Tempted Redux

Sometimes we view temptation as a conflict between the red and white figures on either shoulder. Too often we fall for the little guy with the pitchfork in our cartoon. Jesus faced temptation in a much more brutal, three-dimensional manner against the stark palette of the Judean wilderness. This episode has often been understood as a template for how we too could fight temptation. Nevertheless, we see in this exchange in the wilderness, the story of triumph reenacted against Israel's story--and ultimately our own stories--of failure.