Mark 1:12-13 - Homilies By J.j. Given

Parallel passages: Matthew 4:1-11 ; Luke 4:1-13 .—

The temptation.

I. THE REALITY OF THE TEMPTATION . The above passage of St. Mark, and the parallel passages of the other Gospels, contain the record of one of the most remarkable transactions in the Word of God. It records the temptation of the Son of God. It describes not a fiction but a fact—not a phantom scene, such as a poet's fancy delights to paint, nor a daydream that merely passed through the imagination of the Saviour, but a literal and historical reality. The whole is a narrative of a mysterious yet actual event. It is Satan, personally, that acts the part of the tempter; it is the Saviour, personally, who is tempted; it is the Word of God that is the armoury furnishing the celestial weapons by which the temptation is resisted and the tempter foiled.

II. THE FACT OF THE TEMPTATION AND ITS IMPORTANT BEARINGS .

1 . Proof of its reality. That the event here recorded was an actual fact, a real transaction, is proved by the different expressions employed by the evangelists. Thus, St. Luke says he "was led by the Spirit;" St. Matthew, that he "was led up of the Spirit;" and St. Mark, that "the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness." Similarly Ezekiel, among the captives on the banks of the Chebar, says of himself, "The Spirit lifted me up, and took me away;" so Philip was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord; so also John was "in the Spirit on the Lord's day."

2 . The Saviour ' s first conflict. The temptation was our Lord's first conflict with that enemy whom he came to contend with and to conquer. It was at the same time the last part of his preparation for his work and warfare. It made him aware of the dangerous devices of the adversary; of the mistakes that would certainly mar, and of the mismanagement which might possibly make his undertaking miscarry. His person, his work, his deportment, were all concerned. In his person identified with the human as well as the Divine, he was debarred from using the resources of the latter to raise him above the common wants and sinless weaknesses of the former; and in remembrance thereof he says, "Man shall not live by bread alone." Self-abnegation, not self-gratification, was the law of his life. In his work he behoved to stand aloof from the ways of the world, eschewing the plans and plots, and all those many means of questionable character, by which men have struggled for dominion and grasped at glory. The spirit of his work was non-conformity to this world; the nature of his kingdom was spiritual, not of this world; the way to reach it was self-sacrifice; the crown was to be gained, but only by the cross. In his deportment there was to be no ostentatious display of close kinship with the eternal Father, no proud presuming on that high relationship, no capricious exercise of Divine power. In due time he would be "declared" the Son of God with power. Accordingly he repels this assault with the strong language of intense abhorrence, if not indignation, saying, "Thou shalt not tempt out and out ( πειράσεις ) [to an extreme altogether intolerable] the Lord thy God."

3 . The weapon he wielded. Once and again, moreover, the lesson of his childhood—the section of the Jewish Law that was written on the frontlet and thus familiar to every Hebrew youth—he called to his timely aid, and held up to the tempter as the old standing Scripture ( γέγραπται , equivalent to "it stands, written"), the ever-abiding truth never to be departed from.

4 . The key to the narrative. The key to the entire narrative is contained in the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews 4:15 , "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin;" and again in the same Epistle, Hebrews 2:18 , "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." From these Scriptures we learn that the design of Christ's mission to mankind was twofold; it was not only to make an expiation for our sins by his death, but to be a perfect example for our imitation in his life. He was tempted, therefore, in order that he might be an example to us when called to encounter temptation. He was tempted, moreover, in order that he might be able to sympathize with and succor us when tried and tempted; as the poet has beautifully as well as truly said of him—

Touched with a sympathy within,

He knows our feeble frame;

He knows what sore temptations mean,

For he has felt the same.

Then let our humble faith address

His mercy and his power,

We shall obtain delivering grace

In every trying hour."

