Matthew 4:1-11: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and having fasted forty days and forty nights, he was finally hungry. And the tempter came to Him and said: If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then the devil takes Him to the holy city and places Him on the wing of the temple, and says to Him: If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: He will command His angels concerning You, and in their hands they will bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, “It is also written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Again the devil takes Him to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and says to Him: I will give all this to You if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus says to him: Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written: Worship the Lord thy God, and serve him only. Then the devil left Him, and behold, the angels came and served Him.”

Common interpretation

This passage is said to prove the existence of such a being as the “devil,” who tempted Jesus into sin by offering Him and leading Him into temptation.

Comments

1. Jesus was “in every way tempted like [us]” (Heb. 4:15), moreover, “everyone is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:14). We are all tempted by the “devil” of our own and all too often evil lusts. Jesus was tempted in the same way. Our temptations do not come from the evil one, who suddenly appears next to us and begins to push us towards sin, for sin and temptation come “from within, from the heart of man” (Mk 7:21), for it, the human heart, is the source of all wickedness. Jesus was tempted in all points just as we are (Hebrews 4:15,16), and in this He became a very real example for us. Paul, borrowing the language of the “tempter” who tempted Jesus, speaks of temptation, but of Christians (1 Thess. 3:5). Only in Matthew is it written that Jesus fasted throughout the temptation, and only from Matthew can we learn how and when to fast (cf. Matthew 16:8-16 with Matthew 9:14,15). Knowing that we are not tempted by a literal being called “Satan,” the conclusion naturally arises that Jesus, who became an example for us in everything, was not tempted by such a being.

2. It is obvious that the temptations of Jesus cannot be considered to have actually happened.

From Matthew 4:8 it follows that Jesus was taken up to a very high mountain, where all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory were shown to Him “in a moment of time.” There is no mountain on earth so high that one can see “all the kingdoms of the world” from it. And how, even from a very high mountain, could one see all their glory? In any case, planet Earth is a sphere, and from one point it is impossible to survey its entirety.

A comparison of Matthew 4 with Luke 4 shows that the temptations occurred in different orders. Mark 1:13 says that Jesus “was... in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan,” while Matthew 4:2-3 says: “And having fasted forty days and forty nights, he was finally hungry. And the tempter (Satan) came to Him.” The Scriptures cannot contradict themselves, which means that the same temptations of Jesus in the desert were repeated. And an obvious example of this is turning stones into bread. It would not be an exaggeration to assume that all these temptations took place within Jesus. After all He had exactly the same nature as we do, not only spiritually, but also physically, and therefore His spiritual imagination worked just as brightly as ours. In some people, several days spent without food causes a semi-fainting state (cf. 1 Samuel 30, 12: “and his spirit was strengthened in him” - Hebrew, Church Slavonic). The visible similarity between the loaves of bread with stones, which is also spoken of in Matthew 7:9, undoubtedly aroused in His hunger-weary consciousness the temptation to create bread, but it was immediately extinguished remembrance of the word of God.

It may very well be that the description of the temptations of Jesus was recorded by the Evangelists from the words of Jesus Himself, told by Him in figurative language, where He especially emphasized what seemed important to Him, as can be seen from Matthew 4 and Luke 4.

It does not seem plausible that the devil moved Jesus several times through the desert and the streets of Jerusalem, placing him on the wing of the temple - all this in front of the curious Jews. Josephus says nothing about incidents of this kind, but if they had actually happened, they certainly would not have gone unnoticed. The same thing, if these temptations occurred several times over the course of forty days, or at least twice if they occurred at the end of this period (judging by the different order of them in Matthew and Luke), Jesus simply would not have had enough time for this, for the devil erected He was on a high mountain, and the nearest highest mountain was most likely Mount Hermon, far in the north of Israel. In order to climb it, descend and return to the desert, in order to then do the same thing again, it is simply impossible. All His temptations took place in the desert, where He remained all these forty days, constantly tempted by the devil, who left Him only at the very end (Matthew 4:11). If Jesus was tempted every day, and the temptations occurred only in the desert, then He could not possibly have visited Jerusalem and traveled to a very high mountain. This means that all this could not have happened literally.

If the devil is a literal being with no respect for the word of God, whose main goal is to make people sin, then why did Jesus quote the Scriptures to defeat him? According to popular belief, there was no way this could remove it away. Please note that every time When tempted, Jesus Christ mentioned words from the Bible. If this devil was the evil lusts in the heart of Jesus Himself, then it is understandable how the word of God, which also dwelt in His heart, reminded Him of how He could overcome His evil lusts. And Ps 119:11 is especially suitable here, in which it predicts what Jesus Christ experienced in the wilderness: “I have hidden Your word in my heart, so that I would not sin against You.”

The fact that the temptations of Jesus took place within Him is also evident from Matthew’s descriptions of them, for Matthew first writes about the temptation on the wing of the temple, and then on a high mountain, writing as if it were some kind of ascent to heaven. It is quite possible that Paul was thinking exactly about this when he wrote that Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God in what He should have achieved, but on the contrary, step by step He humbled Himself, humbling Himself even to death, and death on the cross (Phil 2:6-8).

3. “And having finished all the temptation, the devil departed from Him until time " However, nothing further is said about how this creature later tempted the Lord during His ministry. And yet, all these three temptations were experienced again and again later by Jesus, and all three found their last and most powerful reflection, of course, on the cross. So, for example, the words “throw yourself down” can be compared with the words of the Jews (again the association of the Jews with the devil) who tempted Jesus to come down from the cross. The similarity between “Satan” and Judaism simply hurts the eyes. The entire narrative of temptation sounded to first-century listeners like a discussion between Jewish rabbis and their disciples. “The stories written by Matthew and Luke are composed of three parts and are not like the disputes of the scribes, who supported their arguments here and there with words from the Scriptures.” (1) . The Gospel of John omits much that was written in the Synoptic Gospels, but it mentions the main thing, although in a slightly different form (2) . It seems that John had a similar description of temptations in John 6:1-14, which tells how the Jews tempted Jesus to give them a sign that He was the Messiah so that He would give them bread, as was once given to Israel manna in the desert. In this case, John equates the Jews and their way of thinking with “Satan” who tempted Him in the wilderness. The following parallels between the temptation in the wilderness and what was later experienced by the Lord, if To believe John 6, they say that the “devil” who tempted the Lord Jesus returned to Him (at the same time, pay attention to how the Jews play the role of “Satan”).

