Anticipation lingers in the air. This day’s dawn is different. As if summoned, the beasts of the field and the birds of the air start moving en masse, seemingly in concert. Their destination: Pride Rock. A leonine prince has been born, and he is to be presented to the gathered fauna, his future kingdom. Rafiki, the baboon, is tasked with holding young Simba aloft for all to see. Soon after this breath-taking moment, we learn that there was a notable absence: Scar, green-eyed uncle of the young cub.

Instead of attending the ceremony, he has chosen to soliloquize to a captive mouse about how unfair his life is, and how he is now even further from his brother’s throne. All because of that little hairball.

That little hairball is naively unaware of adult jealousies and agendas. He grows to be an inquisitive cub, who enjoys pestering his Uncle Scar. During one of these pester-scenes, Unc casually lets slip (“by mistake”) that the “best place” for fun is The Elephant Graveyard. Knowing that the curiosity will entice Simba and Nala into the very Shadowlands Mufasa declared off-limits. Not surprisingly, hyenas attack the young cubs. Death seems imminent, but Pappy Mufasa saves the day, fiercely chasing off the attackers.

The hyenas slink off to their lair, where it is revealed that Scar was behind this attempted-murder-by-hyena. Though disgustedly disappointed in their inability to handle such a simple task, Scar still condescends to them and tosses them Hind of Zebra.

As the hyenas hungrily devour the food, glorious food, Scar hatches another cunning plan (which he absolutely definitely had not been planning to its minutest detail for a while). One catchy villain song later, Scar struts onto his mini-Pride Rock to address his goose-stepping minions. Laying out his grand plan to kill Mufasa, and take over the kingdom, he finishes his manifesto with a rousing, “Stick with me, and you’ll never go hungry, again!”

Pause.

Saints, this is not the first time we have heard these words from one with nefarious intentions. In Scar’s speech, I hear echoes of the words of an ancient adversary[1].

Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew 4:1-4. Jesus, before the commencement of His earthly ministry, was in the wilderness. Had been for 40 days. Fasting. Without food.

We know (probably from unethical human experiments conducted in Europe during the 1930s and 40s, and more recently and voluntarily, from hunger strikers), that the human body can last about 35 to 40 days before the onset of severe starvation. After this time, the body auto-digests; that is, it starts dipping into protein (muscles) as a source of energy. So, after 40 days, Jesus, being fully God and fully human, was at the edge of His human endurance.

At that knife’s edge, we are told that Jesus was tempted by the adversary.

“If You really are the Son of God,” said the accuser, “turn these stones into bread.” (In other words, take my advice, rely on me, and satisfy Your hunger.) This was a low, and strategic, blow. The hunger that Jesus had, that we all would feel after 40 days, was legitimate. The accuser sidled up to Jesus in seeming concern, and provided a way out of the God-ordained fasting. Jesus shut it down real quick with Scripture, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Translation: obeying God is more crucial than meeting my physiological needs.

The accuser tried twice more to get Jesus to go off-track, even backing the temptation up with Scripture in one instance. And twice more, Jesus shut him down with Scripture. The accuser then left off with the tempting.

That first temptation was never just about the food, as we see with the other 2 points of temptation (ii. test God to save your life, and throw yourself off this high place, and iii. bow down to me and I’ll give you the kingdoms of this world).

This was a battle for spiritual authority.

Not coincidentally, in Genesis, the dominion authority that God had given the first Adam in Genesis, was taken away by the adversary by way of food. “If you eat of this fruit, you will surely not die…God doesn’t want you to have it because then you will become like Him, knowing good and evil.”

Follow my way, and you will get all your heart’s desires.

The Son of God stepped onto the scene, with a mandate to take back authority. Jesus knew that He was the Messiah, God’s redemption plan for mankind. The adversary knew it too, but he kept prodding at Jesus’ identity. The adversary offered a source of food (which his human body needed), and authority over earthly kingdoms (which He came to earth to take back), and tempted Jesus to show off the Father’s protection of His Son (to prove He had an in with God).

Again, it wasn’t about the food. The adversary was tempting Adam and Eve to disobey God’s command, minimising the consequences of that disobedience. The adversary was, in essence, positioning himself as a more authoritative voice than God, continuing what had gotten him kicked out of heaven, and taking mankind along with him.

Follow my way, and you will get all your heart’s desires.

Had Jesus stooped to proving His divinity to the accuser, the trade-off would have been His authority. Jesus was on the cusp of His ministry preaching the Kingdom of God. He would perform miracles, healing the sick, and wielding authority over powers and principalities, to testify that God had sent Him. His humanness had to demonstrate perfect obedience to God, in the face of physical hardship, as a torturous death on the cross awaited Him. His earthly destiny was to be the spotless sacrificial Lamb, to redeem man from sin.

Jesus lived that blameless, sinless life, and was able to say (and still says to us), “I am the bread of life…No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again[2].” Like a boss.

Then, after paying the price for our sin on Calvary, He was resurrected on the third day, hallelujah, and said “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.[3]”

This ties back to Jesus standing strong against temptation in the wilderness.

“Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honour and gave Him the Name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philipians 2:6-11

What does this mean for us today, Saints?

First, Jesus’ authority over life and death is life for us who believe Him.

Secondly, the temptation to deal with a desire in a way outside of God’s perfect will, is not just about that desire and that moment. The glory of God, our testimony about God, is at stake. Thankfully, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin.[4]”

Saints, I don’t know which particular temptation you face. I can think of several that I face on a daily basis; where I must make a decision between obeying God’s word and doing/saying/thinking the Godly thing, or taking the easier route, and venting my spleen. God’s way is often hard, and resistance to the flesh can seem futile.

In those moments, we remember that

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.[5]”

Stand strong in the Lord and in His might, bazakes. Let us look to the Bread of Life for our supply.

Oh, and spoiler alert: Scar’s promise of never-ending provision, was a dead-end. Pun intended.

Let the church say…

Copyright reserved Gugulethu Mhlanga 2021

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[1] In this essay, I will be using adversary and accuser interchangeably, in reference to the devil. Carry on.

[2] John 6:35

[3] Matthew 28:18

[4] Hebrews 4:15

[5] 1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV