell, “You rejected the first, the second, and the third, and yourself gave the lead in doing so.”
The scorn that Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor heaps upon Jesus for rejecting Satan’s temptations is paralleled only by the old priest’s hostility and candor.
If Jesus had submitted to the temptations, He could have created the perfect System on earth. He could have established a peaceful, hunger-free, happy world in which men did not have to agonize over living up to expectations about love, sin, repentance, and creativity. Men could have meekly surrendered their freedom and bowed before Jesus as Caesar. Christendom would have reigned on earth forever.
No man would ever have to worry about losing his culture, conserving his values, or ensuring the safety and well-being of his grandchildren or his grandchildren’s grandchildren. The System would take care of everything. All men had to do in return was surrender their freedom and bow down eternally before the System and its banners of earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority. Jesus could have guaranteed so much!
Come to think of it, the Grand Inquisitor has a valid point. I mean, what was Jesus thinking when He rejected the three temptations? Did He honestly believe that we mere humans were capable of spiritually overcoming earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority? Did He think we have it in us to live beyond the this-worldly? Did He sincerely trust that we would be motivated to follow Him freely and judge what is good and evil with only Him as a guide? Did He really hold that we would prioritize His speculative other-world over our lives and concerns in this-world? That we would be inspired to repent?
The Grand Inquisitor is right! Jesus thought too highly of us. He expected too much of us. Set the bar too high. He obviously did not understand our this-worldly issues and this-worldly problems. He did not carefully consider things like natural law. He somehow could not comprehend the necessity of this-worldly dominion and power. He was oblivious to what it means to be hungry, scared, disillusioned, alienated, and apathetic. He never understood the allure of desire, sin, covetousness, and selfishness. He did not appreciate the burden of freedom. It is tempting to say that the Truth is not really in Him.
Thankfully, the world brims with grand inquisitors who have taken it upon themselves to correct Christ’s work. Unlike Jesus, these grand inquisitors know who and what we really are. Hence, they can supply what we really need — earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly miracles. Lots of this-worldly miracles, mysteries, and authority for everyone!
In return, all we have to do is surrender our freedom, bow down before them, and surrender our spirit to their anti-spiritual System. It matters little that the System is anti-Christ — that those within the System work for the Dreaded Spirit and not Christ. What matters is that the System understands us, accepts us for who and what we are, and keeps things real by keeping us focused solely on this-world. Freed of our freedom and conscience, we can expend all of our energy on this-worldly pursuits within the spiritual desert of the System.
Yet Jesus did reject the Devil’s temptations. All three of them. He was in the world yet turned His back on Satan’s promises of earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority.
In essence, you could say Jesus ceded the world to Satan. He refused to win the world if winning the world entailed harnessing the power of earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority. His sights were set on something greater, and His mission was to offer that something greater to man.
He knew He could not impose this something bigger or greater on man because to do so would be to harness the banners of mystery, miracle, and authority and deny man’s sacred freedom. Imposing this something bigger and greater would render it to the level of just another System. Man had to accept the offer freely through love and faith rooted beyond this-world.
As noted at the beginning of this post, the temptation story does not appear in the Fourth Gospel. Jesus often refuses to do miracles to prove his identity in the Synoptics, but in John, Jesus frequently performs miracles that reveal his divinity.
However, the motivation behind the miracles of the Fourth Gospel is not the three-powers kind the Synoptics were so wary of. In John, Jesus performs miracles as signs to motivate unbelievers to believe in Him and His other-worldly offer of Heaven.
Whenever the specter of the three powers rose to taint His signs, Jesus desisted and quickly withdrew, as demonstrated by his actions after He had fed the 5000 (John 6:14 KJV):
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Every time Jesus encountered the temptation to become the king of the world, He ceded the world.
Every time.
So, forgive me if it appears that my Romantic Christianity dissuades me from becoming involved in your pressing, three-powers, this-worldly cause of reconciling Nature with Christianity, re-imposing Christendom so that Christians can have territory, participating in anti-Christ politics for the sake of your children and their this-worldly future, yearning for a pugnacious Christian leader we can all bow down to, or dreaming of strong Christian community that makes you feel safe and secure.
Mark only mentions the temptation story in passing. Matthew and Luke describe the three Satanic temptations in some detail — these being turning stones to loaves, absolute earthly power, and achieving authority through miracles.
Had Jesus surrendered to these temptations, He would have gained what Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor defines as “the only three powers on the earth that are capable of eternally vanquishing and ensnaring the consciences of those feeble mutineers, for their happiness — those powers are: miracle, mystery, authority.”