5. Forewarned. In the conflict of the Saviour with Satan, as narrated in the Gospels, we have the prototype of, and precedent for, the perfect believer, showing us what manner of adversary we have to contend with, how he fights, how he is resisted, how he is overcome; showing us also the arena on which we have to maintain the struggle, what weapons we must wield, how certain our victory will be when we use those weapons aright, as well as the true source of conquest and of triumph, on which we are to depend. Now, there is much truth in the old proverb, "Forewarned is forearmed;" and if this be true of conflicts where carnal weapons are employed, it is also true of that spiritual conflict which every Christian has to carry on with the great enemy of God and of goodness—of the soul and of salvation. Accordingly, the passage under consideration warns us of the adversary and of his devices, that we may not be ignorant of them; of the boldness of his assaults and the mode of his attacks; of what he did in a green tree; and of how much more powerful the fire of his temptation may be expected to be in a dry; of his repeated attacks on him of whom we read, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." How much more severe and repeated attacks of this great adversary may be expected by us, in whom a wicked heart within and a wicked World without combine to render temptation successful! For who among us has not felt the truth of the sentiment—

"A wicked heart and wicked world,

With Satan are combined;

Each acts a too successful part

In harassing my mind"?

6. Forearmed. Further, the lesson of the passage arms us with weapons of resistance and defense, which, if used duly, diligently, and dutifully, will enable us to resist the devil and force him to flee from us. It implies, moreover, the important duty incumbent on every Christian to guard against all appearance of evil, to check the first risings of evil in the heart, to resist the first suggestions of the evil one, to watch and pray, and apply God's Word, that we may not enter into temptation. And all this the more, that Satan's onsets are so daring and his designs so murderous; his arguments so specious and his schemes of ruin so subtle; his plan being our enslavement to himself and sin, while his purpose is to pay us the hard-earned wages of transgression. "What fruit had ye then," asks the apostle, "in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death."

III. THE FORMS OF THE TEMPTATION IN GENERAL .

1 . Striking similarity. There is a remarkable and instructive similarity between the temptation of the first and that of the second Adam; and also a vast dissimilarity. The similarity consists in the means and manner of the temptation; but a world-wide difference is presented in the result. There are three powerful principles of human nature, of which Satan takes advantage, and to which he adapts his temptations. These principles are "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" spoken of in Scripture. These have been called this world's Trinity. By means of these Satan tempted the first Adam, and succeeded; by the same means he attempted to ensnare the second Adam and failed. In tempting the first Adam he plied him with the lust of the flesh ; for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which God had forbidden man to eat, was good for food, and so fitted to gratify the lust of the flesh and lead to the indulgence of carnal appetite. He tried him by the lust of the eyes ; for the forbidden tree was pleasant to the eyes, and so adapted to gratify their lust and produce covetousness. He tried him by the pride of life ; for it was a tree to be desired to make one wise—to make man as God, knowing good and evil, and so suited to the pride of life, prompting and fostering pride of heart. In all this Satan succeeded. He knew the baits to lay, and when and how to lay them. Besides, the first Adam was of the earth, earthy, and we, alas! have all borne his image; for "as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death has passed upon all men for that all have sinned." Now, as Satan had been so successful with the first Adam, it is not to be wondered at that he should try the same mode of procedure in framing his temptation for the second Adam. Accordingly, he tries him first by the lust of the flesh, tempting him to change stones into bread, and so moving him to the indulgence of appetite. Next he tries him by the pride of life, tempting him. to throw himself down from the temple's pinnacle, and so, in sight of the inhabitants of the holy city, to prove his deity and show forth his glory, employing the upbearing protection of glorious angelic hosts. Thus Satan does his best to move the Saviour to the sin of pride. Once more he tries him by the lust of the eyes, exhibiting to his vision a panoramic view of all the kingdoms of the world, or showing them to him stretched out before his eyes in widespread perspective. He offers him all these and all their glory, and so he endeavors to move him to covetousness. We have here followed the order in which the temptations occur in St. Matthew's narrative.

