From the Desert to the Kingdom of God : Narrative Space and the Temptation Story (Q 4:1-13)

Abstract

The following study will present the Temptation Story (Q 4:1-13) as a reflexive narrative of Q people, rather than a mere Christological narrative about Jesus. A narratological approach to the study of Q explains more about the socio-historical context of Q through a world which Q reveals, since narrative is an indicator of the culture or social locus of the behind the people. Especially, narrative space plays a significant role in a narrative, reflecting a culture and history as well as the particular locale within the society in which the narrative is produced.<BR> This paper focuses on the narrative space of the Temptation story (Q 4:1-13). Its role will be presented as a part of the prologue of the Q narrative. The prologue introduces Q as a narrative derived from the ordinary poor people of Roman Galilee who believed that forgiveness would bring God’s kingdom. The Temptation story (4:1-13) intensely and symbolically displays the issues of Q in its narrative space which is involved with the social locus of the people behind Q. Nonetheless its mythical elements and obvious citations are derived from the Old Testament. Considering the fact that the narrative selectively chooses the meaningful and relevant anecdotes/events, the list of Jesus temptations implies the immediate issues of the particular circumstances of people in Roman Palestine such as poverty, and oppression under the temple and Roman world. This is enforced by the fact that narrative space is critically important for efforts to perceive the relationship between characters and objects as well as the setting and movements of the protagonist and antagonist. The socio- political symbolic places which are involved with the devil’s activity in this temptation story displays Q’s intention of establishing the spatial framework in this regard. Moreover, the unusual locale of the desert and the contrast between the dynamic actions of the devil and the passivity of Jesus throughout the temptation story plays a symbolic role in revealing the characteristics of the mission of the Q people. Thus, as the prologue of the Q Temptation story unfolds, the entire progression of the narrative Q moves from the desert to the kingdom of God.