He takes Jesus to the holiest city, to the holiest place, and sets him upon its highest point. In the second temptation, the devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem to the pinnacle of the Temple, squarely in the religious realm. Only by relying on the word of God to sustain us-even though we might die in the wilderness trying-can we be witnesses to the One who is himself the bread of life. The gospel does not consist in balancing our budgets. Yet this story reminds us that we cannot be bearers of light to the world by focusing on our own material survival. To use our creative powers to live another day.
Our temptation is to produce bread for ourselves. Especially in these difficult times of waning memberships and tightening budgets, our temptation is to use our power for self-preservation. We depend not on bread but on God’s utterance for our survival. Rather the word of God enlivens the faithful. Drawing on the words of Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus reminds the devil that it is not material goods that sustain the community of faith. “One does not live by bread alone,” he says, “But by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (4:5). Why not use them?īut Jesus fends off the temptation by turning to scripture. The tempter reminds Jesus that, as the Son of God, he has the power to produce bread from stone. The temptation is not to merely to breaking the fast, but rather to employing his power as the Son of God toward the ends of self-preservation. The devil doesn’t say, “Eat this bread” but rather The tempter appears to him in that moment-not with an offer of food but with a reminder of his power to produce food. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, Jesus is famished. The first temptation Jesus faces concerns his very survival. Only by trusting in God and not our own power can we be worthy of the gospel that has been entrusted to our care. This story demands that we, like Jesus, resist the temptation to use our power for self-preservation, trusting instead that God will see us through. So, too, the church faces our own wilderness temptations-material, spiritual, and political-in which we must likewise prove ourselves worthy to be bearers of good news to a hurting world.
Even Jesus had to prove himself worthy to bear the gospel of abundant life to the world. They are carried out by the devil (also called “the tempter” in 4:3), but they are instigated by the Holy Spirit, who leads Jesus out into the wilderness precisely in order to be tempted (4:1). The temptations Jesus faces challenge his faithfulness to God. The devil tests Jesus in the material, spiritual, and political realms, tempting him to exercise power in his own self-interest rather than trusting himself to God’s care. The temptation in the wilderness ( Matthew 4:1-17), features a contest between Jesus and the devil over what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God.
0 kommentar(er)
