Hello my friends,

Today, I want to invite us to look at Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and how it relates so closely to the temptation offered to us by Christian nationalism in our world today.

Before we get into that, I wanted to offer a few other articles I wrote this week:

​-Patriarchy Preaching at the Pentagon. In this article, I write about self proclaimed Christian Nationalist Doug Wilson being invited by the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to preach at the Pentagon's monthly worship service.

​-A Christianity Rooted In Patriarchy. Since the theology espoused by folks like Doug Wilson and Pete Hegseth are deeply patriarchal, I wanted to write this article on God's creation of humanity in Genesis and how it conflicts with the common theology that enforces a hierarchy of men over women.

​-On “the lesser of two evils” argument. As I am sure you do as well, I hear the argument about choosing the lesser of two evils, especially after any critique of the current president. I wrote this article reflecting on that argument in the current state of things today.

The Wilderness and the War Over Identity.

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Tempted In The Wilderness

Matthew 4:1-11 will be read and reflected on by millions of Christians around the world on February 22nd, the first Sunday of Lent. It is the famous text of Jesus being led into the wilderness by God’s spirit for 40 days, which is a fitting text as the church begins the 40 day season of fasting and prayer as it awaits Easter morning.

As I have read and preached from this text over the years, I have always found the temptations Jesus faced deeply intriguing, but I’ve also had a lot of questions too. Like, what meaning are we to take from this? Why does God’s spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the tempter? Why these three particular temptations rather than others?

I have come to the conclusion that this text is primarily about Jesus’ identity and how he defines power. As followers of Jesus in our world today, this lesson couldn’t be more important or timely for the whole community we call “the church.”

“If You Are the Son of God…”

Before Jesus is led into the wilderness, Matthew tells us about his baptism, during which God spoke: “This is my Son” about Jesus. For those who heard this phrase and for those of us reading it now, we are to hear it as a statement of identity. This is who Jesus is, “God’s son.” So, the wilderness event is not to be seen as a discovery of who Jesus is. Rather, it is more about whether Jesus will live from that identity God declared over him or grasp for another.

This is why the tempter begins with the same statement questioning this identity, saying multiple times, “If you are the Son of God…” then presents a challenge to prove that identity. What makes these challenges so sinister is that they are not outright evil. Having bread, having God’s protection, and having authority are not evil in and of themselves. So, Jesus is not being tempted to by particular things, but by a particular way. It is an invitation to prove himself as the Son of God through spectacle, domination, and control.

Each temptation is a shortcut. Each offers visible power. Each promises immediate results. Feed the hungry instantly by turning all these stones into bread. Display divine protection dramatically, convincing everyone who sees it that God is real. Rule the nations decisively and be able to enforce your way efficiently and effectively.

But something is very wrong beneath the surface. The offers are not about compassion. They are about control. They are not about trust. They are about coercion. They are not about obedience. They are about spectacle. The devil presents a version of sonship defined entirely by visible dominance. To put it simply, these three temptations are ultimately the same temptation: they are all tempting Jesus to make everything all about himself.

But Jesus refuses.

As we read the rest of Matthew’s gospel, we read that Jesus does multiply bread. Jesus does claim all authority after the resurrection. Jesus does claim that he has the power to call down legions of angels for his protection. Jesus performs many miracles. His ministry overflows with them. So performing miracles isn’t the issue here. Jesus refuses these temptations because the source and the manner of how power is exercised. To accept power on the tempter’s terms would mean becoming the tempter’s kind of king in the world.

Jesus will not seize power, he will receive it through obedience. Jesus will not bypass suffering, he will walk through it. Jesus will not coerce allegiance from others, he will invite them into relationship. The wilderness reveals that the true battle is not over whether Jesus will act powerfully, but over what kind of power he will embody and how.

Two Visions of Power

In the wilderness, we are seeing two kingdoms colliding. One promises quick reward and instant glory through seizing power and dominion. The other humbly walks the long road of faithful love. The tempter claims power over the kingdoms of the world, which would have been the entire Roman Empire at the time, and history confirms how often earthly empires operate through intimidation, spectacle, wealth accumulation, and enforced loyalty. The kingdoms of this world tend to reward those who force their own way and silence those who resist.

We see Jesus choose another way. He roots himself in the words of Scripture as a declaration of allegiance. His identity is anchored in the God’s will, not a crowd’s approval or the empire’s offer. And that decision will shape everything that follows in his ministry. Jesus will feed the hungry because they are hungry, not to stage a spectacle. Jesus will confront rulers because he is advocating for those who suffer under their rule, not to dominate them himself. Jesus will suffer under imperial violence because of his self sacrificial love, not because he was trying to wield imperial power for himself.

His identity as the Son of God reveals that divine power is cruciform. It bends downward and alongside in love rather than towering upward, over, and against in conquest.

The Wilderness We Are In

Jesus’ example here is important because we are standing in a wilderness moment of our own.