2 . Dissimilarity of sequel. All Satan's temptations were in vain as regarded our Lord. The first Adam fell in Eden, a garden the fairest and loveliest ever planted on earth; the second Adam overcame triumphantly on the bleak and dreary wild. A paradise of earthly glory was lost by the first; the paradise of God was secured for us by the second.

3 . Special adaptations. But not only did these temptations of our Lord correspond to the three forms of temptation which brought death into our world and all our woe; they correspond to the three portions of man's composite nature, that is to say, body, soul, and spirit. The body needs bread to satisfy its natural cravings, and the temptation is to procure it independently of Providence. The soul is also appetitive, though in a different direction, and in its outlook contemplates a wide sweep and vast dominion; the temptation is to secure all this at a single bound, overleaping the wearisome way of suffering and self-sacrifice. The middle place between the purely carnal and the purely spiritual is this visual illusion. The spirit rules in man over body and soul, and so liability to pride opens the way to temptation; and here the temptation is to put to the test his eternal Sonship, and to prove by one splendid miracle the truth of his Messianic claims. Thus the appeal was to appetite , to avarice or aggrandizement, and to ambition ; in other words, to poverty, power, and pride;—following, as we do here, the order of St. Luke's Gospel

4 . Reason of this difference of arrangement. But why is this difference of arrangement between St. Luke and St. Matthew, the former reversing the relative position of the second and the third temptations as recorded by the latter? Why change the order? Mill's solution is, perhaps, the right one; at all events, it is very plausible and very probable. It is to the effect that while the flesh is the first avenue of assault in all men, the tempter varies his tactics in the case of the other two, and in accordance with the difference of temperament, leading some by the way of pride to ambition, but others, in reverse order, along the road of ambition to pride.

IV. THE FEATURES THAT DISTINGUISH EACH TEMPTATION IN PARTICULAR .

1 . Individual traits of the first temptation. The exact gist of the first temptation is, "If thou art the Son of God, exercise thy lordship; if the Son of God, prove thy possession of that power; if the Son of God, what profit is there in this Sonship? What good will this birthright do you?" Now, a compliance with the suggestions of the tempter would have been practical denial of that very Sonship and virtual distrust of the Divine Fatherhood. While we do not and cannot dispense with bread, we must depend on God as Israel of old waited for the word that brought them food. This is in strict accord with the training of the Saviour's childhood as shadowed forth in that portion of Deuteronomy, namely, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 , that formed the frontlet already mentioned, and in entire harmony with his own teaching in the sermon on the mount, where he says, "For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." The evil one—at once Satan the adversary, and Diabolos the accuser—now puts forth all his power. The temptation had doubtless continued all those forty days of fasting ( πειραζόμενος , present participle implying such continuance), but now it culminated.

