Sharon Delgado

Image used with permission by Mr. Beardy Arts

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Lenten Series: #2, A Spiritual Foundation for Resistance to Empire

This post includes excerpts from “Chapter 5: Jesus and the Powers,” in Sharon’s book, The Cross in the Midst of Creation.

“The Temptation of Jesus: Resisting Cultural Possession”

There is a call in life to come to terms with who we are in relation to the universe, to give ourselves to something ultimate, to live in right relationship with the Ground of Being, to fulfill our destiny, to enter into the Great Mystery. But we hear other voices as well, voices that we have internalized from our families and cultures, which we hear as our own. These voices tempt us. They present us with a choice: to be true to God and to ourselves and to live fully as free human beings or to be ensnared by idolatrous motives and end up being possessed by them.

Jesus, too, experienced this conflict. At the time of his baptism by John in the Jordan River, he saw a vision in which the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:16–17). This revelation led him to a time of fasting and testing in the wilderness, during which a spiritually strong but very human Jesus was tempted as he strove to find clarity about his identity and calling (Mark 1:12–13; Matt 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13). He evidently struggled with what it meant to be “Son of God,” a well-known designation in the ancient world that was usually applied to the Roman Emperor, who possessed status, wealth, and worldly power. Jews who awaited the Messiah were hoping for the coming of a king like David who would possess such signs of privilege to an even greater degree. Unsurprisingly, these were the very things that tempted Jesus. Luke presents this conflict with the tempter as Jesus’s struggle “to be a servant-messiah or to interpret messiahship in the traditional terms of power, strength, and conquest.”

“If you are the Son of God,” says the voice of temptation (the “devil”) to Jesus, putting him to the test by presenting him with attractive opportunities to demonstrate his unique role. Jesus is not tempted here by greed or lust or other common “sins” but by things that the culture, supported by Scripture and tradition, considers good, including special abilities expected of a messiah. When the devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, he is appealing to his physical hunger and weakness due to fasting, but he is also calling on Jesus to demonstrate his divine power to provide food for the people, like God providing manna in the wilderness. Likewise, if Jesus were to be rescued by angels after throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple, people would flock to him because of his supernatural abilities. In both cases, Jesus refuses.

Even when the devil promises to give Jesus the splendor, wealth, and power of all the world’s kingdoms, Jesus rejects the idolatrous goal of situating himself at the top of the world’s hierarchical system and professes loyalty to God alone. Each time the devil tempts him, Jesus steadfastly refuses to use whatever powers he might have to go beyond natural human limitations. Instead, he responds with words that emphasize his full humanity and that affirm his trust in the loving care of God. “If you are the Son of God,” says the tempter, then prove it by refusing to be bound by human limitations, by putting your own needs and desires above all else, by capitalizing on your extraordinary abilities, by ignoring the laws of nature, by choosing an ego driven path that leads to fame, fortune, and power over others. But each time Jesus hears the voice of temptation, he rejects it, choosing instead to be faithful, to respond with scriptural guidance, to follow the Spirit’s direction, and to entrust himself to the will of God. We are called and empowered by grace to do the same.

These forty days in the wilderness were clarifying for Jesus. They set the stage for his ministry, his confrontation with the ruling powers, and the events that precipitated his death. By choosing a path of deep integrity instead of adopting the assumptions of the dominant culture, Jesus set himself against the religious, political, economic, and military rulers of his day.

What would that look like for us, if we were to make such a choice, and how disruptive and dangerous for us might that be? How would we be received by our churches? In the case of Jesus, the religious elite, who collaborated with the Roman authorities and benefited from the Roman occupation, used religious doctrines against him, charged him with blasphemy and treason, targeted him, plotted against him, and turned him over to the Romans to be crucified.t

It was during his 40 day sojourn in the wilderness that Jesus gained clarity and made choices about his identity, values, and ministry. Jesus rejected the domination system’s values of status, wealth, and worldly power while embracing self-denial, humility, and radical faithfulness to God. Our Lenten journey of 40 days (minus Sundays) is an invitation for us to listen for and clarify what “the voices that work against God” are saying both within us and around us. The clarity that we gain through prayer helps to “prepare us for both their bullying and their seduction.” This practice is a foundation of nonviolent resistance to Empire.

This is post #2 of Sharon’s 2026 Lenten Blog Post Series: A Spiritual Foundation for Resistance to Empire. See the other posts in the series here.

This post includes excerpts from “Chapter 5: Jesus and the Powers,” in Sharon’s book, The Cross in the Midst of Creation. The newly revised edition of her book Love in a Time of Climate Change is also now available. 

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