Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness - Part 1

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Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness - Part 1

 

(p.157)

 

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the

devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an

hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, " If thou be the Son of God,

command that these stones be made bread. "

 

But he answered and said, " It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:1-4). [1]

 

Jesus, in lifting himself from the Holy Ghost state of omnipresent Cosmic

Vibration and its Christ Consciousness immanent in vibratory space into oneness

with Cosmic Consciousness--the transcendental, vibrationless God the Father as

well as the Father's reflection as the universal Christ

Consciousness--experienced a matterward pull of cosmic delusion, a reminder of

confining, limiting, human habits of incarnations. The Divine Spirit had led

Jesus into the silence of the wilderness to be tested, to see if his Christ

Consciousness could be retained despite the deluding influence of all mortal

memories.

 

(p.158) A superman, even though he is fixed in a high state of consciousness by

deep meditation, is still subject to the temptations of Cosmic Delusion so long

as he dwells in the realm of 'maya'. The demands of a bodily form will coerce

him to recollect past-life and post natal memories of dependence on sensory

experiences and enjoyment of their offerings. While Jesus was engaged in the

divine bliss contact of God, he was " tempted of Satan; and was with the wild

beast " (Mark 1:13). The cosmic delusion of metaphysical Satan instigated

psychological temptations of beastly passions, of cunning allurements for power

and possessions, and of fierce mortal desires issuing from physical pain and

hunger to entice him away from his transcendent wisdom-perceptions. The apostles

relate that for forty days and nights in the wilderness solitudes Jesus was

" tempted of the devil. " With God as his sole witness and ally, he fought off the

Evil Force with fasting to conquer the delusions of body consciousness, prayer

to strengthen the mind in faith and determinate will, and the ecstasy of

meditation that reaffirmed the identity of his soul as an awakened son of God.

 

The human and divine

nature of Jesus

 

A Jesus who was a ready-made, imported-from-heaven son of God, already complete

and perfect, would have no temptations to overcome. The machinations of Satan,

and Jesus' victory, would then be nothing more than divine acting. How could

that accomplishment be a human ideal? A God-manufactured spiritual being has no

credit of being what one should become by self-effort, and is therefore no

exemplar for struggling, temptation-riddled human beings.

 

The inspiriting truth is that Jesus was both human and divine: he was a

liberated soul, one of the greatest that ever came on earth; and he was human,

who by spiritual labor of past incarnations of self-discipline, prayer, and

meditation had reaped the plenteous spiritual harvest of God Consciousness.

Through his accumulated development, he exteriorized the potential image of God

Consciousness hidden within him; he became a Christ, one endowed with Christ

Consciousness. It was during the Christ state, in which he could feel his

consciousness in every atomic cell of his cosmic body of all matter, that he

could act as a savior of mankind. Only a soul who attains this universality is

able to feel perfect identity with God, qualified thereby to become an emissary

of the Divine.

 

The Heavenly Father sent Jesus on earth to serve His misery-laden children as a

spiritual example. (p.159) Jesus the man met with temptations, he wept, he

suffered like any other human being; but he exerted his will supremely to

overcome evil and the delusion of his material nature, and ultimately succeeded.

Two quotations from Saint Paul bear on this point:

 

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed

of Abraham.

 

Wherefore in all things it behoves him to be made like unto his brethren, that

he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to

make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath

suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted (Hebrews

2:16-18).

 

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our

infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin

(Hebrews 4:15).

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 8, pg. 157-159

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Notes:

 

[1] Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. Cf. parallel references in Mark 1:12-13

and Luke 4:1-4.