As I am sure you have seen, Pete Hegseth invited Doug Wilson to speak at a Pentagon worship service (Yes, there are worship services at the Pentagon). This should be troubling for everyone, not just because of the erosion of the separation of church and state, but also because Wilson has openly advocated repealing the 19th Amendment, taking away women’s right to vote, moving away from democracy toward a theocratic vision, and has made deeply troubling claims minimizing the brutality of American slavery.

Doug Wilson has hundreds of churches across the country, including a new church plant in Washington DC where Pete Hegseth attends. Wilson is a self proclaimed Christian Nationalist and is one of the most prominent and influential figures for the movement.

Later in the week after the Pentagon’s worship service, Pete Hegseth was the headline speaker at the International Christian Media Convention. During his speech he said, “Gone is godless and divisive DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], gone is gender-bending equity and quotas, gone is climate change worship to a false God. We are one military, one fighting force, one nation under God. We are not in woke we trust, we are in God we trust.”

Since taking the reins of the Pentagon last year, Hegseth has worked feverishly to reshape the military’s culture to align with his more traditional Christian conservative views, including enacting policy that bans transgender troops and reviews whether women should serve in combat roles at all.

Yet when Christian nationalism is named for what it is, the responses from many either dismiss that it even exists or that it is simply a term about Christians who love their country.

Christians loving their country is not the issue here. The issue is exactly what Jesus was tempted with in the wilderness. It is the fusion of Christian identity with national dominance. It is the claim that America must be reordered around a narrow sectarian definition of who counts and who does not, both religiously and politically. It is the suggestion that resources should only be available to those who hold the “right beliefs” and that even democracy itself is expendable if it stands in the way of a particular religious vision of power and dominance.

Christian nationalism is the acceptance of all the temptations Jesus rejected in the wilderness then living them out in the name of Jesus.

This is why, for followers of Jesus, silence is not an option today.

Identity and Allegiance

The wilderness confrontation in Matthew 4 poses the question, will the Son of God define his mission through visible domination or through faithful obedience? Will Jesus secure allegiance through spectacle or through sacrificial love?

Christian nationalism offers a version of Christian identity bound tightly to privilege and national power. It promises influence, dominance, resources, and the comfort of cultural control. It offers the kingdoms of this world wrapped in patriotic language and baptized with Scripture, much like the tempter does with Jesus. These things are tempting because they look so effective, so strong, and victorious.

But these temptations ask us to trade the way of Jesus for the way of dominion. To conflate the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of this world. To believe that if we do not seize power and wealth, we will lose everything. Jesus faced that lie in the wilderness and he refused. So must we.

Liberation and Lordship

When Jesus begins his ministry, he announces good news to the poor, freedom for captives, sight for the blind, and release for the indebted and oppressed. He did not come merely to offer private spiritual comfort. He came to reorder lives, communities, and allegiances under the reign of God.

Salvation from sin is not disconnected from liberation from oppression. Sin distorts both hearts and systems and the cross confronts both. But Jesus will not liberate through coercion. He will not redeem through domination. He will not establish his reign through silencing opposition, exclusion, or enforced hierarchy. He will stretch out his hands on a cross out of love for the world. That is the kind of Son he is. That is the kind of power he wields.

The power of self sacrificial love.

Where We Stand

This contrast between spectacle and surrender, domination and obedience, is exactly where we are as followers of Jesus right now. In fact, we’ve been in this moment since 2016 and beyond. We are being offered a showy, muscular Christianity tied to national control or the cruciform way of Christ. We are being invited to bow before a vision of power that promises security through exclusion and suppression or to follow a Savior who trusted God in the wilderness and on the cross.

Who are we? Whose are we? Which way will we choose?

The wilderness clarifies allegiance.

May we not trade our prophetic voice for proximity to power.
May we not confuse spectacle with faithfulness.
May we not mistake coercion for courage.

The Son of God has already shown us the way. Let us walk in it.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,
Beloved Son of God,

You stood in the wilderness hungry and unguarded,
and you refused the shortcuts.

When power was offered without obedience,
you chose trust.

When spectacle beckoned,
you chose faithfulness.
When kingdoms were dangled before you,
you chose the power of love.

We confess how easily we are dazzled by visible strength.
How quickly we equate influence with victory.
How tempted we are to secure your name through worldly force.

Guard us from confusing your kingdom
with the kingdoms of this world.

Anchor our identity not in dominance
but in belovedness.
Not in control but in communion.

Teach your Church again
that your reign advances through mercy,
your authority is revealed in service,
and your glory shines brightest through the power of love.

Lead us through this wilderness.
Clarify our allegiance.
Purify our witness.

May we follow your way,
even when it costs us.

Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A Lent Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of Lent. There is also an audiobook version. You can read more about both below: $20.00 When Love Gets The Last Word: A Lent Devotional Each day of this Lenten devotional will focus on a portion of scripture and invite us to reflect on our lives and our... Read more Get it now! ​ $20.00 Audiobook: When Love Gets The Last Word. Each day of this Lenten devotional will focus on a portion of scripture and invite us to reflect on our lives and our... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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