Temptations in the Wilderness by John

The crowd of Jews wanted to make Jesus king (John 6:15).

Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of the (Jewish?) world.

The Jews asked for a miracle with bread (John 6:31).

Satan suggested that He also create bread miraculously.

The disciples (from the Jews) wanted Jesus to go to Jerusalem and show His power (John 7:3).

Satan took Jesus to Jerusalem, tempting Him to show His power.

However, in any case, the temptation to create manna in the desert was a temptation to play the role of the Messiah before the Jews exactly as they expected from the coming Messiah. And it was precisely this temptation that Jesus overcame. Likewise, the temptation to appear before all the people on the wing of the temple and throw himself down from it was a temptation to show all Israel that He was the Messiah they were waiting for, the Messiah they wanted, and not the Lord God, for, according to the rabbinic writings (Pesiqta Rabbati 36 ), “when the King, the Messiah reveals himself, he will come and stand on the roof of the temple.” All these temptations were repeated many times, for “the devil departed from Him for a time,” and then returned again, for example, in the form of Jesus’ brothers, who tempted Him to go to Jerusalem,to show yourself to people. These were the Jews who persistently demanded that Jesus “show them a sign from heaven” (Mt 16:1; 22:18,35; Mk 8:11; 10:2; 12:15; Lk 11:16), thereby “ tempting" Him. They tempted Jesus again and again with the same thing with which He was tempted in the desert, and therefore one can confidently compare and even call “Satan” in the desert, the Jewish way of thinking, which for Christ was a temptation for everything to be the way the Jews wanted , not God.

4. In Luke 11:21,22 the Lord Jesus tells how He had already once defeated “Satan” in order to now share his wealth with His disciples. In general, these were prophetic words about the Lord’s faith in His victory over “Satan” on the cross, but not only that, for they also recalled His overcoming temptations from that and “Satan” in the desert. Well, if this is so, then from His words it is clear that He meant by the word “Satan”, not literally a strong man guarding his house (for Jesus did not literally wrestle with such a creature in the wilderness), but an image of the power of sin with which He had to fight and defeat him (3) .

5. There are obvious similarities between the temptations (trials) of Jesus and the temptations (trials) of Israel, which also occurred in the wilderness. It was for this reason that the Lord responded to the next temptation with words from Deuteronomy, which tells about the temptation in the desert of Israel. The main thing is that Israel was tempted by the Lord God Himself in the desert. The Old Testament says that literally all the temptations of God’s people came from Himself (Gen 22:1; Ex 15:25; 17:7; Num 14:22; De 4:34; 8:2; 9:22; 33, 8; Ps 94:8). So in any case, whoever or whatever the “devil” was who tempted the Lord, he was entirely under the power of God. We have already mentioned that 2 Samuel 24:1 says that God tempted Israel, while 1 Chronicles 21:1 says that “Satan” did the same thing.

6. The Lord Jesus overcame temptation by quoting the Scriptures. And this becomes understandable if it is necessary to overcome the temptation that arises in a person himself, and it becomes completely incomprehensible and does not have any Biblical foundations, for what reasons should such an evil creature as Satan, or the devil, be afraid of quotations from the Scriptures? If some evil, crafty and wicked person (not to mention such a person as “Satan”) tempts or threatens us, then no Bible quotations will help in order for him to leave us. However, if the real “Satan,” our real adversary, is our own temptations and thoughts, then remembering the words of the Bible can have the desired effect.

Possible Explanations

1. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, He was given the power of the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:16). Immediately after He emerged from the water, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted. He knew that now He could turn stones into bread, throw himself down from the wing of the temple and remain unharmed, and so on and so forth, and therefore temptations arose in His head to do all this in reality. If someone were to offer to do all this to Jesus, and Jesus knew that this “someone” was a notorious sinner, then all these temptations become not so subtle as if they came from Jesus Himself.

2. The temptation to take possession of all the kingdoms of the world would be very strong if it came from within Jesus Christ. Jesus' head was filled with words from the Scriptures, and in His mind, exhausted and weakened by long fasting, there might well have been a temptation to interpret all the passages speaking about His reign in a more favorable light for Him, so that their fulfillment would happen to Him faster and less painfully.

His elevation to a high mountain is reminiscent of Ezekiel, when he was also shown from a high mountain what the kingdom would be like (Ezekiel 40:2), as well as John, who was shown “holy Jerusalem” from a great and high mountain (Rev 21:10). Jesus saw all the kingdoms of the world “in a moment of time” (Luke 4:5), most likely when “the kingdom of the world became the [kingdom] of our Lord and of His Christ” (Rev 11:15). Perhaps He was then remembering Moses at the end of his 40-year journey through the desert (cf. His forty days), when he looked at the promised land (kingdom) from Mount Nebo. The book of Daniel (Dan 4:14,22,29; 5:21) emphasizes “that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he wants,” and therefore Jesus knew very well that only God Himself, and no one else, could give Him the kingdom. Therefore, if some terrible and crafty monster had offered Him kingdoms, this would not have become too strong a temptation for Jesus Christ, for He knew that such power belongs exclusively to God alone. However, Jesus also knew that God (the Father) was pleased to give Him the kingdom, and therefore the “devil” who lived inside Him pushed to take possession of it right away. Moreover, He could reinforce His desire also by the fact that God the Father also, in perspective, gave Him all power (John 5:26-27) even to the point of giving and returning His life again (John 10:18). However, all this was given to Him only in perspective, because all power was given to Him only after His death and resurrection (Matthew 28:18).

3. Knowing the Scriptures perfectly, Christ should have seen the similarity of His position with Elijah, who experienced a spiritual crisis after spending 40 days in the desert (1 Kings 19:8), as well as with Moses, who lost his right to inherit the earth at the end of 40 years spent in desert. Jesus found himself in exactly the same position, after 40 days, for He too could have suffered exactly the same defeat. Moses and Elijah failed not because of some wicked “devil,” but solely because of human weakness. It was the same human weakness, the same “Satan,” the same adversary who tempted Jesus.

