LENT 1, SUNDAY, MARCH 1ST 2009
TEMPTATIONS OF JESUS IN THE DESERT – Biblical Commentary by F. Alberto Maggi
OSM
Mk 1,12-15
At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
"This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the
gospel."
Immediately after the Baptism, Mark writes in his Gospel that Jesus is driven into the desert.
As we can notice, this is a very peculiar desert, for it seems quite well populated. Satan is there,
wild beasts are there, and also angels are. Which is the real meaning of this ‘desert’? The desert
has commonly two different meanings:
-
The first is the one which refers to the exodus. Jesus stars a new exodus, and the desert
therefore recalls the place where the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and before
entering the promised land, lived for 40 years. The first meaning – and this is what the
evangelist intends to say - is that the entire life of Jesus will be a desert, a journey towards
freedom through an exodus.
- The other is that the desert is also the typical place where all those who wanted to gain the
power used to gather before launching the attack. Also King David gathered with his men
in the desert before attacking.
The desert has this twofold meaning: the place of the liberation, of the exodus and the place of
the temptation of power. And the latter is the meaning that the evangelist attributes to this
passage.
He writes that Jesus stayed in the desert for 40 days. Numbers in Bible and in Gospels always have
a figurative meaning, never a mathematical one. ‘40 years’ represent a generation.
Mark, the evangelist doesn’t intend to display a part of the life of Jesus; he means that the entire
life of Jesus was spent under these issues, the ones that we are going to see, the temptations.
“Tempted by Satan”. The verb ‘to tempt’ in Gospels will be pronounced by Pharisees. They will
tempt Jesus. So who’s is Satan in this Gospel?
Satan will be just one of his disciples, Simon Peter, whom Jesus will address with very harsh and
reproachful words “Get thee behind me”. What does the evangelist want to say? He doesn’t
display a part of Jesus life, but his entire life. Jesus has been tempted for power, by whom? By
Pharisees, those who were waiting for a messiah sent by God, a messiah who would have started
the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of God, by imposing the observance of the law.
Jesus always refused.
Furthermore in this Gospel, the word ‘law’ never appears.
The other is Simon, the disciple, who doesn’t accept the death of Jesus because death is thought
to be the end of everything. They used to believe in the last day’s resurrection, but death was the
end.
Therefore he doesn’t accept a defeated messiah. He’s the one whom Jesus addresses with the
fearful words “Get thee behind me, Satan”. Satan in this gospel – and it will appear again in chapt.
4 during the parable of the sower – is power.
The evangelist warns all those who hold power, all those who aspire to power and especially those
who are subjected to power.
So, in this desert Jesus found wild beasts. In the book of Daniel beasts represent images of
empires which dominate and subject people with the strength. In his whole life Jesus will fight
against beasts, against those who want to sustain them, against King Herod who tries to take life
away, against the civil power that sees him as a danger.
“But the angels ministred to him”. The only angel already appeared in this Gospel is John the
Baptist. Angel just means ‘sent by God’ and we will see that in this Gospel angels will be in the
flesh, all those sent by God, all those who have a mission by God – in the biblical language – they
are called angels.
What did angels do? They ministred him. This verb ‘to minister’ (diakoneo, from which derives the
word ‘deacon - diakoneo) will appear again as the main feature of women. Women, usually
considered the most far from God, according to the evangelist, on the contrary, they are the most
close, they carry out the function of angels, ministering the Lord.
“After John had been arrested”, when a change is announced, power intervenes in order to
eliminate it, Jesus goes to more quiet places, “came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God”.
The evangelist still didn’t tell us what this good news was all about, we will discover it little by little
going on with Gospel. What is this good news?
God is not how priests have portrayed him to you.
God is not the one who rewards or punishes, the one who threatens, God is love and no one can
be kept away from his love, that’s why this good news will be welcome with a great joy by those
who were considered ‘the most far’, the excluded by religion, and will be seen as an assault to
one’s certainties and devotions by those who thought they deserved God’s love. Through Jesus
God’s love must not be deserved; it must only be welcome as a gratuitous and generous gift.
The announcement made by Jesus: “This is the time of fulfillment”
There has been a time, the one of alliance between God and his people, that came to an end,
whatever fruits it might have given.
And Jesus says that the Kingdom of God – by Kingdom of God we mean the ruling of God over
men, God is king, and he doesn’t rule by promulgating laws that men have to observe, but
communicating his Spirit. Law is something external, outward to men, Spirit is something internal.
Law cannot be aware of my personal story, my experience, by needs, my pains because is
something completely external to who I have to submit. The Kingdom of God will be real when
God will rule men, not by promulgating laws that men have to observe, but communicating his
Spirit, that is an inner power that develops and expands what is peculiar, what is typical of each
individual.
And here is the message of Jesus “in order to achieve the Kingdom of God, conversion is needed”
(please note that the verb ‘to repent’ is part of an improper translation from Greek).
In Greek language two verbs are used to mean ‘to convert’:
-
One has a religious meaning, as to say ‘return to God’, that is a return to the temple, to
prayers, and the evangelists accurately avoid this verb
The other, the one used by Mark and other evangelists, indicates a change of mentality
which implies a change of behavior. The exhortation made by Jesus is change the
orientation of your existence. If you have lived for yourselves, for your needs and
expectations, change your mind, be converted: live for others.
Conversion is therefore an exhortation to differently live our life, taking care of others. If we live
for others we discover the good news. As a matter of fact this passage of Mark’s Gospel ends with
“believe in the gospel”.
And what is this good news?
God is love, but in order for his love to be accomplished, he needs channels and instruments; so
Jesus requires us to cooperate in his work.