Matthew 4:5-7

"Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down’ for it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'' Jesus said to him, 'Again it is written, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God’" (Matthew 4:5-7 RSV).

Comment:

I think the essence of this entire passage about the temptation of Jesus is the danger of misusing our spiritual powers, once we are awakened to their presence within us. Jesus has just realized, through his symbolic baptism at the hand of John the Baptist, the truth of his Christ identity, and the spiritual purpose for which he had assumed human form. The question is, what next? He undertakes a sort of vision quest, and the temptations are strong. Because he knows the spiritual truth, and others do not, he could easily use his awareness to achieve riches (symbolized by turning rocks into bread), fame (throw yourself off the Temple), and power ("all the kingdoms of the world"). The only requirement is that he make these temporal purposes his God—that he worship 'the temptor' instead of worshipping God.

Charles Fillmore describes 'worship' as "the effort of man to sustain a right mental attitude toward God." We worship God when we see God clearly, see our own divinity clearly, and accept the spiritual purpose implicit in that divinity as the guiding purpose of our life. We worship the temptor when we accept those temptations as the guiding purpose of our life. It's not that we must forego riches, fame, and power—it's that we must not make them our primary purpose. As Jesus explains in his Sermon on the Mount—shortly after this experience of focus and temptation—"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (which means focus your worship on God), and all these things shall be yours as well" (Matthew 6:33 RSV). 

And so, rather than take advantage of his unique awareness, Jesus sets about a ministry devoted to awakening that same awareness in all people. The kingdom of heaven can't be achieved alone; it is as the collective Christ in expression that we will bring it into being.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed