It is a symptom of my deep, unresolved caution about the Bible that I continue to ask whether it holds good news for trans people like me. One of my hermeneutic tics is to ask of any passage—after the great Phyllis Trible, who died last fall—is this a “text of terror”? During Lent, my attention fixes on Jesus’ 40 days and nights in the wilderness, that great arc of love and mystery that signals his formation for adult ministry. In the desert’s wide-open spaces, he figures out who he is and what that might mean. Could that be good news for trans people?
The temptations Satan places before Jesus are justly famous: he invites the famished Jesus to turn stones into bread, dares him to jump off the temple’s pinnacle, and offers him all the kingdoms on earth in exchange for his worship. Jesus, of course, resists him each time.
Satan invites Jesus to turn his back on his deepest, truest identity. In resisting this, Jesus shows how much he has begun to accept this unique identity and who he is destined to become. Christ begins to reveal where his true treasure lies. It is not in the immediate gratification of hunger, in a display of power on a temple wall, or even in exercising authority over the nations of the world. It lies in an identity focused on and oriented toward humble service. He may be God’s son, but he refuses to claim equality with his father.
