RESULTADOS DE LAS PRUEBAS DE IDENTIFICACIÓN.

During the temple test, the devil taunts Jesus saying, "If you are the Son of God" (eij uiJoV"

ei^ tou' qeou', 4:6), then "cast yourself down" (bavle seautoVn kavtw; 4:6) from the temple (tou'

ijerou'; 4:5). Satan reminds Jesus that there is no need for him to worry about coming to harm

because God has promised to care for his Son by sending "angels" (toi'" ajggevloi", 4:6) to

rescue him. As we shall see below, each of these highlighted phrases—"If you are the Son of God," "cast yourself down," "temple," and "angels"—echo the Passion narrative and contribute to helping the Temptation function as a scene of anticipation for Jesus' passion.

4.2.1. "If you are the Son of God"

As we have already noted, the phrase "If you are the Son of God" (eij uiJoV" ei^ tou' qeou') is

the key verbal link between the Temptation and Crucifixion narratives. There is verbatim agreement between 4:3, 4:6, and 27:40, and a verbal parallel occurs in 27:43.

The most sustained comparison between the phrase in both narratives is found in Hultgren's chapter entitled "The Obedient Son of God: The Temptation and the Passion (Matt 4.1-

11//Luke 4.1-13)."288 There he focuses on the connections between specifically the temple test and various parts of the Passion rather than examining all three Temptation tests. His

discussion begins his comparison by linking Jesus' trial charges with the challenging taunts hurled at him upon the cross.289 After establishing the "If you are the Son of God" phrase as a likely reference to the trial charge (Matt 26:63), he discusses how it probably formed an

288 _{Hultgren, Narrative Elements, 95-127. What follows is a summary of some of his arguments from that chapter.} 289 _{Ibid., 107-108.}

193 integral part of the original Passion narrative and was not a Matthean insertion reminiscent of the earlier Temptation story. He argues that the Son of God phrase alerts us instead to the Temptation's dependence on the Passion passage where the phrase is already embedded in the narrative.

4.2.2. "Casting" and "coming" down

While only the second Crucifixion test begins with the phrase "If you are the Son of God," both the second and third tests at the Crucifixion share with the temple test the challenge for Jesus to "cast" or "come" down from a significant higher point. At the Temptation, Satan tells Jesus: "[C]ast yourself down" (bavle seautoVn kavtw; 4:6)from the temple (tou' ijerou'; 4:5). At the Crucifixion, passers-by and the temple authorities mockingly tell Jesus to "come down from the cross" (katavbhqi ajpoV tou' staurou'; 27:40; "katabavtw nu'n ajpoV tou' staurou'";

27:42).

Hultgren again assists us by noticing that the connection between these two passages extends beyond the conditional statement regarding Jesus' sonship and continues to the shared imagery of downward motion. The "verbal parallels are the vehicle for conceptual parallels"290 for in the downward motion seen in each event, Jesus could have set into motion a scenario that would test God's divine protection. Perhaps even in the descending direction, we see a symbol for the ironic nature of these temptations. In "coming down," Jesus would not have raised himself up or have proven his sonship. Instead, he would have cast himself down from his exalted position as the Son of God by giving into satanic demands that led him away from God's will as his obedient Son.

290 _{Ibid., 109-110.}

194 4.2.3. Temple connection

Next, we notice that the Temptation and the Crucifixion share another verbal allusion through references to the temple in both narratives. While the Greek is not the same—the Temptation narrative uses toV iJeroVn (4:5) whereas the Crucifixion narrative uses toV naov"

(27:40)—the referent for both terms is the Jerusalem temple.291

At the cross, the passers-by begin their taunting test by saying, "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!" (27:40). The most likely explanation for this temple allusion is that it is a reference to Jesus' trial since, like the "Son of God" phrase, the temple reference links the Crucifixion pericope with Caiaphas' trial where Jesus was accused of claiming that he could destroy and rebuild the temple (toV naov") in three days (26:60-61).

Both the temple and the "Son of God" charges have led to Jesus' current predicament of hanging on a cross,292 so it is not surprising that allusions would be made to both while punishment for those "crimes" was being executed.

Although the combination of temple and sonship language in the Crucifixion scene can be explained as an allusion to Jesus' trial charges, such an obvious answer cannot clarify why another temple reference combined with the "Son of God" phrase appears at the Temptation. Hultgren offers us an answer for these verbal parallels: "If the Temptation narrative was written under the direct influence of the passion narrative, this close connection of temple and Sonship might explain (at least partially) why the second temptation (the third in Luke), in which Jesus' Sonship is challenged and in which Jesus is challenged to tempt God to save him from death,

291 _{According to Michel, the NT uses}

toV iJeroVn and toV naov" with little distinction between these words (O.

Michel, "naov"," TDNT 4:880-90). Schrenk, in discussing the use of toV iJeron, notes that it can be used more

generally for the entire temple complex whereas toV naov" often refers more specifically to the inner shrine, but he

also notes that in the NT both words are used interchangeably for the Jerusalem temple (G. Schrenk, "ijerov", toV iJeroVn, ktl," TDNT 3:221–83).

195 occurs precisely at the temple."293 When we come to discuss the thematic allusions between the two narratives below, we will explore another reason for the connection between temple and sonship language in the Temptation narrative.

4.2.4. Angels

The final verbal allusion to the Passion found in the temple test occurs when Satan tells Jesus that his Father "will command his angels (toi'" ajggevloi", 4:6) concerning you."

Admittedly, there is no reference to angels within the part of the Crucifixion narrative upon which we are focusing (27:31-44), and so this allusion does not tie these two particular pericopes together except for the fact that no divine assistance arrives in either narrative so long as the testing continues. The 4:6 angelic allusion, however, does have parallels within the wider Passion narrative. At Jesus' arrest in 26:53, Jesus asks, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels

(ajggevlwn)?" The similarity between this idea and Satan's reference to Ps 91:11 is striking: If

Jesus is in danger, he can call upon his Father who will send angels to rescue him.294 Neither a legion of angels nor the Lord of hosts appears to rescue Jesus from his testing either in the wilderness or at the cross. Intriguingly, it is only after Jesus has withstood all of the tests and shown himself to be the true Son of God that angelic assistance arrives to minister to him in the Temptation narrative (4:11). Likewise, it is only after Jesus has finished being tested on the cross and suffered death itself that an angel again appears as a character in Matthew's narrative (28:2-7). Given the pervasiveness of angels in Matthew's introduction (1:20, 24; 2:13, 19; 4:11), their absence as characters throughout the rest of the Gospel prior to the Resurrection is striking. Perhaps the long silence between the Temptation (4:11) and

293 _{Hultgren, Narrative Elements, 109.}

294 _{France and Hultgren are the only two commentators that I surveyed to have noticed this connection (France,}

196 Resurrection appearances (28:2-7) serves only to connect further these two passages as

vindications of Jesus' true sonship after overcoming his tests. It may be that the reappearance of angels after Jesus' completion of his Temptation tests is meant to function as a prolepsis of the later angelic appearance at Jesus' resurrection.