4. “And the devil said to Him, If you are the Son of God...” (Luke 4:3). For Jesus Christ, this question must have always sounded in His heart: was He really the Son of God, for everyone around him revered Him either as the son of Joseph (Luke 3:23; John 6:42), or even illegitimate (which follows from John 9:29), and in the genealogy kept in the temple He was recorded as the son of Joseph (Matt 1:1,16; Luke 3:23, where the phrase “as they thought” means “as they recognized” according to the law). He was the only man born whose Father was not a man. What is said in Philippians 2:8 implies that Jesus eventually came to the conclusion that He too was a man, just like you and me, and from this it is clear that He was tempted to disbelieve that He was the Son of God, experienced the temptation to misunderstand Your Own nature.

5. All temptations came from God and served for the spiritual edification of Jesus Christ. All the passages that Jesus quotes to strengthen Himself so that He can overcome His thoughts (“the devil”) are taken from the same part of Deuteronomy, where it is written about the temptations in the wilderness of Israel. Jesus clearly saw the parallel of His temptations with the temptations of all the people.

Deut 8:2: “And remember all the way which the Lord your God led you in the wilderness these forty years, to humble you, to test you, and to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments (His word ), or not".

Matthew 4 (Luke 4): “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” for “forty days.” Jesus was tested by temptations, which He overcame by quoting Scripture from memory (Ps. 119:11), thereby revealing that the words of God were hidden in His heart.

Deut 8:3: “He humbled you, made you hungry, and fed you with manna, which you did not know and your fathers did not know, to show you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every [word] that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” .

And “at last he was hungry.” In John 6, Jesus Christ compares manna to the word of God, which Jesus Himself used in the wilderness. He knew that His entire spiritual life was supported solely by the word of God. “And he answered and said unto him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Deut 8:5: “And know in your heart that the Lord your God teaches you as a man teaches his son.”

There is no doubt that this feeling was also experienced by Jesus. God punished His Son, Jesus (2 Samuel 7:14; Ps 89:33).

Thus, in the example of Jesus Christ, we see how we need to read and learn the word of God, for He put Himself in the place of Israel in the wilderness, and extracted instructions for overcoming temptations in the wilderness from what they experienced. That the Lord Jesus was in the wilderness with the beasts and angels (Mk 1:13) is another allusion to the experience of Israel in the wilderness, who were struck by the teeth of the beasts for their disobedience (De 32:24 and context).

Notes

(1)G.H. Twelftree, "Temptation Of Jesus", in I.H.Marshall, ed., Dictionary Of Jesus And The Gospels (Leicester: IVP, 1992) p. 822.

Synoptic Gospels and

Gospel of John

Matthew 16:19: “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

A more detailed account of the birth of Jesus

John 1:1-14.

The Great Commandment of Preaching

John 14:12; 15,8,16; 17,18,23; 20.21.

In all the synoptic Gospels, immediately before the description of the breaking of bread and the crucifixion, the Olivet prophecy of the Lord is recorded.

In the Gospel of John this prophecy is omitted, but instead the conversation of the Lord with His disciples in the upper room is recorded. For John, the “day” of the Son of Man becomes the “hour” of His glorification (John 12:23). “Coming”, “in that day”, “conviction (condemnation) of the world” - all these phrases used by John give us the opportunity to feel the presence of the Lord already now. The Judgment of Christ, although, of course, will take place in the future, is already underway, has already begun and is happening today.

In all three Synoptic Gospels, immediately before the transfiguration of Jesus Christ on the mountain, Peter's “confession” is mentioned. The Gospel of John says nothing about the transfiguration. Perhaps the confession of Thomas was recorded in chapter 20 instead?

The need for water baptism.

Description of the breaking of bread.

It is said that many passages of the Old Testament were fulfilled by the Lord Jesus.

The Synoptic Gospels trace the literal genealogy of Jesus' origins, or at least part of it.

John 3:3-5.

In the Gospel of John (John 6:48-58), John emphasizes that in order to truly have eternal life, it is necessary to absorb Jesus Christ, whose images are the bread and blood. It seems that John speaks about this exactly this way, and not otherwise, so that believers, by performing the rite of breaking bread, could have eternal life.

John also emphasizes the same thing in figurative language: “And the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).

The Gospel of John speaks of Jesus as if He somehow existed in God's purposes from the beginning, but “became flesh” by being born of Mary.

(3) The following is the opinion of Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology (New York: Scribners, 1971) p. 73.

Temptations in the Wilderness: A Study of the Language and Nature of Temptations

From the descriptions of the temptations in the desert, one might think that during them there were literal movements of the participants in the events. For example, the tempter approached Jesus, took Him and led Him. And yet, these words can just as well apply to our inner motivations and evil lusts.

“And the tempter came to Him.”

From the descriptions of the temptations of our Lord it follows that the “devil” who tempted Him was most likely His own thoughts, rather than any person from outside. However, it is difficult for many to accept such a view, and no small role in this is played by the fact that the tempter is said to have “approached” Jesus, “took” and “led” Him. The purpose of this study is to show that about temptations, thoughts and our lusts are very often spoken of as feelings that literally move us in order to create a more understandable visible image, for this is much easier than a long and tedious attempt to describe abstract concepts in human language that is too imperfect and poorly adapted for these purposes.

We know that our Lord was “in every way tempted like [us]” (Heb. 4:15), and that “everyone is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:14). In order for Jesus to be tempted like we are, He had to go through the same temptations that we go through. So in this sense He was “led” by His evil lusts, by His “devil,” just as we are. That is why it is written that the “devil” took Jesus to Jerusalem and to the mountain, for this “took” is the same as the “infatuation” of Jacob. Such descriptions of our evil lusts driving us and controlling our behavior are not uncommon in the New Testament. “And do not lead us into temptation” (Matthew 6.13) is one example of this. We are led by our evil lusts in the same way as His thoughts tried to do with Jesus in the wilderness, however, what our attention is especially drawn to is that all these “movements” occur according to the will of God. The Lord God is much stronger and more majestic than our evil lusts, and therefore is able not to lead us into temptation, and to save us from falling into sin (and again here temptation leads us to fall). As a rule, this world does not resist being led by the devil, as he led the deceived “women drowning in sins, led away by divers lusts,” carried away by “the error of lawless men” (2 Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet 3:17). Jesus was not led by the devil. He was not led, as we are, by his own evil lusts. And yet He had to taste and know how we are tempted and fall into temptation. The Greek word translated in the Gospel of Matthew as “take” (to take) when describing Jesus' temptations from the devil is used both literally and figuratively. Here are some examples of its figurative use:

“There are many other things that they accepted hold fast” (Mark 7:4);

“He came to his own, and his own did not accepted ”(John 1:11);

“Therefore, as you accepted Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in Him” (Col 2:6).

