The temple test

With the second test, we again witness earlier themes being tied together during the temptation climax. For example, Satan's argument that religion can be problematic and even damaging in humanity's attempts to love God and to love others is not a new idea to Boyd's Jesus. In fact, it is an issue with which he struggles throughout the novel but particularly in the second part, beginning with his first visit to Capernaum and continuing with his pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Ezra. When Jesus first visits the Capernaum synagogue, he is bored by the dryness of the Rabbi's prayers and his endless discussion of purity laws. He is also taken aback

147 by the pomp and pretense that he witnesses and wonders whether the formality of the building itself might not be responsible for the insincerity and showboating that he observes (118-123). All he witnesses at the synagogue is an effort at making people feel safe in their religion by reducing it to tedious regulations about cleaning cups and plates. Such discussions keep people from dealing with serious issues, such as unclean hearts (123-124). At the Jerusalem temple, Jesus witnesses even more problematic expressions of religion. Once again, he observes how the building itself encourages pageantry and thus leads people away from true worship. He also questions the necessity of animal sacrifice, a topic of general concern among both complementing and competing novels, and wonders whether God is really pleased with all of that blood. Jesus desires to see Jerusalem changed (176), and because he has opted for a prophetic rather than priestly ministry, he knows that one day he will have to confront the temple and the city (183-184).

When we arrive at the novel's temple test, we see that it retains the same verbal structure as the Matthean test. It too begins with Satan's invitation for Jesus to cast himself down, which Boyd's Satan also legitimizes with a quotation of Ps 91:11, and ends with Jesus' rebuttal, a quotation of Deut 6:16. As with the bread test, here too we see a messianic interpretation. When Boyd's Satan cites Ps 91:11, he refers to it as a messianic text, which he then challenges Jesus to fulfill (218-219). We are not told, however, why this psalm is viewed messianically or what expected messianic role Jesus would fulfill by embodying its description. We are simply told that by descending, Jesus would prove himself as the Messiah and gain everyone's

attention.

In between the biblical challenge and the response that Boyd transfers into his narrative, he does a significant amount of gap filling with a theological discussion between Satan and Jesus that is far more intriguing than his rewriting of the imported material. Their discussion quickly shifts away from what Jesus is tempted to do—to cast himself down from the temple—and

148 instead focuses on the building from which Jesus is tempted to jump. In Boyd's version, the act of Jesus casting himself down is not pictured as important in itself. It is only necessary

because it will provide the validation of Jesus' messianic identity, which will also legitimize his authority to destroy the temple. The temple in turn functions as the symbolic starting point for a theological reflection upon the evils of institutional religion. As with his argument in the bread test, Satan again criticizes a system and asks Jesus to destroy and replace it with another better, more humane one.

During their conversation, Satan uses multiple arguments to try to convince Jesus that "religion is bad for mankind" (224). First, he reasons that religion promotes hypocrisy and misplaced trust. By obeying rules, people appear to be holy on the outside and believe that they are safe because they have performed their religious duties. Meanwhile, on the inside, they have never been cleaned nor have their hearts really changed. Their trust is misplaced because it rests in their ability to keep rules rather than in their God.

Second, Satan argues that religion misdirects and contorts worship. Institutionalized religion causes people to worship buildings and pageantry rather than God. Its designation of sacred spaces destroys the sacredness of the world and encourages people to forget that God is already present everywhere and can be worshipped wherever they are. Buildings like the temple also portray God as a pagan idol rather than as the wild and free Being whom the work of human hands cannot contain.

Third, Satan reminds Jesus of the pain and suffering that religion brings to many.

According to Satan, religion preys upon the poor and uses their money to finance its elaborate pageantry and its ornate priestly costumes. It also causes physical pain to millions. From the endless blood of animal sacrifices to the future sacrifice of Jesus himself, religion decimates those in its path.

149 Not content to offer contemporary examples, Satan goes on to paint a vision of what a religion based on Jesus' death will look like when it becomes twisted by his followers. Temples, priests, and countless additional rules and regulations will arise once more to make people feel smug in their holiness without demanding a real change in their hearts and lives. Once more, the poor will be exploited, and their pennies will pay for new buildings, finery, and even statues of Jesus himself. Yet again, religion will be the cause of violence and suffering as Jesus' future followers will persecute Jews in retribution for his death and will launch crusades in order to regain Jesus' homeland. Rather than just hurting others, many of his followers also will inflict pain upon themselves by flaying their own bodies, depriving their own flesh, and closeting themselves away from the rest of the world. The "love of suffering for its own sake will be the new orthodoxy" because his followers will simply be following in his bloody

footsteps (230). Satan prophesies to Jesus, "A religion based on you will be the worst the world has seen because it will be a perversion of the best" (226).

Satan's arguments affect Jesus deeply because they are basically the same ones that Jesus himself made earlier in the novel. Jesus too has witnessed these perversions, but the difference between Jesus and Satan is that Jesus believes them to be aberrations of religion and not the true nature of religion itself. When Jesus pulls himself away from Satan's perspective and starts to look through his own eyes, he sees that these distortions are neither the essence nor the totality of religion. Instead, he realizes that true religion is embodied in people like Rabbi Samuel and Rabbi Ezra. When he watches these saintly men embracing at the temple, Jesus thinks to himself that they stand for what is best in his religion (168-169). Now when tempted to sweep away religion completely, he is reminded by their examples of what is worth

150 preserving and of why he has come to redeem the flawed system rather than destroy it.226 While tempted to conform to Satan's plan, Jesus knows that he must continue to "walk the path my Father has mapped out for me" (223) by being loyal to God and by being prepared to suffer if necessary (224). As with the first test, this one too becomes a test of loyalty, and Jesus once again chooses to remain faithful to God and to continue on a path that will require suffering. He is willing to do this because Ezra, Israel, and even religion itself are worth redeeming.