(a) To see the subtlety of Satan ' s snares. We may now look at the practical bearing of this first temptation expressed in the words, "Speak a word of power in order that these stones may become bread or loaves—speak them by a word of power into bread;" though ἵνα with the subjunctive is not for the infinitive after εἰπὲ in the sense of command, but as Stolz translates, "Sprich ein Machtwort damit dicse Steine Brod werden." If we reflect on the antecedents and the accompaniments of this temptation, we cannot conceive of anything more specious. The time was that moment when he began to be an hungered; when the sinless cravings of appetite began to be felt; when, in instructive parallelism with Moses at the promulgation of the Law from Sinai, and with Elias at its restoration on Carmel, the Saviour at the fulfillment of the Law and the introduction of the gospel fasted forty days and forty nights. By entering in this manner on the activities of his great mediatorial work, he teaches us, by the way, the importance of retiring for fasting, meditation, and prayer before commencing any very important duty in the service of God. The time was thus well chosen; for when the Saviour, being subject to all the sinless infirmities of humanity, began to feel the gnawings of hunger, just then Satan, who is as vigilant as he is malignant and murderous, took advantage of the moment at which appetite, after being so long whetted, had become keenest, and urged the change of stones into bread to meet the wants of nature. But the place as well as the time appeared to second the speciousness and seeming propriety of this suggestion. It was just such a place as that of which the Psalmist says, "They wandered in a wilderness in a solitary way … Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them." Nothing eatable could be obtained; no esculent of any kind was to be met with. The circumstances also added to the speciousness of Satan's suggestion, and seemed to render the working of a miracle as proper as it was plausible. The Saviour had been declared and openly acknowledged as the Son of God. He is alone in a desert, hungry, without any possibility of supply, and yet "the Son of God with power." In such a case it was natural enough and reasonable enough to all human seeming for Satan to say, "If you really possess the power, why not exert it at a time when it is so much needed, and in a place where it is so indispensable, no suitable supply being otherwise procurable? If. the Son of God, and in want, why not utter a creative word and relieve that want? If invested with sufficient ability, why not Speak an omnific word and display that ability? If capable, why not work a miracle when it is so necessary, and when there can be nothing wrong in the act; for to turn stones into loaves of bread is in itself no more amiss than to turn water into wine?" Thus tempted Satan. Thus by plausible and powerful reasonings he backed his temptations.

(b) To shun those snares is the next practical use to be made of this temptation. However specious and subtle, it is our interest as well as our duty to shun them; and the more specious and subtle they are, the more needful it is to be on our guard against them. Oh, how subtle the tempter is! He takes advantage of our circumstances, he takes occasion from our wants, he adapts his assaults to our weaknesses. The poor and needy he tempts to discontent, sometimes even to dishonesty. Are you poor? Then, says Satan, scruple not to supply the necessities of nature. Are you unable to rise in the world by fair means? Then use foul. Are you in low circumstances? Then try the tricks of trade. Are you necessitous? Then employ dishonesty in your dealings, or resort to fraud in some shape, or even have recourse to force. Are you given to appetite? Then Satan will tempt to excess in food, or drink, or both. "Use the world," says God. "Abuse it," says Satan. "Be temperate in all things," says God. "Never mind," says Satan, "live while live you can, eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow you die.'" His temptations too, as we have seen, are most plausible. He often seems to be urging us to what is good and proper, or even to what tends to promote the glory and honor of God. But the more plausible a temptation is, and the more appearance of good there is in it, the more dangerous generally it is, and the more destructive it may prove. In the temptation we are considering, had the Son of God yielded, and by miracle turned stones into bread, however justifiable the act at first sight appears, besides betraying distrust in Providence and disregard of the Divine will, he would have failed in the exercise of submission, and so in setting an example to his followers. God will have his children, when they are in want, to wait on him and wait for him; Satan tempts them to do neither. God assures his people that he is merciful and gracious—that he knows our frame, and will supply our wants in his own good time and way; Satan tempts to hard thoughts of God, and to doubt or distrust his paternal care. God witnesseth with our spirits that we are his children, just as he had done to the eternal Son; Satan strives to weaken that testimony, and tempts us to question our sonship. God tells us that afflictions not only consist with, but come from, his fatherly hand, for "whom he loveth he chasteneth;" Satan tempts us to regard them as evidences that God has forgotten or forsaken us.

