Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
While there are clear allusions in this scene to the story of Israel’s wandering – in the wilderness, the place of challenge; forty days reminiscent of the 40 years – the story that comes to my mind when I read this description is from Genesis. For the character of the temptation of Jesus seems strikingly similar to that put to Adam and Eve.
Each, I think, deals not simply with temptation but with trust. Adam and Eve, you may remember, were told that something God had told them – that if they eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die – is not true. They are invited, thereby, to imagine that God is not trustworthy, that there are things God is keeping from them, that their relationship with God isn’t as secure as they’d hoped. And out of that insecurity and lack of trust, they seize the fruit – and by extension their destiny – for themselves.
So also in this scene. The devil asks Jesus to turn bread into stone, to throw himself off the Temple, and to worship him, all precisely on the assumption that God is not trustworthy – God will not provide, not save, and not equip Jesus to fulfill his mission. At each point Jesus responds not simply with Scripture – as if quoting the Bible is always the answer – but rather with Scripture that expresses his trust in God.
Jesus, that is, is content to remain dependent on God, to trust God for his every good, to rest in God’s good provision for him. For this reason, Jesus is sometimes called “the second Adam,” because he was able to trust where the first Adam fell prey to mistrust.
Prayer: Dear God, remind us of your promises that we may trust in you and find life in your Son. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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