AFTER Jesus had seen the heavens opened, following his act of humility and obedience in being baptized of John, and beheld the dove descending, and heard the voice declaring him to be God's "beloved Son," we are told that he was "led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." The narrative says that he "fasted forty days and forty nights" before the tempter assailed him.
When one first beholds the wonder and glory of divine Science, it may seem to him that his troubles with the flesh are left behind, and it is with joy and confidence that he takes up the fast, the abstinence from materiality which we are told in Isaiah God has chosen "to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and . . . break every yoke." We thus see that for forty days and nights, for a long while, one may seem to himself to be above the plane where the mortal sense can in any wise influence his thoughts and acts, that he is in the atmosphere of Spirit, where even the devils are subject to him through his understanding of Truth. Then, as in the case of the Master, one day the tempter may appear to tell him that he is hungry for human ways, that the flesh has still some claim upon him, that it has rights which cannot be denied, and that he may use his understanding of spiritual power to meet these needs and command stones to be bread for him to eat,—matter to become a medium through which Spirit may work its wonders.
This subtle argument reached the consciousness of Jesus, but his spiritual alertness discerned its deceptive and perversive character, and he answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." In other words, man shall not be dependent upon matter for life, because God is man's life, and the Word of God is man's food. Here is a point which calls for wide-awake work, also for humility and prayer. To dare to use one's knowledge of "the superiority of spiritual power over sensuous" (Science and Health, p. 454) in order to serve the body, instead of bringing the body into such obedience to Truth as shall progressively reveal all man's needs to be spiritual and spiritually supplied, would be to pervert Mindpower; and if the argument were listened to and obeyed, it would lead the unwary into the snare of delusion and darkness.
Following this assault upon the Master's understanding came the appeal to cast himself down from his high spiritual elevation. Error even presumed upon Scriptural authority, saying that because he was the Son of God, angels would bear him up, lest he dash his foot against a stone. But was not this the same temptation in another disguise? The appeal was for the recognition and indulgence of material sense on the ground that since he was no other than the Son of God he could not possibly come to grief, even if he should abandon his purely spiritual standpoint and admit that man is both material and spiritual.
The third temptation seems at first to be a different sort of appeal, one made on behalf of human power and preeminence, but its essence is the same as the others. Error argued that if Jesus would take the carnal mind for a partner and agree to use its methods, he could command the world, and could even compel mankind to come into his Father's kingdom and be saved, willy-nilly.
At this point it is well to remember that Mrs. Eddy has always instructed her followers to abstain from mental interference with the thoughts of others unless their aid is sought. In line with Jesus' teachings she has ever counseled Christian Scientists to safeguard their own mental and moral freedom, and at the same time to respect the rights of others to freedom of choice in working out their human problems.
Some of the followers of Christ Jesus have yielded to the temptation to do otherwise, and history records the result. We are told that when the early Christian church changed the crown of thorns for a diadem and the "seamless dress" for a purple robe, its power diminished until it was lost; and nothing but a return to the attitude of our Wayshower can restore to the world the spiritual vision in the light of which "the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them," are nothing but outgrown toys, a delusion and a snare.
It would seem that, after all, the adversary, mortal mind, has but one temptation, which is dressed up in many disguises. It is always in the final analysis discovered to be addressed to "self-will, self-justification, and self-love" (Science and Health, p. 242), with purpose to deceive and to establish in consciousness another god, a false good; and it may be after long service and great rewards in following the one good that this beguiling argument will seek to gain audience and present its deceptive flatteries. These should be met with Jesus' clear-cut retort, "Get thee hence, Satan."
It was not to one just awakened that false sense addressed these temptations, but to the spiritually conscious man, equipped for warfare against the world, the flesh, and evil, standing on his knowledge of spiritual law and ready to show mankind by demonstration that, as Paul declares, "there is no power but of God," and thus overthrow the misrule of error. Already pledged to this high emprise on the threshold of his sublime career, if matter could have gained recognition from Christ Jesus as person, power, or thing, the light would have gone out, his mission would have failed, and the Messianic message would either have been undelivered, or, to use Mrs. Eddy's words, it would have been deprived of its "essential vitality" (Science and Health, p. 98). It therefore rests with us to be more keenly awake at every step of the journey, that to us as to our Master temptation may mean overcoming and higher, grander work in the establishment of God's kingdom on earth.
