Calvin Synod Herald, 1973 (73. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1973-02-01 / 2. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD the pinnacle: “Is he going to jump? No, he can’t! Look, he has jumped! He is safe! Surely, he is the Messiah: let us follow him!” Noble spirits are tempted to the spectacular and sensational for the sake of God, even courting death for the cause of the kingdom. (The distorted cross.) ... The Old Testament context to which Jesus referred leads us even deeper. After the great deliverance from Egypt and the covenant-making at Mt. Sinai, the people expected spectacular divine protection from all calamities. But this did not happen; on the contrary, they found no water, no food, no safety. So they questioned, “Is the Lord among us or not?” and found fault with Moses, with God, with the covenant, with everything and everybody, except themselves. Thus they tempted the Lord to prove his presence to them by miraculous providence. Jesus was tempted the same way: “If you are the Son of God, no harm can happen to you regardless how great risks you take in recapturing the temple and its people. Live your life on wings and perform your ministry without a cross! Take over the temple with a revolutionary blitzkrieg and the people will be convinced...” The devil quoted scripture to prove this point — oh yes he is not a critic of religion and the 91st Psalm, which was messianically interpreted, really promises special protection for God’s servant in the ministry of the Kingdom. And if you add how sensitive Jesus was to the suffering of others, you know how great a temptation this was for him... Yet he refused Satan’s “scriptural” offer, for it presented only a partial picture of God’s providence. Yes, God is able to provide all things necessary, sometimes in natural ways, sometimes in supernatural ways, but that does not mean that we can recklessly expose our lives to danger or force God’s hands to play providence according to our imagination. So Jesus completes the one-sided scriptural reference and says: “Again it is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God,” and surrendered himself unconditionally to God in a cautious and fearless trust. Beyond this personal consideration, Jesus refused this temptation from the viewpoint of his ministry as well: signs do not create faith and we should go deeper than to meet the eyes. Success trail, sensational programs, spectacular spiritual acrobatism of ecclesiastical leaders do not guarantee change in people’s heart, “neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Man must repent if he is to enter the Kingdom of God: without such repentance not even a radical takeover of the religious establishment will bring a solution to man’s predicament. — But perhaps the main rebuttal to the devil’s proposal was Jesus’ readiness to carry the cross, not in a mood of steril masochism, but as the royal road of obedience. Can we see that this is too radical even to the radicals today? James Cone says: “Black theology cannot accept any view of God that even indirectly places divine approval on human suffering.” But Jesus did accept such a view, and the heroes of faith have accepted it too. Finally, “the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world . . An ecumenical setting! The devil now drops the “if” so that he may bring his keenest weapon: the appeal to political leadership, Jewish hegemony over the world. “All these I will give you” and the devil is so sure of the appeal that he makes no attempt to hide the price: “if you will fall down and worship me.” According to Professor Cullmann, this was the temptation of the Zealot ideal, a special temptation for Jesus. Psalm 2 from which the Voice was a quotation pictured the Messiah as a hero smashing his enemies with a rod of iron and possessing the ends of the earth and the nations of the world as his heritage! And if there was a time when this ambition had been provoked, it was in Jesus’ time. The Jewish people were oppressed, trampled under the mighty power of Rome, longing for liberation. There were six million Jews scattered through that ancient world and it was entirely plausible that, with right leadership and perhaps with alliance with the Parthians, the throne of David could be re-established and a new society organized in accordance with the “scriptural promises.” That was the temptation, taken by Jesus so seriously that the debate is still going on whether he was a Zealot or not. According to Cullmann he was not, although he took an interest in this parallel yet so different movement during his entire ministry. He rejected the Zealot idea, because it was too narrow, too nationalistic, too Jewish. The price was also too high, the method selfdefeating. Secular power always seems to turn to evil; secular endeavors for progress and socioethical transformation of the world without a radical Christian eschatology miss not only God, but man as well! Instead of leading to freedom and new humanity, they lead to new slavery and potential self-destruction. “Begone Satan! It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve!” Dr. John Butosi Picture on front page: Hungarian Tree of Life. Maria Undi Hungarian Fancy Needlework and Weaving, Budapest, n. d----------o---------Make checks payable to the CALVIN SYNOD HERALD HUNGARIAN COOK BOOK Faith United Church of Christ 3030 —175th Street Hammond, Indiana 46323 Price: $2.50 postpaid
