matthew 4: 1-11
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http://int.sagepub.com/content/38/1/51.citationThe online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/002096438403800106
1984 38: 51InterpretationLamar Williamson
11−Matthew 4: 1
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Expository ArticlesLAMAR WILLIAMSON
Professor of Biblical StudiesPresbyterian School of Christian Education
Matthew 4: 1-11
OF THE MANY REASONS for reading, preaching, and teaching the narrative of thetemptation ofJesus in Matthew 4: 1-11, three underlie the following notes: what thetext tells us about Jesus, what it tells us about our own experiences of temptation, andhow it may inform the observance of Lent. These concerns will govern the choice ofelements in the text lifted up for observation and the subsequent remarks on thetext's significance.
TEXT: Observation of the unit's structure helps the reader to get into the text. Aconcise setting in verses 1 and 2 informs the reader of the place (wilderness), time(after forty day and nights of fasting), actors (Jesus and the devil), and essential action("led up by the Spirit ... to be tempted by the devil") of the narrative. The body of thenarrative (vs. 3-10) consists of three temptations: to turn stones into bread (vs. 3-4), tothrow himself down from the pinnacle of the temple (vs. 5-7), and to fall down andworship Satan (vs. 8-10). '[he first two of these temptations are introduced by aconditional clause; the third is a straightforward attack. The unit is concluded by anote that the devil left Jesus and angels came to minister to him (v. 11).
The unit is related to. the context in Matthew in two important ways. First, itconfirms the divine attestation of Jesus and Son of God through the voice fromheaven at his baptism (Matt. 3: 17). "This is my beloved Son ..." establishes theidentity ofJesus and the temptation narrative confirms by Jesus' victory over Satanthat he is indeed the Son of God.
Second, the temptation is closely related to the crucifixion. In Matthew 27:40 themocking passers-by deride Jesus by saying, "If you are the Son of God, come downfrom the cross." The parallel with the devil's words to Jesus on the highest point ofthe temple, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down ..." (4:6), is more thansimply gramn1atical. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is tempted to win publicacclaim by a dramatic miracle; at the end he is taunted by the challenge to demonstrate his divine sonship by saving his life. In both cases the temptation is to use hispower in order to serve his own interest and to avoid his destiny. In both cases to yieldwould mean a spiritual fall grater than the spatial descent. By his costly obedienceJesus shows that he is the Son of God.
Three key terms merit consideration. Although the parallels in Mark and Lukemention forty days in the wilderness, only Matthew specifies "forty days and fortynight5."· I'his detail links the passage to one particular Old Testament text among themany forty-day references: that of Moses who "was there (on Sinai) with the Lord
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forty days awl forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water" (Exod. 34:28).Taken alone, this connection between Moses on the mountain and Jesus in thewilderness would not be significant, but considered with the three quotations fromDeuteronomy, the five discourses ofJesus paralleling the five books of Moses, andother connections between Jesus and the Mosaic tradition in Matthew, the text doeslead the reader to reflect that Jesus is the authoritative interpreter of Moses. Hisinterpretation demonstrates his knowledge and use of Scripture. The interpretationis powerful because Jesus obeys the Torah he quotes; he interprets by his life as wellas by his words.
A second key term is tempt (vs. 1,3,7). Although its root meaning is "to attempt, totry" and, by extension, "to put to the test," in common usage today the sense of"tempt" is "to entice" (e.g., "a tempting salad") or "to entice to sin" (e.g., "lead us notinto temptation"). All English translations consulted render peirazo by "tempt" inverse 1 and most refer to the devil as "the tempter" in verse 3, thereby underscoringthe enticement in the devil's approach to Jesus. The lure of bread when he is hungry,the more subtle enticement of combining text and temple in a way that would makethis Teacher look good, the attraction of showing "all the kingdoms of the world andthe glory of them" to one who was born to be king-in these ways Satan tempts Jesusto follow a way other than the one appointed.
In verse 7, most recent translators correctly return to the more basic sense ofpeirazo, translating it "You must not (do not, you are not to) put the Lord your God tothe test" (JB, NEB, NIV, TEV). The reference is to Deuteronomy 6: 16, which adds"... as you tested him at Massah" (RSV). Here there is no question ofenticing God tosin but only of testing his power or of trying his patience. In Jesus' use of theDeuteronomy text, the implication is that to throw himselfdown from the pinnacle ofthe temple would be to test God's power and his word in a way that displeases Godand that Scripture forbids.