(c) Scripture is the sword of the Spirit we must wield. Now consider the Saviour's reply to this first temptation. He might have met the tempter with a positive declaration, "I am the Son of God." He might have asserted his lordship over him. He might have subdued him instantly by Almighty power. But in so doing he would only have left us an exhibition of omnipotence to astonish us, not an example to attract us. On the contrary, he takes away the ground of the temptation by appealing to the Divine Word. His answer was, "It is written [stands written], Man shall not live by bread alone, but, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," or more simply, as in St. Luke, "by every word of God." Thus he put honor on the Divine Word, and at the same time put into our hand a weapon of greatest power for our individual defense. He shows, moreover, that, though man ordinarily lives by bread, yet that any word proceeding out of the mouth of God, anything created by God's word and by that same word commanded to be used for food, will serve the purpose. "He can either," says Bishop Hall in his 'Contemplations,' "sustain without bread, as he did Moses and Elias; or with a miraculous bread, as the Israelites with manna; or send ordinary means miraculously, as food to his prophet by the ravens; or miraculously multiply ordinary means, as the meal and oil to the Sareptan widow." Christ, therefore, needed not to turn stones into bread; he only needed to trust in his heavenly Father for a seasonable and suitable supply. Hence we learn that, while bread is the staff of life, God's blessing is the staff of bread. We may want bread, and yet be nourished by some other means; we may have bread, and not be satisfied. In our greatest abundance we must not think of living without God; in our greatest indigence we must learn to live upon God. Ordinary means of succor and support may fail or be cut off; the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no meat; yet are we to rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of our salvation.

(d) Spiritual life needs nourishment suited to it. Bread, by the Divine blessing, supports the life of the body; but there is a higher style of life that needs for its sustenance more than bread, and which bread alone cannot maintain. There is the life of the soul, the life of the immortal spirit; that spiritual life depends for support on every word of God. "Thy words were found," says the prophet, "and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart;" and Job says, "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food;" while the Saviour himself says, in reference to the same life, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." And if we would live this truer, higher, nobler life, we "must all eat the same spiritual meat," feeding on the Word of God and following the will of God.

2. The special character of the second temptation. This second temptation is an appeal to avarice or aggrandizement or covetousness. As Moses saw the land of promise from the top of Pisgah, so Satan brings the Saviour to "an exceeding high mountain." A mountain is still pointed out as the mount of the temptation. Its name is Quarantana, and its height nearly two thousand feet. "It is distinguished," says Kitto, "for its sere and desolate aspect even in this gloomy region of savage and dreary sights. From its summit Satan shows him "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Whether by "world" is to be understood the Holy Land, then divided into several petty principalities; or the Roman empire, comprising many conquered kingdoms as its provinces; or the world in its widest sense, we stop not to inquire. Neither do we attempt to explain what power of optics commanded such a prospect, or how the horizon widened and widened till the world, with its political divisions as well as physical features, spread out, before the two solitary spectators on you mountain-top, like an unfolded chart; or how especially all this was accomplished in a moment or second (literally, p oint ) of time. The Scripture states the fact, and we believe it; the how of it we are not curious to discover, nor do we think it necessary to define. Some think the whole subjective; we take the whole to be objective. Milton, it is true, speaks of the specular mount, and amplifies the scene descried from it, as a poet and a scholar; and there is good reason to believe that his realistic interpretation is in accordance with Scripture representation, as he sings—

"Here thou behold'st

Assyria, and her empire's ancient bounds,

Araxes and the Caspian lake; thence on

As far as Indus east, Euphrates west,

And oft beyond, to south the Persian bay,

And inaccessible, the Arabian drouth."

3. Nature of the third temptation. It is an appeal to ambition or pride. Some, however, are of opinion that this is a temptation to an experiment in order to test whether the Divine presence or the Divine protection pertained to Sonship, rather than a temptation to an effort in order to gain power and popularity with the people. In favor of this view is the history from which the tempter is answered. The people had called in question the Divine presence, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" They required a supernatural proof to assure them of it. Similar conduct on the part of the Saviour to that of Israel on the occasion referred to would have been sinful distrust. Here, as afterwards, he could have bidden to his side legions of angels; but in either case he forbore. Obedient trust in God and determined opposition to Satan were the principles that guided the conduct of the Saviour, and that ultimately gained the day.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

1 . The battle of life is largely a battle for daily bread. In far northern regions it is extremely difficult; in the tropics it is exceedingly easy. It has been well remarked that neither extreme has conduced much to the world's progress; it is for the most part the dwellers in the temperate zones, where labour for the support of life is only ordinarily difficult—equally removed from the extremes of severity and facility, that have helped onward the march of civilization, of science, of art; in a word, human improvement and human culture.

