When we think of the word "temptation," what usually occurs to us? Isn't it something that we know we shouldn't do, yet we want very much to do? Yet in the Bible the words in the Hebrew and Greek that are translated "tempt" or "temptation" often have a different meaning. Instead of focusing on something desired, even though it is forbidden, they focus on testing some's powers.
In the first half of Luke chapter 3 we read how John the Baptizer designated Jesus as the promised Messiah, whose forerunner and prophet he (John) had been called to be. Luke follows this episode with a genealogy of Jesus, which traces him nat just back to Abraham (as Matthew's genealogy does) but to Adam! Now Adam was the father of the human race, the first human. It is possible, then, that Luke is emphasizing here Jesus' saving mission as much broader than just to the Jewish people. But I think it is too much of a coincidence that Luke immediately follows the genealogy ending with Adam in 3:38 with the account of Jesus' temptation in 4:1-13. Humans need salvation from sin because of what Adam (and Eve) did, by succumbing to the temptation of the serpent, the embodiment of Satan. If Jesus will be able to save us from Adam's sin, he will have to re-enact that first temptation and show himself able to undo it. Overcoming Satan in this threefold testing will prove that Jesus is who John announced him to be: God's promised Savior who is able to save us. So let's begin by reading the passage:
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. (Luke 4:1–13 ESV)
The words "returned from the Jordan River" (v. 1) serve to link this episode directly to Luke 3:21-22, where at his baptism Jesus was proclaimed by God to be "You are my Son, the Beloved. With you I am well pleased."
That he was "led by the Spirit in the wilderness" (v. 1) helps Jewish readers in Jesus' days recall how as a Spirit in the form of a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night, God himself had led Israel through the wilderness to the Promised Land. During that wilderness journey Israel had been tested by God, when he caused them to hunger or thirst, in order to determine if they truly trusted him. Many times they did not trust him, and by complaining to Moses and even threatening to rebel and return to Egypt they were said to be testing God's patience with them. Here too, God's beloved Son was led in the wilderness by the Spirit and hungered and thirsted for 40 days (v. 2), just as Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. But unlike the Israelites, who failed the tests of hunger and thirst and by complaining and threatening to rebel tried to turn the tables and test God himself, Jesus passed all the tests and refused to question the will of his Father or modify it in the least.
Hunger was one of the tests God gave to Israel in the wilderness. And so it is the first test given to Jesus. In v. 3 the Devil challenges him to meet his physical need for food by using his divine power to turn stones into loaves of bread. Of course, Jesus had such power. Later, he would use this power to multiply the loaves and feed thousands of hungry listeners, who had come to hear him and find God. But since he was led by God the Spirit into the wilderness, he had to assume that it was God's will for him not to break his fast until the Spirit led him out of the wilderness, not just because his hunger was uncomfortable, or at the invitation of God's arch-enemy, the Devil!
Jesus' answer was appropriate in at least two ways. First, by challenging the assumption in Satan's words that food was the most important essential to life, Jesus showed that he was the true Son of God that neither Adam nor Israel before him had been, focused completely on pleasing his Father and seeking to fulfill His will. Secondly, by claiming that a person sustains his life by listening to and obeying God's words, Jesus challenged the Devil himself, who had never heeded God's words and only existed to oppose that will. The Greek word for "devil" (diabolos) and the Hebrew word it translated (saṭan) both mean "opponent (in court)." It is his name and his mission to oppose God, and by doing so to oppose the best interests of those humans whom he tempts.
The second test is introduced by the words "then the Devil led him up" and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. We are not told him where the Devil led Jesus "up." Quite possibly, since physically even at great height it is not possible to see all points on the Earth, this was done in a vision. But the point is that the Devil attempted to overwhelm Jesus with the sight of all the wealth and opulence of the great imperial courts of his day: Rome, Persia, India, etc. The very thought that he might be given the power over all of these! Even Alexander the Great had only conquered a fraction of the lands and kingdoms that Jesus was shown. The appeal might not even have been to naked greed or pride. Rather, "Think of all the good you could do to all these pagan peoples if you personally ruled the! You could teach them so much! You could empty all the royal storehouses and feed every hungry person." Noble sentiments, yet there was a hitch. Verse 7 explains part of that "hitch": "if you will worship me." Isn't it interesting that even noble aspirations such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and teaching people what is right to do, can be so comfortably linked to denying to God his unique right of our worship? Luke's readers, most of whom were Gentiles living in Asia Minor, Greece and Italy, could certainly understand how applicable this was. In times of persecution all that they had to do in order to save their lives was to offer a pinch of incense on an altar in worship of the "divine Caesar"! Such a little gesture! And God would know that I was forced to do it, and that I don't really mean it! Yet, faithful believers in Luke's day and in the centuries immediately following refused to perform that "little gesture."
Luke's third test is set on the "pinnacle" of the Jerusalem temple. This refers to the highest point on the temple building, which in turn overlooked the rest of the Holy City. Satan challenged Jesus to do a "bungee jump" expecting God to miraculously catch him and save him from crashing to the stone street below the temple—in full view of the worshiping Jews! Such a crass view of using God's power to protect from harm as an advertising medium would be the farthest thing from the mind of a true follower of Israel's God, and certainly out of the question for the Son of God himself! Yet Satan had the audacity to clothe this proposed stunt in a pious appeal to two passages of Old Testament scripture, which are taken out of context and misunderstood. The passage from which these "Satanic verses" have been excerpted reads in full:
“If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”” (Psalms 91:9–16 NIV11)The promises here are to faithful followers of Israel's God, who can rest assured that their God will protect them from dangers that they themselves have not deliberately manufactured as a test of his promises! At no time in Jesus' subsequent public ministry did he deliberately court danger from those who opposed his teaching and claims. On the contrary, he deliberately avoided unnecessary risks, knowing that God's time would eventually arrive when he must fulfill prophecy and suffer death as the sacrifice for the sins of all humanity.
The inducement given to Jesus was the same as in Luke's first temptation, namely, "If you are the Son of God." The implication was that Jesus was somehow obliged to prove himself in these two unworthy stunts to Satan himself, and in this latter case perhaps to the worshipers at the foot of the temple. The gospel writers, Matthew and Luke, chose to include this record of Jesus' temptation by Satan here at the outset of his three-year public ministry, so that readers of the material that follows may see for themselves how starkly Jesus' actual presentation of himself differed from the kind of self-serving sideshow the the Devil proposed.
The episode also illustrates the later saying of Jesus that, in order to plunder a strong man (i.e., the Devil) by rescuing all his slaves, one must first bind that strong man (see Luke 11:14-28). Here we see Jesus defeating the Strong Man and validating himself as the Second Adam who successfully defeats all of the Devil's lies and temptation. By doing so at the very outset of his ministry, he is now entitled to free all of those who are in bondage to the Devil: and he will demonstrate it by healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, driving out the demons from the demon-possessed.
He is still able to free people like you and me, and our loved ones, from the shackles of sin and life-destroying addictions. He is the only One who has ever totally defeated the Strong One. He is the only One who can free you or me or that loved one or friend that you are concerned about. Will you join me in asking him to do so? Will you join me in asking Jesus to use us as witnesses to any friend or loved one who stands in need of Jesus? What a wonderful way that would be to celebrate Christmas, New Years 2013, and the Easter 2013 end of this our journey through Luke!
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