The Grand Inquisitor

Perhaps the most famous passage out of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov is the parable of the Grand Inquisitor.  Ivan, the unbelieving Karamazov brother tells the believing brother Alyosha a parable in which Jesus returns quietly back to this Earth. Those who see him recognize him and are irresistibly drawn to him. He reaches out his hands to people and those who touch him, even his clothes, are healed. The parable focuses in on Jesus on the steps of the cathedral in Seville where he restores life to a small girl. At that moment the Cardinal, the Grand Inquisitor himself appears. He sees what has occurred and in anger orders his guards to arrest Jesus and has him locked up in the building of the Holy Inquisition.

The Grand Inquisitor then meets with Jesus and accuses him of returning to cause trouble and to make things difficult for the Church. Dostoevsky, a Russian Orthodox, takes an interesting shot at the Roman Catholic Church. The Grand Inquisitor himself reminds Jesus that all authority had been given over to the Pope as Christ’s vicar here on earth! He highlights to Jesus the intent of God to give man his freedom in anticipation that man in his freedom would choose to follow God.  It is interesting that drugs online Adam in his freedom fell to sin and so became enslaved. Now the second Adam came to restore man his freedom so that he once again may choose God. The Grand Inquisitor notes this was troubling for the Church but that after a long time the Church has managed to remove that freedom!

Dostoevsky then goes into a long discourse with the Grand Inquisitor reviewing the tests of Christ in the wilderness. In it, Dostoevsky provides an intriguing theory of the purpose of those tests. The theory reflects on the possibilities of how Christ could fulfill his role as Messiah, how God could pursue man’s obedience and what the sin is in each test. There is also some allusion to the role of the Church along with Jesus’ role as Messiah. We will go into each individually in the follow on blogs but at a high level these are

1. Jesus could heal everyone and meet their physical needs – rescue the poor and needy from hardships (The church pursues souls by meeting only the physical needs, social gospel only)

2. Jesus could be a miracle worker an who converts people by displaying great acts (The church converts by signs and wonders only)

3. Jesus could comes as the political liberator (the church becomes the state)

The Gospel Accounts of Jesus in the Wilderness

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus goes into the wilderness for forty days after his baptism. Mark does not provide details of what occurs there other than Satan tested him. Matthew and Luke provide three specific tests.

The first test is the turning of stone into bread. Satan taunts Jesus saying, “If you are the Son of God speak so that these stones should become loaves of bread.” Jesus’ response is to quote from Deuteronomy 8:3: “A person shall not live on bread alone but on every word coming forth through the mouth of God.” Jesus resists the temptation to exercise his control over nature to satisfy his hunger. (Matthew 4:3-4, Luke 4:3-4)

The second test differs between Matthew and Luke. The two Gospels buy swap the order so we will go with Matthew’s account where the second test is Satan taking Jesus to the highest part of the temple. There he tells Jesus “If you are the Son of God cast yourself down.” Satan quotes from Psalms 91:11,12 where it is written that God will command his angels to lift him up so that he would not strike his foot on a stone. Jesus responds again quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16: “Do not test the Lord your God”. Jesus resists the temptation to force God’s hand. (Matthew 4:5-7, Luke 4:8-12)

For the third test, Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth. He tells Jesus, “All these I will give you if you bow before me and worship me.” Jesus responds by telling Satan to get away from him and quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13: “You will worship the Lord your God and serve him only”. Jesus resists the temptation to bow before another for the sake of gaining power. (Matthew 4:4-10, Luke 4:5-8)