The Temptation of Power
Read: Matthew 4:8-11
The devil, realizing that his second temptation had failed, figured it was just too small in scope, so increased the scale. Instead of just fame in Jerusalem, he tempted Jesus with world-wide fame.
We often feel insignficant in this world, especially while we are impertectly learning social skills as teenagers. We end up being bullied or marginalized, and suffer painful name-calling. This can lead tragic results, because it makes us vulnerable to despair or even suicide. When we become adults and decide to confront them and forgive them for it, we discover to our disappointment either that they forgot all about it, or thought that it was all in fun and we were in on the “game.”
Back then, as we experienced the turmoil of adolescence, we had fantasies of overcoming it with fame and popularity. We read a lot of comic books and watched a lot of TV shows and movies about underdog teenagers who somehow gained superpowers and became national heroes—and we wish it would happen to us. We fantasize that we’d suddenly become popular—but alas, we did not live in a comic book world, no matter how hard we fantasized about it. Sometimes we were even driven to accomplishments that won the admiration of adults but not of our peers.
It didn’t end after we graduated from the turmoil of adolescence into the turmoil of adulthood. Either we became jaded or it became subtle. Bullying turned into backstabbing, gossip, and one-upmanship. We aren’t as prominent in society as we think we should be and we don’t get the promotions at work that we think we deserve. We live in houses that look just like all the others in our development. We settle into being content with inconspicuousness and insignificance, and we look for meaning in other things. In a sense, adulthood becomes just the process of becoming content with less.
The memories of adolescence fade, but our aspirations do not. We gave up on being famous and we’re willing to settle for contentment. We forget the pain of our teenage years, dismissing them from our minds when we happen to recall them, but our desire for fame persists as a shadow of its former self.
Jesus shares this predicament with us, and suffered the same temptation. He had not begun His ministry yet. He wanted to save the whole world, which bullied Him as our peers bullied us. The devil tempted Him with fame as a shortcut to victory without the cross, but Jesus is smarter than we are; He knew it wouldn’t have worked. Even if the devil had had the power to give Him fame, it would only have won the world’s astonishment, not their souls.
Jesus show us that it is easy to get rid of the devil as long as we disbelieve his ability to deliver on his promises. Just see through his wiles and call him out on it. Satan owns nothing, he is powerless to do anything or give us anything, but he does have the power to brag and deceive us. Expose his weakness to himself, and he vanishes.
Prayer
Lord God, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, I confess that I have looked for fame and fortune in the wrong place. Even if I became famous in this world, they would eventually move on to the next famous person, and even if I amassed wealth in this world, I would lose it, if not in this life, then at its end. Please forgive me, remind me that permanent things are better than transient things. It is better to win your approval than the world’s approval, and the wealth you offer me lasts through eternal life. Turn my mind from the world to eternal things and teach me to grow into the true light. This I ask in Jesus’ Name, because He lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Amen