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 writeen, 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 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.

When the devil comes to tempt Jesus in the desert after forty days of fasting, he tempts Him on the matter of His identity as the Son of God, His mission to save all people, and His trust in the Father.

First, Luke tells us that Jesus is hungry after His forty day fast. Well, … duh! Anyone would be hungry! But let’s not forget that Luke is communicating to us the humanity of Jesus, shortly after the infancy narratives had made clear His divinity. Luke wants us to know that Jesus is human, one of us in all things, except sin. So, he makes the point that Jesus is hungry, like any one of us would be after fasting for forty days. The devil exploits Jesus’ hunger, as he exploits the human weakness of all of us, and tempts Him to make bread from stone. He tempts Jesus to prove His identity as the Son of God by magically making bread for Himself to satisfy His hunger. But Jesus is not a magician. He is Lord and God and Savior. He will not use His divine powers to play magic tricks, even if to satisfy His very real hunger. He reminds the devil what Scripture says, that one does not live on bread alone. Matthew’s Gospel adds, “but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4). There is more to life than just meeting our physical needs. Jesus will not diminish Himself for the sake of resolving His hunger, especially at the bequest of the devil.

In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to forgo His mission to save the world and, instead, become ruler of the world, if only He worship the devil. But Jesus knows His mission, and it has nothing to do with power or rule, and certainly nothing to do with worshipping the devil. Jesus worships God alone, as the Scripture commands. You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve. Jesus is not interested in power, as most humans are. He is insterested only in fulifilling His mission to save humanity from the chains of our sins. Jesus is not interested in worshipping the devil. Worshipping the devil gets you nothing, ulimately, except the fire of Hell. Whatever power one has is ultimately lost, because the devil does not have a kingdom that will last forever, like God does. His kingdom will be lost, and he himself will be defeated. In fact, he already is. Remember: our faith is not that Jesus will be victorious; our faith is that He already is.

Finally, the devil tempts Jesus to misplace His trust in God. Surely God will save Him if He should fall from the parapet of the temple. But the devil does not tempt Jesus with falling from the parapet of the temple, but with jumping. The devil wants Jesus to try God, and to put His own trust in God on trial. The devil tempts Jesus with having God prove Himself. Don’t we do this all the time. “God, if you do this, then I will do that.” Or, maybe we go out on a limb, foolishly, with our actions, then blame God when it doesn’t work out. No! God it not our slavish master, to do what we desire Him to do in return for our worship. We worship God because God is God. And we conform our wills according to His, not the other way around. Jesus knows this. Even as God, Jesus will not tempt the Father, testing His love for His own Son. Finally, this is the sin of pride – trying to force God to do our will rather than submit ourselves to His. It is interesting that, after Jesus responds twice with Scripture to the first two temptations, the devil here tries to use Scripture to tempt the Son of God Himself! Even the Scriptures can be misused for the devil’s purposes. That is one reason why we need the Church to guide us in the true meaning of Scripture, lest we fall prey to interpreting the Scriptures to justify our decisions and our beliefs, rather than following the truth of Scriptures as intended as God’s revelation. In response to the devil’s attempt to misuse Scripture for his purposes, Jesus uses Scripture rightly to affirm the will of His Father.

Notice that in Luke’s account of the temptation of Jesus in the devil, he says that, when he was finished tempting our Lord, “he departed from him for a time.” The devil is not done. He will appear again to guide those who wish to destroy Jesus. Luke writes in chapter 22 of his Gospel: “Now the feast of unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was drawing near, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to put him to death, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, the one surnamed Iscariot, who was counted among the Twelve, and he went to the chief priests and temple guards to discuss a plan for handing him over to them” (Luke 22:1-4, emphasis added). So, Satan will be back. He is not done yet with Jesus. Ultimately, of course, the devil’s plans will be thwarted, because he will not submit to God’s will for Jesus.

Jesus is Lord. He knows who He is. He knows why He came. Though He is tempted like all of us, He does not fall to temptation. He remains true to who He is and to His mission. We pray this Lent that we may all be and do likewise.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.