The cross stands in stark contrast to the other forms of power which the devil tempted Jesus to use. As Jesus begins his public ministry, the devil tempts him in three ways (Matt. 4:1-11). Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen frame the temptations in this way:
1. First, the devil tempted Jesus to use the power of a provider. Satan urged Jesus to use his might to provide for himself the kinds of things that all people need or want, like bread. By turning stones into bread, Jesus could use his power to gratify the basic desires of people. People would surely demand that a provider like this should become king.
2. Second, the devil tempted Jesus to use the power of a wonder-worker. Jesus could leap off the temple and force God to rescue him in a spectacular manner. Compelled and dazzled by this wonder-full trick, and more like it, the people would vote Jesus quickly into office.
3. Third, the devil tempted Jesus to use the power of coercion. By agreeing to a handoff of the world’s people from Satan to himself, Jesus would be relying upon coercion to win the world. In one fell swoop the countries of the earth would be forced into allegiance with Jesus, never having been given a voice in the matter.
But Jesus fell for none of these. He chose the power of the cross. Jesus chose something that appears to be the ultimate display of weakness yet which is the ultimate display of power.
Paul will later write about power and weakness in this way: “my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9 ESV). Jesus chose the most powerful tool available to him. Something perfect in power. Because it was perfect in weakness. The impact of Jesus was based on the greatest paradox–perfect power unleashed through the perfect weakness of the cross.
In Letters and Papers from Prison Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that we often look in our “distress to the power of God in the world: God is the deus ex machina [the God who rides into town and miraculously saves the day]. The Bible directs man to God’s powerlessness and suffering; only the suffering God can help.” We long for a God who rides mightily into town to save us. What we are given is a God who dies helplessly and can’t even save himself. Yet this perfect form of weakness became a perfect form of power.
(to be continued)