The situation is exactly the same with the devil, “approaching” Jesus, for this word can be used both literally and figuratively. So this Greek word in 1 Timothy 6:3 is translated “should” and refers to those who “do not follow the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine of godliness.” Hebrews 12:1 speaks of sin besetting us (“sin easily entangling us” - Bishop Cassian’s translation) as if sin, the devil, easily entangles us with its nets. Taking into account that the devil (Satan) is our evil lusts, it becomes more understandable why his release and exit into this world (Rev. 20) is directly related to people. We often say that any answer of Jesus to the tempter consisted of words taken from the Scriptures, as if He were thereby actually demonstrating what is written in Ps 119:11: “I have hidden Your word in my heart, so that I would not sin against You.” Despite the fact that the word of God was hidden in the heart of Jesus, He still possessed our desires, and therefore, at any moment, for a short time, desires that drowned out the Word could enter into Him, into His heart (Mk 4:19). But in order for these wishes to be able to enter into us, it is necessary that they first approach us - just as they, like the devil, approached Jesus. The parable of the sower talks about various reasons that prevent the seed from germinating and producing fruit, and therefore Satan stealing the word from a convert is equated with wishes entering into them and drowning the word (Mk 4:15,19). The wishes themselves are a product of our nature, and their entry into our hearts from our nature is the same as the entrance of Satan.

Here are some more examples of describing how our inner desires move us.

The parable Nathan told David about his sin with Bathsheba equated David's guilt with that of a rich man. In the Parable, the stranger became the personification of David’s lusts, which led him to adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12:4), which, as we know, come “from within, from the heart of man” (Mark 7:20-23).

- “Everyone born of God (from the word of God - 1 Peter 1:23) does not sin; but he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.” That is, the word of God hidden in our hearts does not allow our inner devil to touch us.

For the writer of these lines, Luke 4:13, when translated correctly, is another and very strong confirmation that temptations come from within. “The devil departed from Him.” Translated, this Greek word can also mean “to leave, to retreat” - as if here the devil retreated from Jesus, which means that Jesus also retreated from him. However, be that as it may, the devil departed from Him “for the time being,” which suggests that Jesus also had to experience the same thing that every Christian experiences - the return of the devil. For sometimes it seems stronger, sometimes weaker for a few days or weeks, disappearing from the horizon of our wishes, only to reappear, but much stronger than before. And from here the main thing follows - it seems that Jesus, during the temptations in the desert, was much closer to the fall than it might seem. James 1:14 in the translation of the Good News looks like this: “every person tempts himself: he is carried away and beckoned by his own desires.” And these words vividly resemble the description of a hunt, when an animal is lured and lured into a trap. 1 Timothy 3:7 mentions the “snare of the devil” of our own desires. Thus, in order to tempt Jesus, He had to almost completely destroy the spiritual shell that protected Him in order to lure Himself out of it, like a mouse is lured by the smell of cheese from its hole, and therefore He had to show exceptional self-control so that temptation would not lead Him to the point of sin.

Temptations in the Desert - An Opportunity to Look into the Soul of Jesus

We already know that our Lord's experience was similar to that of Israel in the wilderness, and that His temptations revealed not only the deep penetration of the word of God into His heart, but also revealed the essence of His relationship with the Angels. The additional comments that follow provide further insight into the temptations of our Lord.

-The Lord saw and understood the similarity of His situation in the desert with the situation in which Israel found itself at one time, and therefore applied what was written in Deuteronomy about Israel to Himself. A similar example is also in the way He quoted Mal 3, 1(“I am sending My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me”): “I am sending My angel before You, who will prepare Your way before You” (Matthew 11:10).

The personification of the sinful inclinations of the Lord’s heart in the form of a creature called “the devil” speaks of what a deep division took place in Him between His flesh and spirit - not like with us, when one is mixed with the other so that it is impossible to distinguish where one is. , and where is the other in our semi-spirituality. It may very well be that with this in mind, He broke the bread (the image of His body, the image of those who believe in one faith) in half, in order to thereby show the existing division in Himself (Matthew 26:26). 1 Corinthians 1:13 emphasizes the division between the flesh and the spirit, which is so clearly revealed in the thoughts of separation and crucifixion: “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you?”

It may very well be that the aloud quotation of Deut 6:13, “Fear the Lord thy God,” was accompanied by the mental continuation of Deut 6:14, “Do not follow other gods,” thereby equating the pagan idols with the evil desires of your heart. A little earlier, in Deut 6:6,7, a warning was recorded that neglecting the repetition of the law would entail idolatry, so that Christ knew that if He neglected the word of God, He would become a slave to His evil lusts. Thus, it turns out that the purpose of the temptation of Jesus Christ was to find out whether He could keep the words of God in His heart (Deut 8:2), or whether He could not, as Israel could not do in the desert.

The Lord God alone has the authority to give the kingdom (Dan 4:29). That Jesus was tempted to take this power (Mt 4:9) speaks of His temptation to be equal with God. And Phil 2:6 says just this, that despite the fact that Christ had the same perfect spirit as God the Father, He still did not dared to think of being equal to Him in at least something. And this once again tells us about His consciousness, about His sinless soul, about the temptation of its exaltation, to be equal to God. It is quite possible that this was what He was thinking about when He discussed John 10:34-3 6that people in the Old Testament were called gods, and He, although He had every right to do so, still did not call Himself that, calling Himself only the Son of God. The fact that in many Old Testament places He was called Yahweh was a temptation for Him to be called by the same name, for, after all, He still revealed Himself as the Lord God Himself. Jesus Christ knew that He could give power over kingdoms to whomever He wanted (Luke 4:6), thinking about giving it to Himself. And yet, later He promised to give us power over the cities of the Kingdom, from which it can be understood that He, being perfect and righteous, also went through the temptation not to share His power with us sinners.

The same temptation, which revealed His carnal thoughts, was taken from Ps 90:11,12 (Matt 4:6): “He will command His angels concerning You.” This psalm primarily referred to Joshua, who was guarded by an Angel on his journey through the desert when the apostate Israelites were destroyed by the destroying Angel. A special reason for his protection lies in Psalm 90:1, for he still continued to remain in the tabernacle, no doubt in order to hear the word of God spoken by the Angel to his master Moses as often and as often as possible (Exodus 33:11). Our Lord was in exactly the same position, for He, in contrast to all Israel, alone devoted Himself entirely to the word of God. Therefore, it was a strong temptation for Him to abuse the power of the Angel, thanks to which He achieved His high spirituality.

