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Jesus goes into the wilderness where he is tested by Satan. But just before this, Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan. Do you remember what happened immediately after Jesus was baptized? The Spirit of God came down and a voice proclaimed, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
What I love about this story is the way in which God declares Jesus as beloved before he does anything noteworthy. Before Jesus heals anyone, before he proves himself in any way, God says, “This is my Son, the Beloved.” It is the same for you and me. Our identity in Christ precedes our performance. You simply are. Beloved.
We are told of Jesus’ belovedness from this voice that accompanies the Spirit of God, and in the very next breath Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And what does the devil say to Jesus, not once but twice? “If you are the Son of God…” “If you are the Son of God…” The devil doesn’t begin with evil or even direct temptation; the devil begins with identity: “If you are…” The devil worms his way inside Jesus’ mind and tries to introduce doubt. He sows seeds of insecurity. The wilderness does not introduce the question of identity; the wilderness exposes it.
And that question isn’t only for Jesus. In this wilderness that is the Season of Lent, the question of our very identity is exposed too. Before Jesus does anything, he is named Beloved. That is God’s grace.
That declaration, beloved before doing, is what Paul calls grace. Paul writes to the Romans, “Much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”
In typical Paul fashion, this is a little difficult to parse. What he is saying is: grace names us before we achieve anything, while the devil tempts us to believe we have to earn it. We don’t earn God’s grace through our actions; God’s grace is freely bestowed.
Let’s go back to the wilderness with Jesus. The devil tempts him three times. “Command these stones to become loaves of bread,” the devil says. Prove your power if you really are who you say you are.
In my mind, this scene plays out like a Marvel movie, with the devil as the archetypal bad guy and Jesus as the hero. Jesus calmly replies, quoting Deuteronomy, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
The devil tries again from the pinnacle of the temple, way up high. “If you are the Son of God,” he says, “throw yourself down.” Force God to protect you. The third time’s the charm. The devil persists, offering Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he will only worship him instead of God. This is a last-ditch effort to seize control of Jesus, which fails.
The devil tempts Jesus with self-sufficiency, certainty, and domination. Yet all of these temptations distort Jesus’ relationship with God and destroy trust.
We experience this in our day-to-day lives too. Do you remember the cartoons where the devil appears on someone’s shoulder, tempting them to do something? Then an angel pops up on the other shoulder and they argue back and forth. It’s definitely more subtle than that.
It often shows up as doubt or insecurity, making us question our belovedness and worth. There was a moment recently when I found myself thinking, if you were a good daughter, you would visit your father more often. My father is disabled and lives by himself in Oklahoma City. He has daily support and my brother lives nearby, but I still feel guilty because I love and care for him.
My inner voice is the devil saying, “If you were a better daughter, you would call more often, you would visit regularly, you would actually mail him a Christmas present on time.” But I’m busy and Oklahoma is really far away. I find all the excuses. That’s the voice of insecurity. That’s the voice that says, “If you were only…” It doesn’t begin with sin. It begins with doubt. And that’s exactly where the devil meets Jesus and us: “If you are the Son of God…” If you were only more…
What is so tricky is that the devil doesn’t tempt Jesus toward obvious evil. He tempts him to doubt who he is: “If you are the Son of God…” I know that voice and I bet you do too.
Remember, grace names us before we achieve anything, while the devil tempts us to believe we have to earn it. We don’t earn God’s grace through our actions; God’s grace is freely bestowed. Grace is not wages. It is not earned. It is a gift. And gifts do not need to be proven.
I’m not denying sin. Brokenness is real. But Paul insists grace is greater. Our identity in Christ is bestowed, not achieved. And while the devil tries to destabilize that identity, grace has already spoken.
In the fourth century, the Desert Mothers and Fathers wrestled with this same temptation to prove themselves. One of the Desert Mothers, Amma Theodora, told a story about a hermit who was casting out demons. The hermit asked the demons, “What makes you go away? Is it fasting?” They replied, “We do not eat.” “Is it vigils?” “We do not sleep.” “What then drives you out?” And they said, “Nothing defeats us but humility.”
Amma Theodora teaches us that it isn’t effort or spiritual performance that makes us holy or beloved. You don’t have to prove yourself. It isn’t a competition to see who has the best Lenten discipline either. It’s about humility.
But let me be clear. Humility is not self-hatred or doubt; it is knowing who you are before God. Paul says grace is a gift freely bestowed. It is not earned. That is also humility: receiving what you have not earned and did not create. Humility is accepting God’s grace and acknowledging your belovedness, and that is hard.
Does this make the scene in the desert between Jesus and the devil more clear? The devil tempts Jesus to prove his sonship. It is humility that allows Jesus to refuse, because he doesn’t need to secure what has already been given. The Desert Mothers knew that game well. Amma Theodora said nothing defeats the enemy but humility, and humility is simply this: receiving the grace that has already named you beloved.
You cannot outperform temptation. You can only outlast it by remembering who you are. When you hear that whisper, “If you were only…”stronger, more faithful, worthy.” God’s grace says, “You are.” You are claimed. You are held. You are beloved.