This week, Christians around the world begin the observance of Lent — a period of repentance and self-reflection. It is no accident that the Revised Common Lectionary includes the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness in the readings for this first Sunday.
As Christians, we see Jesus face the choice of turning toward God or toward the evil one in three of the four Gospels. In each, Jesus’ anointing (or baptism) is immediately followed by his being driven into the wilderness and tempted by the devil (διαβολος, also translated as the enemy or adversary). It is only after Jesus successfully resists the devil (or Satan) that his ministry as God’s beloved actually begins.
Mara Bim
Jesus describes this evil one for us. In Luke’s Gospel, upon the return of the 70 whom Jesus has sent out to minister, they report, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” To which Jesus responds, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
In Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus speaks apocalyptically about the final judgment, he also speaks of the devil saying:
“You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
When Jesus comes face-to-face with the devil in the wilderness, he is faced with the very human choice of following God or following the evil one and manifesting evil in his own life.
“What would have happened if Jesus had accepted one of the devil’s offers and manifested evil in his ministry?”
Matthew’s version of the encounter says:
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and afterward he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
What would have happened if Jesus had accepted one of the devil’s offers and manifested evil in his ministry?
A thought experiment: Jesus’ deal with the devil
What might the world be like if Jesus had made a sort of Faustian bargain or deal with the devil and took Satan up on one of his three offers?
Suppose, for a moment, that Jesus fell for Satan’s first temptation and used his power for his own benefit. Surely, had Jesus done that, he would have continued throughout his life to use his earthly power for the benefit of himself rather than for those on the margins of society. In doing so, he might have found it advantageous to extend his use of power to benefit those already in power in order that he might accumulate even more power.
It would be an oligarchy of sorts with Jesus using his power to help his friends and himself accumulate more and more power. Instead of dining with sinners, he might have hosted lavish dinner parties in which the rich and powerful showered him with gifts to remain in his favor. He, in turn, would have withheld much from those in need and instead manifested all sorts of things for himself and his friends. Perhaps he would have withheld healing from those who were the most sick in order to cut the Roman taxes for those who were the most wealthy.
“Perhaps he would have withheld healing from those who were the most sick in order to cut the Roman taxes for those who were the most wealthy.”
If, instead, Jesus had fallen for the devil’s second temptation to throw himself from a high place, what then? Surely having just been publicly designated as God’s beloved Jesus would have benefited from God’s love and would, in fact, have been saved from a human death in that particular moment by God’s angels.
After that, one can imagine a scenario playing out in which Jesus and Satan pal around Jerusalem playing an endless round of “truth or dare.” Jesus, as a petulant spoiled brat, would become increasingly ungrateful for God’s favor.
Instead of channeling God’s attention toward the sick and the marginalized, Jesus would develop an insatiable appetite for attention — not only from God but from everyone else. He would become so consumed with fear of losing everyone’s attention that he would turn a blind eye to those most in need and instead surround himself with sycophants who would constantly offer empty praises. Again, he would find himself surrounded by those who shower him with praise in order to remain in his favor doing their bidding.
Finally, if Jesus had fallen for Satan’s third offer what might the world be like? In this scenario, Jesus would literally bow down before the evil one to gain instant earthly authority over all the kingdoms. The devil also offered that this deal would ensure Jesus would be instantly glorified by all the nations.
Jesus would have unearned earthly territorial expansion and would be able to plunder the resources of all the people of the earth wherever they lived. But this deal would cost him his soul. At some point, one can imagine Jesus being filled with bitterness and resentment at the circumstances he found himself in even though the circumstances were of his own making.
As time went on, he would escape more and more into a world full of misplaced grievances in which he lamented his fate yet refused to open his eyes and return to the light of God. Rather than living in God’s glory and bringing joy to the world, he would live in perpetual darkness.
We are watching evil unfold in real time
Of course, Jesus never would make a deal with the devil.
Jesus understood that only the most insecure and emotionally weak of humankind seek power at all cost. He knew the bullies on the playground are actually the ones who wet their beds in fright at night. He understood the least and last will be first in the kingdom of God.
Which brings me to the present day.
“The scene that played out in the Oval Office last Friday represents for me a necessary turning point in how we Christians talk about this administration.”
I never have been a fan of Donald J. Trump, but I have, until now, refrained from calling him or his actions evil. However, the scene that played out in the Oval Office last Friday between Trump and JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy represents for me a necessary turning point in how we Christians talk about this administration. It also represents a turning point in how we talk about the choices facing Congressional Republicans and those who voted Trump/Vance into office.
Much has been written about the preplanned horror that played out before the cameras. At one point in the exchange, we all learned what was behind the attack when Vance said: “Have you said thank you once?”
Zelenskyy responded, “A lot of times. Even today.”
Then Vance launched into the proposition before Zelenskyy: “No, in this entire meeting. You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”
In other words, “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’”
It’s worth noting the accusation by Vance about the Pennsylvania event was, as Politifact noted, a straight-up lie. “This is wrong. On Sept. 22, Zelenskyy met with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, but that was not a campaign event. It was at a Scranton ammunition plant, where Zelenskyy thanked workers producing munitions for Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy rejected the evil offer to bow down to Trump.
In response, some in the room — from Trump and Vance to the correspondent Brian Glenn (a.k.a. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend) from the right-wing “media solutions firm” Real America’s Voice — reacted as the devil himself would have.
“Some in the room reacted as the devil himself would have.”
Others in the room — like Secretary of State Marco Rubio — recognized the moment for what it was but have since chosen to do the devil’s bidding by lambasting the president of Ukraine, a small democratic country fighting for its very survival against the “great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.”
This year, the observance of Lent with its practices of self-reflection and repentance take on new and urgent significance. How are we — all of us — bowing down to the evils of this administration? Where must we repent and then act to stop the red dragon?
Yet, while all Christians are called to this practice, I echo Mark Wingfield’s call specifically to those who are directly enabling the evil acts of this administration.
To those Christians who voted for Trump/Vance, to the Christians in his administration and to the Congressional Republicans who claim to follow Jesus, it is time for you to repent of the evil you have wrought. You can and must stop this before it is too late for us all.
Mara Richards Bim serves as a Clemons Fellow with BNG and as program director at Faith Commons. She is a spiritual director and a recent master of divinity degree graduate from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. She also is an award-winning theater artist and founder of the nationally acclaimed Cry Havoc Theater Company which operated in Dallas from 2014 to 2023.
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