Continuing our series on Parker Palmer's The Active Life: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring, we look at Chapter 6, "' Jesus in the Desert': The Temptations of Action." The story in this chapter is the temptation of Jesus in the desert as given in Luke 4:1-15, (Jerusalem Bible, modified by Palmer with inclusive language.)
Temptations of Jesus in the Desert
Filled with Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, "If you are the Chosen One, tell this stone to turn into a loaf." But Jesus replied, "Scripture says: 'People do not live on bread alone.'"
Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, "I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours." But Jesus answered him, "Scripture says, 'You must worship the Lord your God, and serve God alone.'"
Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. "If you are the Chosen One," he said to him "throw yourself down from here, for Scripture says: 'God will put angels in charge of you to guard you,' and again: 'They will hold you up on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.'" But Jesus answered him, "It has been said: 'You must not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him. (100)
So far, Palmer has used stories from outside the Christian tradition for his reflections. We are so familiar with Christian stories it is hard to see them anew. As we turn this story from Luke, he wants us to listen carefully to the story and not to minimize the struggle and the suffering presented in the story, both for Jesus and, by implication, for us. He also reminds us that "The temptations story makes it clear that God's Spirit is not safe but dangerous, that those who act on the Spirit's urging will sometimes find themselves hungry and thirsty and filled with fear." (102) Reflecting on last week's story by Martin Buber, Palmer wonders:
"Is the devil in this biblical story an angel who tried to set things right but refused to learn from his failure? Is this devil still trying to set things right by finding an ally who is willing to risk the same mistake? Let us keep these questions alive while we explore the temptations that Jesus faced as he embarked on his active life." (103)
Turn This Stone to Bread
Palmer says this is, in part, the temptation to prove our identity. The devil begins, "If you are the Chosen One, …"
"Jesus does not regard himself as accountable for his calling to any voice except God's, so in his refusal to "prove" anything to the devil he is actually proving that his is the Chosen One as he himself understands it." (106)
But there is more. It is a temptation to be relevant, to meet a surface need.
"Like the woodcarver, who fasted not merely from food but from praise and criticism, gain and success, Jesus' real need is for inward confirmation of his mission, a confirmation he is more likely to fine in the emptiness of fasting than in gratification of bodily needs." (107)
By pressing to be relevant, we can sabotage true needs. "The temptation to be relevant is often the temptation to deal with only the external illusion of a problem and ignore its internal truth." (108)
I Will Give You Power
Palmer says, "The power that tempts us is never power with or for others, but always power over something or someone." (109) The imagery of "height," being above it all, is critical here. Height gives us two illusions.
"The first illusion is that once we are above it all we need not be immersed in the suffering of those who are under our power. … The second illusion is that a power that keeps us above it all is a power that will not corrupt us." (109)
But possibly the most disarming response to the devil's offer would have been to ask the question, "Does this guy really have the thing he says he can give me?" (110) Too often, we strive for things believing they will bring us benefits beyond the thing itself … freedom, status, belonging, or meaning. What is being offered is not capable of delivering what is promised. Palmer remarks that, "Were Jesus to worship the devil in this case, it would not be so much immoral as just plain foolish." (111) Such temptations should not entrap us, yet they so easily do.
Throw Yourself Down
Palmer notes that Jesus was "led" to these various tests by the devil and that it is interesting that Jesus offers no resistance. Earlier in the chapter, he says that the root Latin word for temptation, "tempartare," means to touch, to try or test, to feel experimentally. (103) Palmer writes:
"… Resisting temptations does not mean refusing to go into place where one is tempted, does not mean evading the quandaries of one's life. We must go to those places because we have to, because they are necessary way station on the journey, because the journey requires energy that should not be squandered on fighting the journey itself. The real work is to go where we are led, to see what is there, to respond out of our own truth." (112)
Once again, Palmer thinks that Jesus' response is not out of an ethical "ought" but out of wisdom concerning the circumstances. "I do not think it would be morally wrong to test God by jumping off a high building to see if God would save you. It would be stupid." (113) To me, Palmer is not very clear about what he means in this discussion. I gather that he is saying that God could intervene, but God does not intervene to protect our petty agendas. God intervenes to further God's agenda. Acting as though we have the power to compel God to serve our ends is stupidity. That, at least, makes sense to me.
Palmer writes that "Henry Nouwen calls this third temptation the temptation to be spectacular, and it may be the most difficult of the three to resist." (113) He writes:
"This is, perhaps, the temptation to be charismatic, to inspire the sort of awe in people that leaves your ego continually inflated but that lacks the obligation that might pull you back to earth." (113)
The Temptation to be Inadequate
Palmer closes with this important observation in the chapter's final section.
"… But the temptation that afflicts many of us is that of weak ego—the temptation to think of ourselves as irrelevant, powerless, and utterly mundane, as people in whom Satan would never have the slightest interest.
On the surface, the temptations of the strong ego and the weak ego seem quite contrary to one another. But paradoxically, their origins and outcomes are the same. Both destroy our capacity for right action because both proceed from the same mistaken premise: the assumption that effective action requires us to be relevant, powerful, and spectacular, that only by being so can we have a real impact on the world." (114)
And later:
"Right action requires only that we respond faithfully to our inner truth and to the truth around us." (115)
But this is not the end of the temptation problem. Anyone who rightly rejects the call to be relevant, powerful, and spectacular will end up compellingly impacting people. Such a person will receive praise, just as news of Jesus spread through the countryside and he received praise. Then we are tempted to pursue praise. This passage was especially insightful about such praiseworthy people:
"There are two problems at work here. One is the public's tendency to project onto this man a quality that they want to possess but are unable to find in themselves, so they burden their hero with the impossible task of living out a part of their lives for them. The other problem is that their hero, like most of us, may find the hero role attractive, may seek to keep those projections coming, may even be willing to give up the solitary life that he finds so valuable for the sake of praise and fame – as I might, if given the chance." (118)
And finally:
"Right action demands that we find a deeper and truer source of energy and guidance than relevance, power, and spectacle can provide." (119)
Questions
In what ways have you experienced the temptation to be relevant, powerful, and spectacular? Have you experienced the temptation to be inadequate? How so?
Can you think of people in your own life who seem to be both the extremes of the temptations of Christ and the temptation to be inadequate? How would you characterize their lives?
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