the text onto his screen and examined it closely.
At that time Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the desert in order to be tempted by the Devil. There he fasted for forty days and nights; and after that he suffered from hunger. So the Tempter came and said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to turn into loaves.”
“It is written,” replied Jesus, “It is not on bread alone that a man shall live, but on whatsoever God shall appoint.”
Then the Devil took him to the Holy City and caused him to stand on the roof of the Temple, and said, “If you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘To His angels He will give orders concerning thee, and on their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any moment thou shouldst strike thy foot against a stone.’”
“Again it is written,” replied Jesus, ‘Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof.’”
Then the Devil took him to the top of an exceedingly lofty mountain, from which he caused him to see all the Kingdoms of the world and their splendour, and said to him, “All this I will give you, if you will kneel down and do me homage.”
“Begone, Satan!” Jesus replied; “for it is written, ‘To the Lord thy God thou shalt do homage, and to Him alone shalt thou render worship’.” Thereupon the Devil left him, and angels at once came and ministered to him.
Firstly, then, the Temptation story with Jesus off in the desert, the forty days and nights of fasting and the three-fold testing. He guessed that the Temptation narrative might provoke lots of discussion. He glanced at the other parts of the chapter. They seemed to be the account of picking up where John the Baptist left off, finding disciples and beginning an itinerant ministry in which proclamation was augmented by powerful deeds.
He checked out the Temptation story and became aware that it fell into a well-known category; he reread parts of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with a Thousand Faces” and recognized the temptation narrative as an account of a series of ordeals that Jesus had to face on his journey. The puzzle was making sense of the conversation; when the suggestion comes that he should make bread from stones, his reply seems a non-sequitur. No one is suggesting that men should live by bread alone but simply that he should satisfy his own hunger. Al thought about a reference to “fast food” as a kind of joke but thought better of it.
The temptation to create a sensational miracle is countered by the general notion that one should not put God to the test. The last of the three seemed simply bizarre at first glance: who in their right mind would entertain the notion of becoming a servant of Satan for the sake of political power? He paused a bit over that thought, reminding himself of those in the history of mankind who had seemingly done just that!
Was it possible, he wondered, that Jesus gave his followers a general description of his time in the desert and that later writers did the Midrash thing again, complete with citations from the Jewish scriptures? It would certainly explain the dialogue, which, he thought, was somewhat lame; surely Jesus and his opponent could debate more profoundly than the record seemed to indicate.
He wondered again if it was possible to penetrate the mind of Jesus. Could it have been the case that he was unaware of his destiny until he was baptized and experienced the events around his baptism, then needed to get away into the desert to try to sort it out? Could he have eventually shared with his disciples something of the struggles to answer the question, “If I am the Messiah, what should I do to fulfil that destiny?” The three temptations might conceal underlying options: to provide bread for the people as a benefactor, to make some spectacular manifestation of his Messianic powers, to find political action to inaugurate the Kingdom.
His mind drifted inevitably to his memory of “The Last Temptation of Christ,” both the book which he had read in his teenage years when he had first fallen in love with the writings of Nikos Kazantzakis, and the more recent movie. He wondered again if the “Last Temptation,” to avoid the messianic destiny and to live a “normal” life, might in fact be the “First Temptation”. He remembered the parable in “Report to Greco,” wondering if he could include it in his presentation. He was too lazy to look it up but recalled the story line: Mary and Joseph bring their son, Jesus, to a sage in Jerusalem. Mary cries out that her son needs healing. In private conversation, the sage asks the boy the source of his trouble. He confesses to great pain and restlessness; “I roam the streets, wrestling,” he says. To the question, “Wrestling with whom?” comes the reply, “With God, of course! Who else?” For a month, the boy receives treatment, herbs, quietness and reassurance. After that time, he is cured. He goes back to Galilee to become “the best carpenter in Nazareth.” The parable ends with the sage saying, “Do you understand? Jesus was cured. Instead of saving the world, he became the best carpenter in Nazareth!”
He thought about this story again, as he had over the years, unsure that it would fit into the discussion, but moved again by its power.
Regretfully, he recognized that he was wandering away from Matthew’s text.
He was interrupted for a while by the needs of business and thoughts of Melanie, as he hoped again that he hadn’t given the impression that he wished to take over leadership of the group. His initial ponderings on the temptation narrative made him realize what a difficult situation she had been inherited.
At that very time, Melanie was meeting with the Dean of the Cathedral, ostensibly on some legal business but she was glad of the opportunity that the meeting gave to discuss her “inheritance” from Matty. “Yes,” he agreed, “it came as a bit of a surprise when I heard about it. But I have confidence that you will find your way through it. Is it Matty’s last attempt to bring you into the fold?” He laughed and she couldn’t help lightening up a bit. “But,” she said, “there is another problem.” And she explained her exchange with Al and his agreement to make an introduction the following Tuesday. “He’s totally new to it all. It is possibly the first time he has read Matthew’s Gospel.”
“Don’t worry,” he replied. “I know Al quite well from his bookstore and he is an interesting man. And think what a rare opportunity to get a take on a gospel chapter from an outsider perspective.”
Al had time later that day to return to the remainder of the text; it seemed less problematic.
Now when Jesus heard that John was thrown into prison, he withdrew into Galilee, and, leaving Nazareth, he went and settled at Capernaum, a town by the Lake on the frontiers of Zebulun and Naphtali, in order that these words, spoken through the Prophet Isaiah, might be fulfilled,
“Zebulun’s land and Naphtali’s land; the road by the Lake; the country beyond the Jordan; Galilee of the Nations!
The people who were dwelling in darkness have seen a brilliant light; and on those who were dwelling in the region of the shadow of death, on them light has dawned.”
It made sense that when John the Baptist was no longer able to continue, that Jesus would take over, with identically the same description of his preaching, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is now close at hand.
The circumstances of John’s imprisonment were easily tracked down in Matthew 14, with the gruesome account of his beheading to satisfy the malice of Herodias. He remembered being present for a production of Strauss’s opera at the Sydney Opera House, unprepared for the shocking ending when Salome herself is beheaded at Herod’s command. His mind had wandered away again from the text and he knew that Strauss was too far removed from Matthew’s Gospel to be of significance to the task in hand.
But a question which came naturally: if Jesus inherits John’s proclamation, did he also continue the baptisms? A quick web check made
