Phaëthon vs. Jesus

What happens when someone challenges a young man's paternity?  Should he take up the challenge and prove his accusers wrong, or should he use a different approach?  And what is the role of pagan mythology in a Christian school?

Jesus Teaches Logic Class

In Books I and II of his Metamorphoses, the Roman poet Ovid tells the story of Phaëthon, who was challenged by his friends regarding whether the sun, personified as Sol, was in fact his father.  To prove his lineage, Phaëthon asked Sol for permission to drive his chariot, which pulled the fiery ball across the sky.  Chaos ensued when the young man was unable to control the horses as they soared high above the earth, causing the tops of mountains to freeze, or dove too close to the earth's surface, burning the areas that became deserts.  In the end Zeus was forced to intervene by hurling a lightning bolt that killed Phaëthon and allowed Sol to regain control.

There is an interesting parallel between this famous story of Greco-Roman mythology and an episode we find with Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-12.  After having fasted for forty days, Satan tempts, or tests Jesus regarding His identity as the Son of God.  In the first two of the three tests, Satan begins by saying, "If you are the Son of God."  For the sake of this piece, we will only look at the first of the three tests, the one in which Satan challenges Jesus to turn stones into bread.  His exact words are, translating literally from the Greek, "If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone so that it may become bread."

Whereas Phaëthon sees the challenge to his paternity as a simple matter to be proven, Jesus recognizes that there is more going on and that Satan has in fact presented Him with a dilemma, which runs as follows.

If you are the Son of God, you will turn this stone into bread.

If you turn this stone into bread, you are doing what I tell you to do and thus are subservient to me.

You have only two choices.  You will either turn the stone into bread or you will not.

If you do not turn the stone into bread, then you are not the Son of God, but if you do turn it into bread, then you are doing what I tell you and thus are subservient to me.

It would seem that Satan has trapped Jesus on the horns of a dilemma, but Jesus deftly avoids the logical trap by, as we say, going through the horns.  He simply refuses to accept either of the two unacceptable options, admitting to not being the Son of God or admitting to being subservient to Satan, and cites Deuteronomy 8:3, which says that we are not to live on bread alone in the first place but on every word that comes from God.  As we read so often throughout the gospels, Jesus simply will not be taken in by the verbal trickery of others, and this can be a good reminder to us as well that just because people may try to trap us in argument, we do not have to respond in the way they expect.  By keeping our eyes fixed on God and His word, we will respond in truth and need never fear the conversational dilemma.

Christians and Mythology

It may seem that Christians should not bother themselves with reading and studying pagan mythology, and some Christians have taken just such an approach to learning, relying on no less redoubtable a supporter for their position than St. Augustine.  In Confessions I.13 he wrote,

Quid enim miserius misero non miserante se ipsum et flente Didonis mortem, quae fiebat amando Aenean, non flente autem mortem suam, quae fiebat non amando te, Deus, lumen cordis mei...?

For what is more wretched than some wretch not pitying himself and weeping over the death of Dido, which happened by loving Aeneas, but not weeping for his own death, which happened by not loving You, O God, the light of my heart...?

Augustine rightly saw that it is folly to delve so deeply into the lives of fictional characters like Dido and Aeneas from Vergil's Aeneid while ignoring our own spiritual condition, but this does not mean that we must approach literature and faith as an either-or proposition.  Contrasting the story of Phaëthon with the episode of Jesus and Satan, we gain an even greater understanding of and appreciation for the boldness of Christ's response to His enemy.  It helps us see more clearly how we can respond to our own temptations as we endeavor to stand strong in imitation of our Lord.

What works of fiction have helped you grow in your walk with Jesus?  How has Scripture allowed you to critique and read differently the novels and plays and poetry and movies that enter your life?