Then, after he was baptized, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He became hungry and the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But Jesus answered and said, "It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took Jesus into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘God will command the angels concerning you’ and ‘ on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms od the world and their glory and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You fall down and worships me.” Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord you God, and serve Him only.’”
Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. (Matthew 4:1-11, NASB)
What does this have to do with anything, except show that Jesus didn't give into temptations, very esoteric temptations. removed from us by 2000 years. John broke it down into what I've been remembering as the 3 D's.
1. "Turn these stones to bread" is the temptation to Despair. Here, the tempter says to Jesus, if you are hungry, you better take care if it yourself. Everything rests on your shoulders and if you don't do it no one will.
2. "Throw yourself down from here" is the temptation to Doubt. Here the tempter insists that in order for Jesus to know God (to confirm himself as God's beloved) he must attempt suicide. It's a temptation to a desperate doubt that needs proof of God's love.
3. "Worship me and the world will be yours" is the temptation to Domination. Here the tempter that only through control and dominion over everything and everyone can Jesus fulfill his mission, can reach all of the people he is meant to (at the small cost of His soul). It forgets that God is a God of relationships. Hitler built his platform on a promise of "1000 Years of Peace" but to get to that Peace, this group and that needed exterminated. This might be the temptation that he fell trap to: that peace can come about only through control, rather than in partnership.
In each of these, Jesus turns the focus back to God, grasping on to his core identity as God's Beloved. He knows that "His Father knows that you need [food and clothing]" (Matthew 6:32) and that God can handle his hunger -- and not just physical but his spiritual hunger and so does not fall pray to despair. He knows He is God's Beloved and does not need to test it and so does not fall prey to doubt. He worships God alone and does not need to take control/dominion from Him and so does not fall prey to domination.
In these terms, through this lens, a lot of my own temptations stem from these three D's, and so have this new lens, being helped to name some root causes of my own struggles helps me to understand myself better and to begin to be able to unlock my clenched fist, often around fear, and live with palms open ready to freely give and freely receive.
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