Lenten Perspective: The Slanderer and the Advocate

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The Slanderer and the Advocate

Then Iēsous, full of the holy life-breath, returned from the Iordanēs and was led by the life-breath to the wasteland, and for forty days he was tested by the slanderer...

Luke 4:1-2a (as translated by Sarah Ruden)

But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of Truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth

From "The Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns

In three of the Gospels, we read that, before Jesus begins His public ministry, He spends forty days fasting in the desert.¹  There, He faces temptation from the devil.  During the season of Lent, the roughly forty-day period of time preceding Easter Sunday, Christians around the world figuratively follow Jesus into the desert for a time of self-denial, introspection, and repentance.

A couple of weeks ago, when I encountered the story of Jesus' time in the desert in the Gospel of Luke, I decided to read it from a more recent translation by classics scholar Sarah Ruden.  Interestingly, Ruden translates the Greek word diabolos, which is typically translated into English as "devil," as "slanderer."²  This translation choice affected the way I read the story this year.  It caused me to consider that maybe the things the devil says to Jesus are not merely temptations but also slanderous lies and that maybe Jesus responds not just with Scripture He has memorized but with what He knows to be the truth.

Because Jesus has been fasting in the desert, He is hungry, so the devil says to Him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread."³  Jesus came to the desert from the Jordan River, where He was baptized.  As He was praying after His baptism, the heavens were torn open and a Voice from Heaven said to Him, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."⁴  Now, in the desert, the devil is slandering Jesus by calling His very identity into question and is demanding that He prove who He is by using His divinity to His advantage.

The devil's slander does not work on Jesus, because He knows the truth.  Quoting Scripture, He responds, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"⁵  Jesus knows who He is, and He knows that He has everything He needs, even in the desert.

Next, the devil somehow shows Jesus all of the kingdoms of this world in an instant and says to Him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."⁶  The devil is now slandering God by calling God's sovereignty into question and claiming sovereignty over the world for himself.  He invites Jesus to bow down to him so that he may bestow upon Him power like that of the Roman Caesar.

Jesus knows the truth that, even though it might seem at times that the whole world has gone to hell in a proverbial handbasket, the devil is not the true ruler of this world.  He responds, again quoting Scripture, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"⁷  Jesus and His people have been commanded to worship and serve God alone, because God is the true Lord of this world, who makes all things work together for good,⁸ no matter how dire things might seem at any given moment.

Finally, the devil whisks Jesus away to Jerusalem, places Him on the highest point of the temple, and says to Him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"⁹  Once again, the devil slanders Jesus by calling His identity into question.  He then misappropriates the ninety-first psalm in an attempt to get Jesus to flaunt His divinity to the people of Jerusalem by doing something extremely reckless.  Perhaps the Gospel writer is suggesting that the misuse of Scripture is a form of lying.

Jesus is not affected by the devil's lies because He knows the truth.  He responds, quoting Scripture once again, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"¹⁰  Jesus knows who He is; He knows that He does not have to prove Himself to anyone, especially not some arrogant liar; and He knows how utterly stupid it would be to jump off a building in order to provoke God to act.

The devil finally leaves Jesus alone... for the time being.¹¹

At the same time the Father claimed Jesus as His own beloved Son, the Holy Spirit took the form of a dove and descended upon Jesus.¹²  We read that the same Holy Spirit is the One who compelled Jesus to go into the desert.¹³  Ruden translates the Greek phrase normally translated into English as "Holy Spirit" as "holy life-breath."¹⁴  The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, and the Spirit remained present with Him, like His own breath.

In at least one translation of the Bible, the Holy Spirit is called "the Advocate."¹⁵  Any voice that tries to discourage us or lead us on a destructive path does not come from God, for the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Advocacy.  The slanderer will try to make us doubt that God claims us and loves us.  The Spirit of God assures us that we are God's beloved children.  The slanderer will try to convince us that evil is winning, and that, if we want to succeed in this world, we will need to lower our standards.  The Spirit of God encourages us to trust in God and to continue doing what is right.

May we learn to ignore the voices of slander, and may we learn to trust the Voice of Advocacy.


Notes:

1. Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13
2. Sarah Ruden.  The Gospels: A New Translation.  2021, Modern Library.  pp. 177-178
3. Luke 4:2-3 (NRSV)
4. Luke 3:21-22 (NRSV)
5. Luke 4:4 (NRSV) (See also Deuteronomy 8:3.)
6. Luke 4:5-7 (NRSV)
7. Luke 4:8 (NRSV) (See also Deuteronomy 6:13.)
8. Romans 8:28
9. Luke 4:9-11 (NRSV) (See also Psalm 91:11-12.)
10. Luke 4:12 (NRSV) (See also Deuteronomy 6:16.)
11. Luke 4:13
12. Luke 3:21-22
13. Luke 4:1
14. Ruden, p. 176
15. John 14:16 (NRSV)

Christ in the Wilderness was painted by Ivan Kramskoi in 1872.