In His Face

Years ago, I had the chance to visit the ancient city of Jericho. As we walked around the archaeological site, our tour guide made an offhand comment.

He pointed to an adjacent mountain and told us it was the Mount of Temptations, where Jesus prayed and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. I thought “Oh, okay” and kept walking. About 3 seconds later I stopped, turned around and stared at that mountain. I had pictured that story from Matthew 4 very differently.

I had the impression, maybe suggested by a well-meaning Sunday School teacher when I was a kid, that when Jesus was tempted in the Judean Wilderness it was as if he was sitting cross legged in the middle of Death Valley, with all temptations out of sight out of mind. It doesn’t look that way at all.

That site looks just like the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, once you remove all the trees, and shrubs, and minor vegetation, and scrape away the topsoil, and dry up all the creeks. It seemed as if the only living things up there were some small struggling plants, some half-starved insects, and a handful of goats that made some very poor career choices.

There is a lot of rock and dirt, and rock and dirt, and beyond that more rock and dirt. So, just like the Smokies, with some modifications.

Jesus spends his 40 days and nights in a cave overlooking Jericho.

Imagine I were to describe for you a moist chocolate brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top, with hot fudge drizzled down the sides, topped with whipped cream and an embalmed cherry. Does that sound tempting? (If not, substitute a T-bone steak, giant lobster tail, whatever.)

Now imagine that instead of just describing that dessert (or whatever) I were to actually waive it in front of you. Is it now more tempting or less tempting? It’s more tempting because it’s in your face.

When Jesus is on that mountainside, the creature comforts are not out of sight out of mind. He’s looking at them. He might have been able to smell the bread baking in the ovens from Jericho. He could see the homes with comfortable beds. He can hear the music coming from Jericho. He could sense the social life that they enjoyed, and that he missed.

Regardless of those distractions, no matter how tempting they may have been, he stayed on that mountain. He was that determined.  Seeing the location where this happened makes the story even more impressive.

I’m not suggesting that we could match his resolve. I am weak, and I am not alone.

Yet we can appreciate his willingness to endure, to prepare himself for the earthly ministry he was about to start.

We can be encouraged to not give into all the minor and major temptations that nag us, threatening to derail us from where we need to go.

We can be inspired to do what we must to accomplish what we’ve been called to complete.

Temptation is all around us. It’s in our face. But we are stronger than we imagine once we look to he who is stronger still.

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Dave Soucie lives, serves and writes in Indianapolis.

Copyright © 2023 by Dave Soucie.  All rights reserved [but permission is granted for non-commercial use only, with proper citation].