"to Try, to Make Proof of..."

The Temptation of Christ, J. Kirk Richards

I'm lingering in the temptation stories of Christ again this morning. 

How could Christ be tempted if he could not sin?  Was this a legitimate temptation if the choice was not a choice? My band of Biblical commentators gravitate toward an exploration of the Greek word for tempt, peirazō.  Strong's defines it as "to test (objectively), that is, endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline: - assay, examine, go about, prove, tempt (-er), try."  Jamison, Fasset, and Brown go on to point out that this is the same word used in the temptation of Abraham.   Hmmm, that story always hit me a bit funny also, perhaps because it doesn't seem loving or fair to tempt a person to evil.

Also, I think of Job's journey, another temptation story that isn't an easy one to reconcile. Here Satan claims that Job is faithful only because God has provided physical blessings and placed a hedge around him. Satan taunts, "put forth thy hand and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."  The wording of God's response is curious:  "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power..."  The statement alludes to Satan's present dominion over this world, but does not suggest that God has a hand in the evil.

This idea of God tempting anyone, by our modern understanding of the word, seems antithetical to His character, so it must be my understanding of the word or my understanding of the nature of temptation that is flawed.

In the archetypes of literature, a test or a series of tests is a common motif;  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Beowulf, and the Odyssey, come to mind as quick examples.  Let me stop and clarify that I am not beginning from a man's perspective on this---suggesting that the temptation archetypes are built into the scriptures by man.  I believe the scriptures were inspired and created by God.  But the archetypes are there all the same.  I wonder if they reflect a pattern, a DNA of our own self discovery, that God has placed in our hearts which is reflected through these literary motifs.  They appear again and again and again because they are part of our collective and inherent struggle and story. 

But, back to idea of temptation, or "trying" if you prefer.  Part of the rub is that I don't think we care to think of ourselves as needing a test.  We'd prefer to be sufficient without help and testing.  Also who enjoys the thought that we are made better through testing and difficulty?   I think the key to the mystery is a piece of the larger puzzle of beauty from ashes and refinement through tribulation.

Even then, it does send me into a tailspin to wonder how Christ could be tempted if he was unable to sin by his very nature.  It doesn't take long for my mind to bump up again its limits on this one. When I was young, I recall thinking that it was really no sacrifice for Christ to die when he knew that his Father would "save" him.  If I'm completely honest with myself, I still struggle with this at times.  If you know the outcome and rule the universe, betrayal and death doesn't have the same sting, I reason.

Faith, to me, is not an absolution of all doubt.  It is wrestling with the doubt and making a conscientious decision to come to a certain point with my intellect and then leap into the gap trusting His hand with the difference.  It is entirely reasonable that as a finite creature, I cannot understand an infinite God and all of His ways.  I see His hand more clearly in other areas and this allows me to exercise faith in the weaker, mysterious areas of my spirit.   

And, after all, perhaps this brings me back, in a way, to temptation---to testing---to my own testing and trying.  There must be areas of struggle in which we can prove ourselves, like Christ.  I won't come to the bottom of this enigma before I come to the bottom of my morning coffee, but it's worthwhile to ponder all the same.