March 10th, 2019

Temptation is a universal human experience.  While our individual temptations vary, the core issues at the heart of those temptations are consistent: a need for control, a fear of our own mortality leading us to excess, wondering if we are lovable.

 In this familiar passage, Luke 4:1-13, Jesus has just been baptized by John and affirmed by the Father as the Beloved Son after which he faces a series of temptations in the wilderness from Satan after fasting for 40 days. Satan tempts Jesus to make bread from stones, to bow down to Satan in order to rule the kingdoms of the world instantly, and to throw himself off the temple to prove God’s love for him.
 
While there are countless lessons to be learned from this brief passage, a pivotal question emerges from each temptation:
 

1. Who am I?  Satan calls Jesus identity as the Beloved Son into question. Jesus responds to the Enemy by referencing God’s provision for God’s covenant people in the wilderness and claiming his place in that salvation story.  
   ​Jesus’ answer: I am the Beloved.​
2. What am I doing?  Satan offers to give Jesus the kingdoms of this world.  It is the offer of instant power and control.  Jesus returns to the story of Israel and calls to mind that God is King. It is the will of God he is to enact, not his own.  Jesus’ answer?  God’s will, not mine.
3. How am I doing God’s will?  Satan’s final temptation is to put God to the test by asking Jesus to put God’s love for him to the test.  If you’re God’s son, surely he wouldn’t allow you to experience pain?  Not a stubbed toe…and surely not a cross.  One final time, Jesus calls to mind the story of the people of Israel, who asked in fear, “Is God really among us?”  Jesus’ answer: I am doing God’s will, God’s way.  

 
So Satan, keep your bread.  We are the Beloved of God.
Keep your kingdoms. We are doing God’s will.
Keep your dramatic God-tests.  
We are doing God’s will, God’s way, because God is among us, and we trust him, even when it’s hard.
 
 
Reflection Questions:

1. Where do you find yourself in the story of Jesus’ temptation?  Do you identify with any temptation more than another?  Explore that.
2. Combat the temptation of the Enemy, not with mere willpower, but by remembering who are: the Beloved,what you are called to do: God’s will, and how you are to do it: God’s way.  

Click here for today's additional Scripture readings.

Grace and Peace

Pastor Stephanie