Theme: Temptation in the wilderness
Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13
Ps: 91:1-2, 9-16
Collect:
Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
It is striking how Jesus conquers the temptations of the devil simply by quoting Scripture. The first temptation was twofold: first, to doubt who he really was (‘If you are the Son of God’) and second, to use his power to look after his own needs. The other two temptations were to doubt God’s plans and to achieve his goal to become Lord of all the easy way, Satan’s way (thereby avoiding the cross). The second temptation was a frontal attack: put yourself under my authority and I will give you what you want. The third temptation was more subtle: you can achieve your goal if you demonstrate that you really are the Messiah by a miracle – after all, the Scripture you love to quote promises that you’ll get away with this.
What was wrong with these suggestions?
The temptation to doubt who he was flew in the face of what Jesus had heard God say when he was baptised: ‘You are my beloved Son.’ He did not need to prove to himself that he had the power to turn those loaf-shaped stones into bread. Nor were physical needs the main thing – however hungry he was. If he put God’s kingdom first, his Father would deal with the rest. We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God (Deuteronomy 8:3) It boils down to a question of trust.
It should be obvious to us that worshipping Satan will never lead to godly results. But it is easy to be so seduced by a vision of what the end might be that we don’t care how we get there – especially if the road looks like a short cut. In the Christian life, no end justifies ungodly means. God alone is to be worshipped: his will is what matters.
(Deuteronomy 6:13)
How about the temptation to do a miracle – a temptation backed up with Scripture? We can easily misquote the Bible to back up our plans. What is needed is not to abandon the Bible, but to get to know it better and to know the way God works. Although God does work miracles, and sometimes does so to demonstrate his power, that is always at his discretion. Awesome power does not produce love for God, and trust in his power is not the same as trust in him. We are not to attempt to boost our faith or that of other people by putting God to the test (Deuteronomy 6:16), unless God tells us to (e.g. Isaiah 7:10-14).
We face similar temptations to Jesus - to doubt our relationship to God, to doubt his purposes or his goodness. We have similar resources he used to conquer those temptations – Scripture.
Questions
1) What temptations are you most prone to? What does God say to them?
2) How can Scripture help us?.