2 . As we are to watch as well as pray to avoid temptation, so we are to labour as well as pray for daily bread—labouring as if all depended on our work, praying as though work formed no factor in the process.

3 . The first temptation tended to carnal appetite and distrust of Providence; the last, to ambition and proud presumption on the Father's protection. The first presupposes want; the last, abundance. The first teaches a lesson to the poor; the last, to the rich. And just as the wilderness was suitable to the first, so the world-famed city was a proper place for the last; for Jerusalem was the glory of Palestine, the pride of all the land, while "the temple was the glory of Jerusalem, the pinnacle the highest point of the temple."

4 . Observe the extremes in Satan's temptations—the first was to despair and to distrust in Providence; the last, to pride and presumption. The tenor of the final suggestion was, "Cast thyself down. If thou art supported by his providence, thou wilt be sustained by his protection. Cast thyself down. When people see thee fling thyself from the high precipice and receive no hurt, all men will then own thy Godhead and acknowledge thy Divine commission. Jerusalem and the Jews will acknowledge it and admit thou art more than man—even ' the Messenger of the covenant,' coming suddenly and sublimely to his temple. The work of Messiahship shall be facilitated and shortened; while every one will be at once convinced of thy claims. Besides, when, or where, or how, could a better opportunity be had for declaring publicly and powerfully thy glory and thy Godhead, thy dignity and design?" And yet the arch-tempter was signally foiled and the Saviour gloriously victorious. He bruised Satan's head; and in Christ and through Christ we—even we shall, by Divine grace, be enabled to bruise Satan, and that speedily, under our feet.

5 . Satan, having completed every temptation, that is, every typical form of temptation, as though all temptations are resolvable into one of the three, "departed from him," but only for a season, or rather until an opportunity ( ἄχρι καιροῦ ), that is to say, until another opportunity should occur or some new opportunity present itself, either by way of suffering or situation—negative endurance or positive enticement.

6 . Angels ministered to him. The necessity for this arose from the desert district in which he found himself. The statement in St. Mark's narrative that "he was with the wild beasts" is generally understood to imply that the region was wild in the extreme, desolate, and full of terrors, like Virgil's "Vitam in sylvis inter deserta ferarum lustra domosque traho;" may it not rather, or also, assign a reason for the ministering of angels mentioned in the next clause, as rendered absolutely necessary from the total absence of all human help and distance from all the resources of civilized life?

INTERVAL . Between the temptation, according to St. Mark's brief record, and our Lord's Galilean ministry many things had taken place, as we learn from the evangelist John. Into that interval a Judaean ministry of rather uncertain duration and of much importance must be interjected. We are dependent entirely on the fourth Gospel for the narrative of that ministry. But, though unrecorded by the synoptists, it is nevertheless implied and referred to by them.

CONNECTING LINKS. In the intervening period the following circumstances transpired:—

1 . The testimony of the Baptist to Jesus, already referred to; the adhesion of two of John's disciples to Jesus, Andrew bringing his brother Simon to him; our Lord's return to Galilee, where Philip findeth Nathanael and bringeth him to Jesus; the marriage in Cana.

2 . Our Lord's first Passover at Jerusalem as the Son of God, the Messiah promised to the fathers, together with the expulsion of the traders; his discourse with Nicodemus, who came to him by night; his leaving Jerusalem, but remaining some time longer in Judaea; further, a final testimony of the Baptist; his setting out for Galilee after John's imprisonment; his discourse with the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well, near Sychar, as he passed through Samaria on his way to Galilee; his return to Cana and cure of the nobleman's son at Capernaum; his rejection at Nazareth and settled abode at Capernaum.—J.J.G.