The entire temptation narrative is about both enticement and testing. On the onehand, Jesus withstands the lures of Satan and steadfastly obeys the will of God. Onthe other, in his testing by the ultimate Adversary (Heb. satan)Jesus proves by hisobedience that he is, in fact, the Son of God.
The essential content of the three temptations may be variously understood. Fromone perspective, the first temptation is to use divine power to satisfy physical appetite;the second is to subject the promises of God to the test of spectacular demonstration,and the third is to accept the devil's definition of authority and his way ofachieving it.Standing back a bit from the text, one can see in the three approaches of Satan onebasic temptation: to fulfill the mission to which God has called him by means whichGod has not appointed (F.W. Beare, The Earliest Records of Jesus [New York, Abingdon Press, 1962], p. 43).
A third key term is the quotation formula, "it is written." This formula appears onthe lips of Jesus three times and is spoken by the devil once. Its repetition drawsattention to the fact thatJesus answers each of the devil's advances by quoting a wordfrom the second address of Moses in Deuteronomy (Deut. 8:3, 6: 16, 6: 13). In theMatthean order of the temptations, the devil, seeing that Jesus uses Scripture
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Expository ArticlesInterpretation
effectively to foil the first temptation, seeks to use Scripture as a means of temptationin the second ("The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose," [Merchant of Venice,Iiii]). When Jesus successfully quotes Scripture against Scripture, the devil givesup this tactic and makes a bald appeal to the love of power. This third temptationJesus also rebuts with a third Scripture quotation. Jesus is, for Matthew, theauthoritative interpreter of Moses. He is also the rabbi par excellence, an examplefor "every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 13:52),since he brings out of the treasure of his knowledge of Scripture the right word toward off the attacks of the evil one.
SIGNIFICANCE: The foregoing notes have attended largely to what the text says aboutJesus. It may be helpful, however, to summarize the significance of these observationshere and to expand them by reference to ways in which other New Testamentwritings allude to the temptation of Jesus.
The essential function of the temptation narrative is to confirm that Jesus is theSon of God and to define the nature of Jesus' sonship. This is still the chiefsignificance of the text. Jesus' being tempted at all shows that being Son of God doesnot exclude him from our common humanity. "Man shall not live by bread alone ..."he quotes, thereby declaring his own participation in the human condition. Jesus is,indeed, higher than the rest of us children of God, but this text (like many others)defines the nature of his exaltation in terms of his willingness to be obedient and toabase himself. The Christ-hymn in Philippians 2:6-11 celebrates the exaltation ofhim who "became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." That divine humiliation is already foreshadowed in the temptation ofJesus at the outset of his ministry,and his steadfast obedience to the will of God is not only the prerequisite of hisexaltation but the very expression of it. Jesus was never more the exalted Son of Godthan when, in response to all the enticements' of hell to make him exalt himself, heremained obedient and submissive to the will of God. It is this paradoxically exaltedabasement that makes it possible for Jesus to be the second Adam, in whom theprimordial yielding to temptation is reversed and the pattern of true humanityrestored (see the other lectionary readings for the first Sunday in Lent, year A: Gen.3:1-7; Rom. 5:12-19).
How are the temptations of Jesus related to our own experiences of temptation?Interpreters who ignore this question are not likely to gain the attention ofhearers or to offer much pastoral support.
Many interpretations, old and new, point to the fact that we are often temptedas Jesus was. For instance, we may expect the strongest onslaughts of the devilhard on the heels of our most profound experiences of God. "The Lord, then, istempted immediately after his baptism, indicating by his temptation that theattempts of the devil are aimed at us the most when we are sanctified, because avictory is most desirable to him when it is won over the saints" (Hilary of Poitiers,In Matthaeum, 3.1; trans. from "Sources Chretiennes" no. 254, p. 113). Again,psychologically inclined interpreters often point out that we are most subject totemptation when we are hungry and tired, as was Jesus after his forty days and
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nights of fasting. Consequently, the best defense against the devil is, in somecircumstances, a square meal and a good night's sleep. Yet again, for us as forJesus, temptation often comes in the form ofan appeal to our physical appetites orto our desire to do something spectacular or to our lust for worldly power. For allthe truth these observations contain, they may have in the ears of sensitiveChristians the hollow ring of platitudes.
The Epistle to the Hebrews suggests a different approach. The significance forus of the temptation ofJesus lies not so much in that we are tempted as he was, butrather that he was "tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4: 15). Jesus wasmade like us in every respect, including vulnerability to temptation, "so that hemight become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to makeexpiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered and beentempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Heb. 2: 17-18). The temptation ofJesus assures us that, whatever form our own temptations may take, we arenot alone. Hebrews mentions a further way in which Jesus' temptation is significant for us. "although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what hesuffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to allwho obey him ..." (Heb. 5:8-9). Christ's obedience makes possible his effectiveintercession for us as our great high priest, and it should help us to be obedient intimes of trial (see also Heb. 12:3-13).
The temptation narrative is appropriately set as the Gospellection for the firstSunday in Lent, year A. Churches and individuals who are returning to observanceof the liturgical year as well as those who have always kept Lent may find that aserious return to this text can breathe new life into an old custom.
The relationship between Matthew 4: 1-11 and Lent is grounded in the fact thatthe forty days of the Lenten season, as observed since the fourth century, wassuggested primarily by the forty days and nights ofJesus' fast in the temptationnarrative. The developing tradition placed more and more stress on observanceof the fast, with very strict ecclesiastical regulations on the subject during the earlycenturies, gradually relaxed through the years until, by the Apostolic ConstitutionPaenitemini (1966), the Roman Catholic obligation to fast was restricted to the firstday of Lent and Good Friday.
The text, however, pays no attention to details about fasting. It focuses ratheron Jesus' confrontation with the devil, which foreshadows his definitive victoryover sin and death through his own obedient death on the cross. Vatican 11 hascalled Catholics to use Lent as a means of preparing for baptism and for a moremeaningful celebration of Easter in words that invite careful attention to theScripture. "The season of Lent has a two-fold character: primarily by recalling orpreparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who morediligently hear the word of Cod and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate thePaschal Mystery" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 109). Protestants observingLent may also find that reflection on the temptation of Jesus will help them tocelebrate Easter at a deeper level and will arm them for times of testing and trialthroughout the year.
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Expository ArticlesInterpretation
CONCLUSION: This text, so heavy with the demand of costly obedience, concludeswith a marvelous promise: "Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came andministered to him." The second temptation of Jesus had been precisely to callangels to his help. Now, to him who had refused to call upon them in order toglorify himself, the angels come unbidden for his nurture and support. Paul has asimilar word for us: "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyondyour strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that youmay be able to endure it" (I Cor. 10: 13). Neither this word nor the ministeringangels in Matthew suggest any way to avoid temptation; both point to a faithfulGod who, standing in the shadow, keeps watch above his own.
FRANKJ. MATERA
Professor of New TestamentSt. John's Seminary
Matthew 27:11-54
WHY DOES THE CHURCH PROCLAIM the story ofJesus' death year after year? What makesthat death so unique that Christians have told the story from generation to generation? Is it the manner in which Jesus died? Is it his heroism or his courage in the faceof overwhelming odds? Surely all of these elements are a part of the answer, butnone, not even the sum of them, is the answer. After all, others have died and willdieheroic deaths. Crucifixion, to be sure, is one of the most sadistic forms of death everdevised, but our own age has and will continue to discover ways to rival it. No, thechurch proclaims the death of Jesus for reasons greater than its heroic or paradigmatic value. In a word, the church remembers that death year after year because itbelieves that it was the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord and Savior who died.
'[he Matthean Passion Narrative is richly endowed to communicate this messagebecause it emphasizes more than any of the other Synoptic accounts that the one whosuffers is indeed God's royal Son, the Christ. And yet while stressing this, Matthewdoes not lessen the sense of abandonment and godforsakenness which the crucifiedJesus experiences at the moment of his passion. Rather, this evangelist presents thesupreme paradox that in the silent and abandoned Jesus the fullness of divinitydwells. Jesus is Son of God and royal Messiah not in spite of his weakness andsuffering but precisely because of it. In this man who remains silent and who refusesto respond as the world demands, the believer sees the Son of God. In what followswe shall examine this aspect of the Matthean Passion Narrative under the rubric ofthe silence of Jesus.Jesus before Pilate, 27:11-26: It is difficult to read this text without recalling theprophet's words, "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not hismouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its sheareris dumb, so he opened not his mouth" (Isa. 53:7). But what is the sense of this silence?
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