The Test

The Test
Genesis 21: 33- 22: 2

I am writing at the beginning of Lent, and I have been thinking about the story of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, when he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. Every time I get to the end of that sentence, I have to go back to the beginning and wonder how its two halves can fit together. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, yes. Jesus was tempted by the Devil, yes. But Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted? Apparently so. One of the clues to understanding what was going on is that whereas English has different words for “testing” and “temptation,” the Old and New Testaments use the same words for a positive testing designed to build you up and a negative temptation designed to pull you down. The King James translation in fact has God here “tempting” Abraham. Jesus’ temptation was also a testing from which he could emerge the stronger to begin his ministry. Adam and Eve’s temptation was also a testing, which they failed. Abraham’s testing was also a temptation, which he resisted. Every testing is a temptation; every temptation, a testing. When the man of whom I spoke in connection with Genesis 20:1–13 is tempted to get involved with another woman, it is also a test. If and when he resists that temptation, he has also passed a test and emerged from the experience a bigger man, a more mature man...