Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. 2 Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, 3 which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread." 4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth." 5 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, 6 "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone." 7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God." 8 For the third test, the Devil took him on the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. 9 Then he said, "They're yours - lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours." 10 Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness." 11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.
There is no place we can go and escape temptation.
There is no human who can escape temptation - not even Jesus.
To be human is to be temptable.
To sell out to temptation is to take the easy way out. This Jesus did not do.
Do we live for bread alone? This is the test of capitalism which so consumes us.
I fear we are worshiping the stock market more then compassionate living.
Do we put God to the test? Treated me right and I will believe in you?
“Every day with Jesus isn’t nice.”
Do we worship and serve the right God? This is the test of our allegiance - to let God be God no matter what, as did the unknown person who wrote on a cellar wall in Cologne after World War II, “ I believe in the sun even when it is not shining, I believe in love even when I feel it not, I believe in God even when He is silent.”
Thank God there is forgiveness - forgiving grace - or none of us would make it!
“All my life I shall quiver,
resist and say it: Your will be done.”
Jesus in “The Last Temptation of Christ”
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, help me to not take the easy way, but the compassionate way as I seek to walk with you. And forgive me when I fail, so I can try again to be compassionate as you are compassionate.”
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