Put another way, if Jesus had succumbed to the Devil’s temptations of miracle, mystery, and authority, He would have become the absolute ruler of the world. Moreover, He could have united the people in peace and kept them well-fed and happy forever. Yet, as the Grand Inquisitor laments to Jesus in the Seville prison cell, “You rejected the first, the second, and the third, and yourself gave the lead in doing so.”
The scorn that Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor heaps upon Jesus for rejecting Satan’s temptations is paralleled only by the old priest’s hostility and candor.
If Jesus had submitted to the temptations, He could have created the perfect System on earth. He could have established a peaceful, hunger-free, happy world in which men did not have to agonize over living up to expectations about love, sin, repentance, and creativity. Men could have meekly surrendered their freedom and bowed before Jesus as Caesar. Christendom would have reigned on earth forever.
No man would ever have to worry about losing his culture, conserving his values, or ensuring the safety and well-being of his grandchildren or his grandchildren’s grandchildren. The System would take care of everything. All men had to do in return was surrender their freedom and bow down eternally before the System and its banners of earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority. Jesus could have guaranteed so much!
Come to think of it, the Grand Inquisitor has a valid point. I mean, what was Jesus thinking when He rejected the three temptations? Did He honestly believe that we mere humans were capable of spiritually overcoming earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority? Did He think we have it in us to live beyond the this-worldly? Did He sincerely trust that we would be motivated to follow Him freely and judge what is good and evil with only Him as a guide? Did He really hold that we would prioritize His speculative other-world over our lives and concerns in this-world? That we would be inspired to repent?
The Grand Inquisitor is right! Jesus thought too highly of us. He expected too much of us. Set the bar too high. He obviously did not understand our this-worldly issues and this-worldly problems. He did not carefully consider things like natural law. He somehow could not comprehend the necessity of this-worldly dominion and power. He was oblivious to what it means to be hungry, scared, disillusioned, alienated, and apathetic. He never understood the allure of desire, sin, covetousness, and selfishness. He did not appreciate the burden of freedom. It is tempting to say that the Truth is not really in Him.
Thankfully, the world brims with grand inquisitors who have taken it upon themselves to correct Christ’s work. Unlike Jesus, these grand inquisitors know who and what we really are. Hence, they can supply what we really need — earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly miracles. Lots of this-worldly miracles, mysteries, and authority for everyone!
In return, all we have to do is surrender our freedom, bow down before them, and surrender our spirit to their anti-spiritual System. It matters little that the System is anti-Christ — that those within the System work for the Dreaded Spirit and not Christ. What matters is that the System understands us, accepts us for who and what we are, and keeps things real by keeping us focused solely on this-world. Freed of our freedom and conscience, we can expend all of our energy on this-worldly pursuits within the spiritual desert of the System.
Yet Jesus did reject the Devil’s temptations. All three of them. He was in the world yet turned His back on Satan’s promises of earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority.
In essence, you could say Jesus ceded the world to Satan. He refused to win the world if winning the world entailed harnessing the power of earthly bread, earthly power, and earthly authority. His sights were set on something greater, and His mission was to offer that something greater to man.
He knew He could not impose this something bigger or greater on man because to do so would be to harness the banners of mystery, miracle, and authority and deny man’s sacred freedom. Imposing this something bigger and greater would render it to the level of just another System. Man had to accept the offer freely through love and faith rooted beyond this-world.
As noted at the beginning of this post, the temptation story does not appear in the Fourth Gospel. Jesus often refuses to do miracles to prove his identity in the Synoptics, but in John, Jesus frequently performs miracles that reveal his divinity.
However, the motivation behind the miracles of the Fourth Gospel is not the three-powers kind the Synoptics were so wary of. In John, Jesus performs miracles as signs to motivate unbelievers to believe in Him and His other-worldly offer of Heaven.
Whenever the specter of the three powers rose to taint His signs, Jesus desisted and quickly withdrew, as demonstrated by his actions after He had fed the 5000 (John 6:14 KJV):
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Every time Jesus encountered the temptation to become the king of the world, He ceded the world.
Every time.
So, forgive me if it appears that my Romantic Christianity dissuades me from becoming involved in your pressing, three-powers, this-worldly cause of reconciling Nature with Christianity, re-imposing Christendom so that Christians can have territory, participating in anti-Christ politics for the sake of your children and their this-worldly future, yearning for a pugnacious Christian leader we can all bow down to, or dreaming of strong Christian community that makes you feel safe and secure.
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