To be tempted
11 November, 2009, 12:53 pm
4:1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
You know what this story is really about? It is about trust. There is a lot going on here. A couple thousand years of history go into the conversation that Jesus and Satan have. There are some good reasons Jesus says the things that he does.
Jesus defeats temptation. The same temptations which humans are most susceptible too.
food, power, and fame
these cravings have sent armies to war and men to their graves for thousands of years. But Jesus said no and he trusted.
We all want to make a name for ourselves, we all want to have a stockpile of provisions so we never have to worry where the next meal is coming from. We all want people to serve us and cater to our every whim.
The king of the universe said no to these things. In his weak, yet perfect humanity, he trusted God.
We don’t always do that. We are weak and we don’t trust. We horde, we fight, we bicker and even kill because we believe that we have to “take care of ourselves.”
We forget there is a king who has promised to take care of us. Look to Jesus who denied temptation. When you don’t deny it, you can remember that he did and he did it for you. Then you can see him and have hope that you too can deny it the next time around.
