Trump in the Desert
Our gospel story today from Luke is the most sustained inside look at Jesus’ private spiritual life that we get anywhere in the Bible, along with his experience in the Garden of Gethsemane.
How interesting that we are allowed inside to see his heart at his moments of greatest trial and temptation.
How very like Jesus to humble himself and show us his moments of greatest danger and even near-defeat, to help us know more solidly than ever how present he is to us when we are tempted, tried, and tested by life.
What are the three temptations Jesus faces from the Devil really all about?
Jesus rejects “power, prestige, and perks,” as Richard Rohr puts it. He resists the temptation to manipulate his environment, manipulate his position in society, and manipulate God.
But at a deeper level, he’s rejecting the temptation to take on a false identity.
He will not be the dominator, the miracle worker, the king, the favorite of God. Because that is not who he is.
I was talking with some friends last night about the destructive and often frightening specter of President Trump and what he means in our country right now.
It can be tempting for those of us who find his racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and unrelenting stream of lies exhausting and demoralizing to call him evil.
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