There’s that scene from the movie The Mummy where the man holds up talisman after talisman toward the mummy to ward it off. It didn’t work. Even holding a cross before himself could not stand up against that evil force. We understand that it is not a matter of the material of the cross but what it speaks to us that reveals its power. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he didn’t hold up a torah or plaque of the ten commandments against the Devil, he spoke. And what he spoke was not simple recitation of God’s law, it was from a heart that lived out the law. Because of whom we know Jesus is, we can say that Jesus embodies the whole law, but not as a matter of legalism. He loves, therefore he is.
The law helps us identify what God is not. God is not one who hates others, who sets up any lame idolatry, who speaks ill of others. He does not dishonor, kill, bear false witness. Rather, God is love, and therefore he does what is right, good, and loving. The temptation in the wilderness is only something of a beginning – Jesus confronted by human reasoning, religious legalism, and prideful temptation. “Your hungry, eat.” “The scriptures say this, now prove it.” “Everyone wants power, here’s your chance.” Jesus’ path, however, was not directed by the satisfaction of the flesh, religious adherence, nor self-aggrandizing positioning. His path led to touching lepers, honoring the poor, ministering to the deepest needs of the outcast and foreigner, to a basin and towel, the breaking of bread, and shedding of water and blood.
There seems no lack in the evidence of Christ’s love, yet Paul did suggest there was to the Colossians. He claimed to be completing in his flesh, his own suffering at the hands of those who opposed the message of the cross, that which was lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the Church. (Col 1:24). To claim that there was any lack in Jesus’ ministry to the Church and the world is only to say that his ministry is on-going to us, but is more importantly done through us. In whatever fashion we suffer for the sake of Christ Jesus, we suffer for each other. When the temptations to satiate our natural longings for a greater banquet, a self-defined certitude of righteousness, or the drive toward control or power are set aside for the sake of love, it is to the benefit of the whole Church. Invariably letting these things become eclipsed by love will lead us into suffering. That’s the ugly truth, for we no longer fit with the world.