There are hints that for the devil to depart from the Lord, it took Him 40 days. And this is more suitable if such a confrontation took place in the soul inside, rather than an external struggle with some evil person. And the fact that this battle lasted 40 days shows how difficult it was for our Lord to win.

Standing on a very high mountain, the Lord saw the coming Kingdom of God (1) , which was a type of Rev. 21:10. But there are other parallels with Revelation, when “the kingdoms of the world” = Rev 11:15; Matthew 4,9,10 = Rev 22,8,9; Matthew 4:5 = Rev 21:1,10. It is as if our Lord, in giving the Revelation, was remembering His temptations in the wilderness, rejoicing that because He had overcome them then, He now possesses all these things, and therefore can give them all to us. The temptation in the wilderness was to take power over the Kingdom and reign in Himself, without God, in the sense of not showing and not giving glory to Him as it should, even if the reign itself would differ little from the reign according to the laws and spirit of God. Judging by the reality and strength of such a temptation, it is quite possible to assume that if Jesus had succumbed to it, the Lord God would have given Him authority over the Kingdom, just as He could have allowed Him to attract angels to His aid in Gethsemane. For Jesus Christ, the fact that His Father could change His intentions for the salvation of mankind, depending on the desire and possibility of Himself, must have been not only a very strong temptation, but also a strong incentive to fulfill not His will, but the Father. It is for this reason that the Lord God experienced great joy from the fact that Jesus Christ made all His inner efforts to win His great victory, as is written, for example, in Isaiah 49:5-9.

There is no doubt that, standing on the mountain and looking at the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ remembered Moses on Mount Nebo, who because of his sin could not enter it. And this memory must have had a strong effect on Him (Deut 34:1). Remembering the words from Deut 8:3 about the living bread (word) of God, He had to also remember Deut 8:9, where it was promised to eat this bread without restrictions in the kingdom of God.

“Experienced in everything”

If this is true, if this actually applies to our Lord, then it means that He was tempted in everything just as we are tempted, and therefore each of us, looking at our own temptations, can imagine how we were tempted our Lord and draw from this not only consolation, but also inspiration. Moreover, this means that He had to experience many and very different temptations. A good example of this can be found in Ps 70:9,18, where the description of the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross is compared with the description of the weakness and impotence of old age. Such words should be a great comfort to the lonely aged brother, for the Lord Jesus also knew his feelings, even though He died at the age of only 33 years. We have already discussed the suggestion that Jesus Christ was tempted to have an illicit relationship with Mary Magdalene. But this temptation becomes quite probable if you know that Jesus Christ Himself, like all His brothers, had to have weakness for women.

Attitude to the people

The incessant pressure of the crowd must have been another temptation to irritation, especially when all the thoughts of the crowd revolved around the loaves and fishes, around their own grievances, around their material and spiritual needs - and all this, despite the harmonious teaching He carefully set forth. And yet above all irritation was His love for mankind. Despite the very small number of His converts, so much so that He felt He had failed (Isa. 49.4), He still constantly felt compassion for people, even despite their obviously pitiful nature. And this is so different from our modern feeling of despair, which arises despite the fact that many people listen to us, respond to newspaper advertisements and distributed leaflets, because we really want to quickly and better know what motivates them. Our Lord did not do this, for He devoted all His strength to preaching, for it is written: “Seeing the crowds of people, He had compassion on them” (Matthew 9:36). Nothing in the text gives any reason to feel “pity” for these crowds - the reader is left to imagine for himself both the great weariness of our Lord, and the temptation arising in the depths of his soul to turn away from these crowds, from these exhausted and scattered sheep without a shepherd. How many times must He have been tempted to turn away from them, from His duty to preach and sympathize with them. And yet, at the end of His life, He could say with triumph in his voice: “The Lord God (Angels? Yahweh Elohim) opened My ear, and I did not resist, I did not turn back” (Isaiah 50:5), - from which it is clear that He still really wanted to do this.

Relations with the Jews must have been our Lord's greatest stumbling block. His love for all things Jewish must have tempted Him to immediately establish the Kingdom by delivering His people from Roman rule. However, His own perfection and excellent knowledge of the Law of Moses also tempted Him to despise the very letter of the law. So Isaiah 56.2 motivates by speaking about the blessedness of the man and son of man (Jesus Christ) ... “who keeps the Sabbath,” although He was its Lord. The real temptation for Him was to come down from the cross in order to prove that He was in fact their King (Matthew 27:42). The temptation was for Him to perform amazing miracles in Nazareth and before His own brothers, so that they would believe in Him (John 7:5), especially if we imagine that by doing so He would truly convert a lot of people. His attitude towards the Jews is quite clearly expressed in Ps 109:4: “for my love they are hostile to me, but I pray” (for their repentance?) However, even His great zeal for God was also tempted, so that it, this zeal, turned into bitterness and righteous anger towards the Jews. Its completely complete and the thorough rebuke of the Pharisees in Luke 11:42-52 must have greatly increased the adrenaline in His blood. When “the scribes and Pharisees began to come hard at Him, forcing answers from Him to many things, looking for Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him” (Luke 11:53,54), then He, thanks to His exceptional restraint, I was able not to fall for their bait. His recent irritated exclamation: “How long will I be with you and bear with you?” (Luke 9:31), could well mean: “How much longer will I be upset because of your spiritual slowness?”

One of our Lord's greatest temptations must have been the realization that His own spiritual salvation was at risk for the salvation of those around him. He must have been almost sure that He needed to stay in Nazareth for some more time, for His own perfection, and then go and die in Jerusalem, which could save Him from unnecessary temptations during the 3-year ministry. And yet He took a calculated risk, because His I was constantly filled with strong love for my neighbor. Reflection on some of the unspoken details of the Lord’s parables sometimes reveals some other meaning that the Lord probably also wanted to convey to us. So, for example, the Good Samaritan took much more risk by walking rather than driving along a dangerous road (see modern translation), and it was much easier for him to be attacked when his donkey was carrying the victim. The good Samaritan, but despised by everyone, who did for the victim what the law could not do (priest, Levite, etc.), was the image of Jesus Christ Himself. Or think of the shepherd who goes out alone at night in search of his lost sheep, who, in the dark, in the cold rain and in the mud, risks climbing steep cliffs, instead of sitting by a warm fire that night, along with obedient sheep.

