Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards 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 splendour; 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,
Matthew 4:1-11
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.” ’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Power is all the more cunning because its basic forms can change in response to our efforts to free ourselves from its grip.
KOOPMAN (2017) ON MICHEL FOUCAULT’S UNDERSTANDING OF POWER.
As we enter into another Lent, following Jesus into this wilderness text and finding ourselves surrounded by the dusty landscape of the Judean desert, I wonder what you notice?
How do you imagine Jesus? Spiritually empowered, perhaps, fresh from the ascetic discipline of the desert, coming as it did, after the high point of the waters of the Jordan, the dove, the Heavens falling open, the voice… Or perhaps famished, weakened by his fast and the solitude and ready to surrender to the voices within and without that tempt and beguile: it can all be yours…
Where is the power in this scene? A traditional interpretation might suppose that power features only in its rejection, as Jesus shuns the kingship of the world’s people offered in exchange for worship of Satan. This understanding of the text sees power crudely: a blunt instrument wielded by the powerful against the powerless. Power becomes the tool of the oppressor: unidirectional and maleficent.
While we must be alert to the abuses of power which operate in this way, with Foucault I understand power to be more complex than this. Power is diffuse, subtle, omni-directional and multi-faceted. Power seeps into relationships and organisations through cracks that we may not even be aware of. It operates between different people in different forms, and not always according to role or status, but also to the more delicate ways that power is held: through personality and character, volume and tone of voice, bodily presence, and social influence.
Where is the power in this scene? There are many agents here, with a complex flow of power between them. The power of the Spirit to lead Jesus to this place to begin with. The power of God as Father to the Son. How does the presence of all three persons of the Trinity here add to our understanding of the flow of power?
Then there is the power of “the tempter”/”the tester”, “the devil” or “Satan” (Matthew uses the three terms throughout his text) to tempt and seduce. But not to entice beyond goodness.
There is the power of ancient Scripture – Jesus cites the texts from Deuteronomy that he would have come to know as a boy – to resist that temptation and reassure him of his good power.
The power to create, to lead, to act, to excite, persuade, resist, rebuke, reject, to rest. The power to do good, or to do ill. The power of Jesus knowing who he is, and who he isn’t – emboldened by his knowledge of the scriptures and of God.
Where is the power?
It’s all over the page.
It flows around this wilderness scene as water around rocks. As you enter this scene can you feel this flow of power buffeting you around?
Much of my research is focused on spiritual abuse – the capacity of one person to cause harm to another through a lens of faith or spirituality – and how power becomes entwined with language of God to manipulate, control, coerce or otherwise harm.
As I come to this wilderness scene the flow of power around me triggers an awareness and sorrow for the abuses of power enacted on my watch, for my own vulnerability and my failure to see, to notice, to challenge, to resist. I come with an awareness of the power I hold and the capacity I have to do good or harm with that power. I come with a woundedness for the times in which I have been harmed by the abuse of power enacted by another.
And as we come to this place, we see Jesus. Not abdicating his power, not resisting power, but standing firm amidst the strong currents of power, flowing all around, and shaping the flow of that power to resist what is evil and turn to what is good. And not without cost – imagine the pain of turning down food, and fame, and earthly kingship – imagine the cost, in that moment, of saying no.
This would not be the last time that shaping the flow of good power would be costly for Jesus. Ultimately it was good power that led Jesus to the cross: ultimate submission, ultimate power.
Contrary to some interpretations, there is no renunciation of power here in the wilderness. There is no rejection of power. There is no giving power away. To preach this is to misunderstand the complexity of power and the potency of good power, and to underestimate the guile and deceit of dangerous power.
Jesus wields immense power, but he uses it to do good, and not harm. He uses power not as an oppressor – not to dominate and grab and succeed – but instead to turn a horrific, pain-filled dead-end moment into one of hope and life and a future.
Those of us who hold power, whether in our workplace, our homes, our relationship, our communities, must always deepen in our understanding of good power, of safer power. It is not enough to pretend we don’t have power – we all have power and agency in some moments. The bases of power are further-reaching and more numerous than we might know unless we do the reflexive work of self-examination and prayerful repentance.
It is in deepening awareness of self, others and God, that we become wise to the shape-shifting of power. Just as in the wilderness, the power flows and changes form, channelled and shaped by the self-knowledge and faith of Jesus, so it is with us. Our prayerfulness, our close, repentant examination of ourselves before God, our deepening knowledge of Scripture, our holding together in community – these are what will enable us to shape good power and safer cultures.
Following from the Front 