LUKE 4:1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.”
Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
We come to the end of our series, You Will be Found, by looking at Jesus tempted in the desert. Throughout the Bible the desert means the place of testing, the place where we can’t survive, where our independence ends, and our reliance on God is renewed.
This temptation of Jesus shows us the reality of how human he is, how much he is like each of us. Who is tempting Jesus? The devil, literally the one who scatters. Jesus, the beloved Son of God, is led into a dangerous situation, where he risks his humanity, where he can be lost.
The devil wants to move Jesus from trusting in God to trusting in himself. The temptation to turn stone into bread asks Jesus to focus on his human needs, to believe that if he has no physical worries he will be fine. Jesus responds by reminding us that even if our needs are met, we still need to find the meaning and purpose that only God can give.
The second temptation is to seek power, to have rule and control over everything around us – but the devil offers this in exchange for worshipping him, not God. This offer violates the first of the Ten Commandments, to worship God alone. Jesus rejects the offer forcefully, pointing to our true identity as children of God, made in his image. Who we really are is fulfilled when we worship God.
Finally, the devil concedes that God is God, but now wants Jesus to test God, basically to say to God, I don’t care about you, I only want to use you. The devil is subtle here, as he wants to point out God’s power, that God would send angels to save Jesus if he asked. But the devil does this only so that he can force us not to love and trust God above all.
Jesus shows his love of the Father, that he will not test him, no matter what may happen. Think of Jesus on the cross, hungry and thirsty, completely powerless, crying out to God, “Why have you abandoned me?” And yet, Jesus on the cross, who is lost, and will soon be dead and buried, shows just how much he loves the Father, no matter what.
Even after we are found, we too will be tested by the devil, when our needs are not met, when we lose control, when we want to test God. We look to the cross, where Jesus shows us the way back to the Father, to the hope of new life in Jesus, whom the Father raises from the dead.