The same thing is said in John 10:12: “But the hireling (because he is not a good shepherd) ... sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees.” In this parable, as in many, there is a share of unreality that emphasizes and highlights the essence of this parable. The shepherd would not have run at the sight of a simple wolf (and why didn’t Christ use a more suitable image of a lion here?) It’s just that the innate cunning and cunning of the wolf itself suggests comparison with the devil of human nature, from whom the Lord, for the sake of His own safety, was tempted to flee , leaving us to the mercy of fate.

Finally, we should not forget the purpose of our Lord’s testing of temptations. Hebrews 2:17 says that it was through temptation that the Lord became like us. From this verse it is clear that He was not at first like this (which, of course, does not concern His nature), but nevertheless became like us. From Hebrews 2:18 it follows that He became our high priest not only because He shared our nature with you, but also because He shared our temptations. And this improvement of His in becoming like His brethren through temptation began at the very beginning of His ministry.

Note

(1) The fact that Christ saw “all the kingdoms of the universe in a moment of time” (Luke 4:5) suggests that He did see the Kingdom, “all the kingdoms of the universe” as they would be in the future (cf. from Rev 11:15).

Jesus Christ in the desert and His temptation from the devil

After His baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ withdrew into the desert in order to prepare there, in solitude, through prayer and fasting, for the fulfillment of His great work, for which He came to earth. For forty days and forty nights He was in the wild desert, with animals, without eating any food.

There the devil approached Christ and tried with cunning questions and deceptions to tempt Him to sin, like every person.

The devil said to Jesus Christ: (in vain You torture Yourself with hunger) “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

The Savior answered him: “ in Holy Scripture"(in the Bible) It is said: a person’s life does not depend on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". (Deut. 8, 3).

Then the devil led Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, placed Him on the roof of the temple and said: “If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here (there is no danger for You), because the Scripture says: He will command His angels for You, to keep You, and in His arms They will bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone" (Psalm 91:11-12).

But Jesus Christ said to him: " Scripture also says, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God.”", that is, where it is not necessary, do not demand or expect miracles (Deut. 6:16).

After this, the devil took Him again and took Him to a high mountain and there, in the twinkling of an eye, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, in all their splendor and grandeur, and said: “I will give all this to You, since the power over them has been given to me; and "I give it to whomever I want. And so, if You fall and bow down to me, then everything will be Yours."

Jesus Christ told him: " get away from Me, Satan; for the Scripture says: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him alone."(Deut. 6:13).

Then the shamed devil retreated from Jesus Christ for a time and, immediately, the angels of God appeared and began to serve Christ.

Thus, the Savior, having defeated temptations from the devil, showed by this that He came to free people from the power of the devil, without any concessions to evil.

NOTE: See Gospel of Matthew, ch. 4, 1-11; from Mark, 1, 12-13; from Luke, ch. 4, 1-13.

Following the example of the fast of Christ, the Holy Orthodox Church established a 40-day fast (Holy Pentecost), which is called great and begins seven weeks before Easter - the Holy Resurrection of Christ, and other fasts are also established. Fasting helps a person to cleanse himself of evil - from sinful inclinations, it helps to remember God more and be closer to Him.

From the book Connection and Translation of the Four Gospels author Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

From the book The Holy Biblical History of the New Testament author Pushkar Boris (Bep Veniamin) Nikolaevich

Temptation in the desert. Matt. 4: 1-11; Mk. 1: 12-13; OK. 4:1-13 After his baptism, Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, left the banks of the Jordan and headed deep into the dismal desert of the Dead Sea in order to prepare Himself in complete solitude, fasting and prayer for the great ministry of redemption and

From the book Lessons for Sunday School author Vernikovskaya Larisa Fedorovna

Jesus Christ feeds the people in the desert One day, when many people had gathered around Jesus and they had nothing to eat in the desert, the Lord said to His disciples: “I feel sorry for the people, they have been with Me for three days now and they have nothing to eat. But I don’t want to let them go without eating, so as not to

From the book The Jesus I Didn't Know author author unknown

4 Temptation: Frank Conversation in the Desert Love obeys those and commands only those who obey it. Love is renunciation. God is renunciation. Simone Weil The Gospels claim that Jesus, a Jew who grew up in the area of ​​Galilee, was none other than the Son of God,

From the book Gospel Story. Book one. The initial events of the Gospel history, mainly in Jerusalem and Judea author Matveevsky Archpriest Pavel

Fasting and temptation from the devil Matt. 4, 1-11; Mk. 1, 12–13; OK. 4:1-13 The Lord Jesus Christ, Who came into the world to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), at His very entry into the ministry of redemption, experienced a struggle with the culprit of all evil - the devil. The place of this spiritual

From the book PSS. Volume 24. Works, 1880-1884 author Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

From the book New Bible Commentary Part 3 (New Testament) by Carson Donald

4:1-13 Temptation in the desert (see: Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12,13) ​​Immediately after the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at the moment of baptism, He was sent into the desert, where He the devil began to tempt. The temptations were that the devil tried to trick Jesus Christ into

From the book Canons of Christianity in Parables author author unknown

Temptation of the Lord by the Devil (Luke, chapter 4) Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert. 2 There for forty days He was tempted by the devil and did not eat anything during these days, but after they were over, He was finally hungry. 3And the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, then

From the book of the Gospel of Mark by English Donald

6. Temptation in the Wilderness (1:12–13) Immediately thereafter the Spirit leads Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the beasts; and Angels served Him. Unlike the accounts of Matthew and Luke, Mark's account of Jesus' temptations in the desert is presented in

From the book of the Bible. Modern translation (BTI, trans. Kulakova) author's Bible

Temptation in the Desert After this, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert. There He had to endure the temptations of the devil. 2 After forty days and nights of fasting, Jesus was exhausted with hunger. 3 And the tempter came to Him and said: “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”4

From the book Holy Scripture. Modern translation (CARS) author's Bible

Temptation in the Wilderness 12 Immediately after this, the Holy Spirit prompted Jesus to go into the wilderness. 13 And He remained there forty days, tempted by Satan, among the wild beasts, and the angels of God took care of

From the book The Explanatory Bible. Old Testament and New Testament author Lopukhin Alexander Pavlovich

The Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness 1–2 Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and walked in the wilderness for forty days, led by the Spirit and tempted by the devil. All these days Jesus did not eat anything, so that at the end of them he was exhausted with hunger. 3 And the devil said to Him: “If You -

From the author's book

Temptation in the desert (Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13)1 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert in order for Him to undergo temptation from the devil. 2 After forty days and forty nights spent in fasting, Isa felt very hungry. 3 Then the tempter came and said to Him: “If you are the Son of the Most High

From the author's book

Temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13)12 Immediately the Spirit prompted Jesus to go into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. Jesus was there alone, surrounded by wild animals, and angels served

From the author's book

Temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12–13)1 Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and the Spirit led Him into the desert. 2 There He was tempted by the devil for forty days. All this time Isa did not eat anything and in the end he felt very hungry. 3 Then the devil said to Him: “If You are the Son

From the author's book

IV Sermon of John the Baptist in the desert. Baptism of Jesus Christ. His removal to the desert and temptation from the devil When in distant Nazareth the Savior’s divine-human maturity came to an end, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, in the same solitude, that “angel” had already matured,

(Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13)

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and after fasting for forty days and forty nights, he finally became hungry. (3) AND the tempter came to Him and said: If You are the Son of God, say that these stones became bread. (4) And he answered and said unto him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (5) Then the devil takes Him to the holy city and places Him on the pinnacle of the temple, (6) and says to Him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for It is written: He will command His angels concerning You, and they will bear You up in their hands, so that you will strike your foot against a stone. (7) Jesus said to him, “It is also written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (8) Again the devil takes Him to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (9) and says To him: I will give all this to you if you fall and worship me. (10) Then Jesus saith unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. and serve Him alone. (11) Then the devil left Him, and behold, the angels came and served Him.

(Matt. 4:1-11)

For the iconography of the Temptation of Christ in the desert (hereinafter simply - the Temptation), the stories of Matthew and Luke are mainly important, since John does not say anything at all on this topic, and the very brief testimony of Mark does not give anything new in comparison with the stories of Matthew and Luke, but since Mark does mention the Temptation, we included it among the gospel sources for this story.

Since the Gospel does not directly say by what Spirit Jesus was led into the wilderness, it was assumed that it was the spirit of evil, that is, the one who tempted Christ. But this contradicts the literal meaning of the Gospel story. Luke says that “Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). Next, Matthew says: “Jesus was exalted Spirit into the desert for temptation from the devil"(italics mine. - A. M.). Here the Spirit, who undoubtedly is the Holy Spirit, is clearly contrasted with the devil.

Matthew and Luke specifically list three temptations of Jesus Christ. Luke, however, says that in the wilderness “for forty days He was tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:2). “And having finished all the temptation, the devil departed from Him until time"(Luke 4:13; emphasis added - A. M.). Thus, there were more temptations in the desert, but they were not told about them, and in the subsequent earthly life of Jesus the devil did not leave Him. And indeed, temptations were repeated throughout the public ministry of Jesus Christ, and if not directly from the devil, then through him from other persons: the Apostle Peter tempted Him, persuading Him to put away the impending death on the cross; the Pharisees, demanding a sign in heaven, or when they brought a sinner to Him, asking Him what to do with her, or seeking His answer to the question of paying taxes to Caesar; They tempted Him on the cross with the words of the devil himself - “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matthew 27:40). However, in art, the plot of the Temptation of Christ usually implies the depiction of His temptations in the desert, that is, those described in Matthew and Luke.

Luke, if we compare his story with Matthew's story, changes the sequence of the devil's tempting offers. Thus, the temptation on the wing of the temple is the second in Matthew, the third in Luke, while the second he makes is the temptation on a high mountain.

One of the most striking embodiments of the theme of the temptations of Christ is the fresco by Sandro Botticelli in the Sistine Chapel. It is usually called “The Healing of the Leper and the Temptation of Christ.” This name indicates that a cursory and superficial glance at the fresco captures only the central moment of the plot - the figures of the devil and Christ “on the wing of the temple” (the second, according to Matthew, temptation). Meanwhile, the artist, in full accordance with the above story of Matthew, depicts all three temptations on this fresco, and in exactly the order - from left to right - as Matthew tells about them.

Rome. Vatican. The Sistine Chapel.

Sandro Botticelli. Temptations of Christ.

Rome. Vatican. The Sistine Chapel. Detail

Some authors ( D. Strauss) see in this change in the order of temptations Luke’s desire to bring Jesus first to the mountain and then to Jerusalem, but consider this rearrangement unsuccessful: “the temptation to worship Satan is undoubtedly the most significant of Satan’s demands; it constitutes the highest level and should naturally be attributed to the last act" ( Strauss D. P. 73). We number Jesus' temptations according to Matthew.

Temptation in the desert (not only of Jesus) is a favorite theme of Christian art, which opened up scope for the imagination - sometimes unbridled - of artists. All Christian saints who retired into the desert were faced with temptation (see the lives of St. Anthony the Great, Jerome and others). The desert, as the ancients believed, was the traditional abode of demons.

Of the three temptations of Christ, artists preferred to depict the first - the episode with stones (in Luke - with one stone; this difference is also reflected in painting). Usually the scene is a rocky area where the tempter appears before Christ. “In exactly what form he came,” argues F. Farrar, “whether in the form of a spirit of darkness or an Angel of light, in human form or as a material suggestion, we do not know, and we cannot know. We must simply follow the Gospel narrative and be content with its data, not asserting with soulless Dogmatism the impossibility and the fact that there was nothing allegorical in it, but having in mind to comprehend those deep moral lessons that only concern us and can be subject to indisputable interpretation" ( Farrar F. P. 71).

In Romanesque and Gothic art, as well as in the art of the Early Renaissance, the tempter appears in the guise of a typical, as then imagined, spirit of darkness - a demon with horns, a scaly body, wings and claws on his hands and feet ( Duccio ).

Duccio. Temptation (third) of Christ in the desert (1308-1311). NY. Meeting Freak.

Artists of the Italian High Renaissance more often depicted him as a comely young man - a “fallen angel” (Titian). In order to emphasize the cunning and deceit of the devil, artists often represented him in this scene in the guise of an old man in a monastic robe, while the devil gives himself away here with his goat hooves instead of legs or claws sticking out from under his sleeves (Master of Liechtenstein Castle; the first temptation is the main theme paintings, the second and third are shown in the background).

