Baptism to temptation

After Luke 4:1-13 

The hallelujahs of the baptism

give way to the tolling bell

of temptation, the waters

of the river giving way

to the desolation of wilderness.

In inhospitable terrain,

alone, it is here alone

for forty days, it is here

he faces temptation,

temptations to good ends

through the mechanism

of wrong means. Satisfy

hunger? Circumvent

your humanity and turn

stone into bread. Become

king? Here are all the kingdoms

of the world; take them now

and skip that messy crucifixion.

Prove God exists? Throw yourself

from the top of the temple; surely

God will pass that test.

Three offers.

Three denials.

 

Painting: Christ in the Desert, oil on canvas (1872) by Ivan Kramskoi (1837-1887).

Some Friday Readings

“Christ Pantokrator,” poem by Catharine Savage Brosman – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

“Broad is the Way,” hymn by Isaac Watts – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Reading Providence – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.

 

Worn – poem by Seth Lewis.