Just as I am

Summary

As I have said in previous sermons, I love angry Jesus. As an Enneagram 8 (and if you’re wondering about the Enneagram, just wait, because we have a Sunday School series starting up this week about it), I see so much of myself in angry Jesus. Most of this stems from my “Am I the only one seeing this?” attitude when something is clearly wrong, as 8s on the Enneagram have a strong sense of justice and injustice, fairness and bias.

Jesus is patient. Jesus is completely reasonable. After 40 days of not eating, surely the hunger has left him and all that’s left is a bundle of nerves and pure adrenaline. Satan dangles enticing offers in front of him that are objectively quite cruel, but, as the passage heading says, quite tempting. Surely this is much worse than smelling food at 5 pm when you forgot to grab lunch. This is the point where you’re this close to breaking mentally. One time, Jesus quotes scripture. Another time, Jesus puts out a warning. He says, “Again, it is said…” By the third time, Jesus has an exclamation point added to his statement. “Get away from me, Satan!” Jesus did not silently pray for Satan to leave. Jesus did not ignore Satan and continue to sojourn through the desert. Jesus yells at Satan, with all the power of the exclamation point. This breaking point causes Satan to leave, and angels are left to attend to Jesus.