There are also separate images of the third temptation: Jesus stands on a mountain, surrounded by an architectural landscape (“all the kingdoms of the world”; not to be confused with the “holy city” from the second temptation) ( Duccio ). Presence of Angels ( Duccio , Ghiberti ) clearly points to the original source - the above story of Matthew, and not Luke, since the latter says nothing about Angels.

Ghiberti. Temptation (third) of Christ in the desert (first half XV century).

Florention. Baptistery doors.

Sometimes the devil is depicted as falling head down. In this form, his death resembles some images of the death of Judas Iscariot, which are based on the testimony of the Acts of the Apostles: “(...) and when he fell, his belly was split open, and all his entrails fell out” (Acts 1:18).

EXAMPLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Duccio. Temptation (third) of Christ in the desert (1308-1311). NY. Frick Collection.

Ghiberti. Temptation (third) of Christ in the desert (first half of the 15th century). Floren tion. Baptistery doors.

Titian. Temptation (first) of Christ in the desert (c. 1540-1545). Minneapolis.Institute of Arts.

Master of Liechtenstein Castle. Temptation of Christ in the desert (first half XV century). Vein. Austrian gallery.

Sandro Botticelli. The temptations of Christ and the healing of the leper. Rome. Vatican. The Sistine Chapel.

Sandro Botticelli. The temptations of Christ and the healing of the leper. Rome. Vatican. The Sistine Chapel. Detail

© A. Maykapar

The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness: Ten Interpretations

The Apostolic Fast continues. It was once introduced into the practice of piety as a compensation for those who, for one reason or another, did not fast during Lent. Great Lent is associated with Christ’s forty-day stay in the desert. The main content of this stay is the temptation of Christ by Satan. Many of us, unfortunately, are characterized by a Monophysite consciousness: we see little, with difficulty, humanity in Christ, His same nature as ours: but He, too, was tempted, like all of us, for He was a man. In addition, the temptation of Christ in the desert raises many other most difficult and profound questions. We collected ten texts on this matter.

And the greatest, of course, interpretation of the temptation of Christ in the desert - "Poem about the Grand Inquisitor" Dostoevsky, in general one of the main texts of Christian thought. The “poem” traces all the main conclusions implied by the temptations of Satan, essentially builds something like a “philosophy of Christianity” as such, freedom, power, society, state, etc.

We have two film adaptations of “The Poem” - an absolutely wonderful forty-minute film by Evans, and a teleplay by M. Ulyanov.

"Grand Inquisitor" Anastas Matseina - a philosophical analysis of the “Poem”, and thereby the temptations of Christ. Matseyna writes in particular:

« The entire future path of humanity was expressed in three temptations. They expressed the innermost destiny of man. They revealed that facet of human nature from which Christ turned away, on which He did not build his teaching and therefore, in the opinion of the inquisitor, lost.

The temptations of Christ are a concentrated image of the history of mankind, and the history of mankind is the disclosure and concrete manifestation of these three temptations in life. What happened then in the desert happens every day throughout the history of mankind. The three temptations conceal the contradictions of human nature, which grow and develop in history. The three temptations are like a seed that gradually germinates and grows into a wide tree of history.”

« Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (in Serbian: lit.: And the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness so that the devil would tempt Him. - Trans.) (Matthew 4:1). Oh what humiliation! Even if the tempter came to Jesus, and here Jesus goes to his foot! The most pure goes to “uncleanness”, the blessed to the damned!».

"Temptation"- a chapter from Merezhkovsky’s book “Jesus the Unknown”, an attempt at a kind of “apocrypha,” an artistic insight into what was happening then in the desert (it must be said that this chapter is usually criticized). Here Merezhkovsky, among other things, pays special attention to the role of animals and angels in the event of temptation. Here's the beginning of the chapter:

« He knew now, sitting on a stone, that if he looked at the person sitting next to him, he would see himself as in a mirror: hair in hair, wrinkle in wrinkle, mole in mole, fold in clothes. He and Not he - Another.

- Where is he, where am I?

– Where am I, where are you?

-Who said it, him or me?

- Me or you?

– Meschiah – meschugge, meschugge – meschiah! Crazy Messiah - Crazy Messiah! - the juniper rustled and whispered, as Jesus’ brothers used to whisper in the dark corners of the Nazareth house.

– Where am I, where are you? Me or you? No one will ever know, no one will ever distinguish between us. Fear him, Jesus; don't be afraid of me - yourself. He is not in me, not in You, he is between us. He wants to divide us. Let's be together and win - we'll save him...

For how long the Dead One whispered and rustled. The living did not know: are forty moments or forty eternities?

The dark sparkle is more and more dazzling, the blue is more poisonous, the decay is more stinking, the whisper is more distinct.

- I'm tired. You are tired, Jesus; one for all, one in all ages-eternities. The thirsty one wants water, the Existing one wants not to be - to rest, to die - not to be..."

Chapter from the book of St. G. Chistyakova"Above the lines of the New Testament." Here Father Georgy Chistyakov traces how the temptations of Christ tempt the Church. He begins like this:

« In the mysticism of the Old Testament, the desert is the place where man meets God. Mitbar (desert) is a place where there is nothing but sun-scorched stones, where you will not meet anyone and you will not find anything. But here awaits us the One whom “no one has ever seen,” as they say in the prologue of the Gospel of John. God cannot be seen - this is one of His main characteristics; and He Who cannot be seen can be met precisely where there is complete emptiness. The desert sharpens a person's senses, and above all the feeling of thirst. Let us remember the psalm: “As a deer longs for streams of water, so does my soul long for You, O God! My soul thirsts for the mighty, living God...” (Ps. 42:2-3). Like a deer exhausted in a waterless desert, the human soul thirsts for God. This image will move from psalm to psalm. This understanding of the desert - as a place of meeting with God - is characteristic of the mysticism of three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But Jesus has a meeting in the desert not with God, but with Satan. Why?»

Chapter “The Baptism of Jesus. Temptation" from the book “Interpretation of the Gospel” by B.I. Gladkov. In addition to a detailed analysis of temptations, Gladkov here asks questions about Satan and evil. For example:

« Some, even believers in Christ, are tempted by questions: how did God allow the existence of evil spirits who have the power to do evil, a power that is incompatible with the concept of His omnipotence and goodness? How to reconcile the concepts of the omnipotence of God and the power of the devil? And doesn’t the power of the devil undermine, doesn’t it limit the omnipotence of God?».

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