Biblical Text: Matthew 4.1-11
The spiritual life is not a string of mountaintop experiences. Anyone who tells you that is lying or in a cult…or perhaps both. You don’t need to read much scripture to realise this, but it is tempting to believe it nonetheless. Our faith points us to Jesus, the Son of God who was ultimately successful over sin and death, but that’s a very truncated version of his story.
This passage in Matthew tells us of his temptation in the wilderness, a familiar story for many of us. But consider what has happened immediately before. Jesus has just been with his cousin John, at the river Jordan, and John has baptised him. As he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, and he heard the voice of his father, “Behold, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
That’s quite the affirmation. If anything close to that had happened at my ordination, I’d have felt empowered to leave the cathedral immediately and start my ministry there and then. At the very least, I would have basked in that affirmation. But no. Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. He is without food for 40 days and nights, and with perhaps a touch of understated irony, Matthew tells us, “he was hungry.”
Before we go on, let’s just notice a couple of key points. Matthew is writing for a Jewish audience, and he wants his readers to connect some dots here.
First, this is not the first time God has declared “this is my son.” When the Israelites are in slavery in Egypt, God sends Moses to Pharaoh with exactly that message. “Israel is my firstborn son…Let him go that he may serve me” (Exodus 4.22).
Second, when the Israelites finally do escape Egypt, where do they go? Into the wilderness…not for 40 days, but 40 years. It wasn’t meant to be that long, but their failure in the face of temptation means they are there far longer than intended.
Matthew is setting the scene. Now, back to Jesus.
Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days and nights, fasting. On one level we might expect him to be weak. But perhaps that is not the case…perhaps his fasting has brought him even closer to his heavenly Father, perhaps he is spiritually primed for whatever might come his way.
The devil tempts Jesus three times. To begin with the temptation is to prove his status as God’s son, by turning stones into bread. “If you are the Son of God…” says the devil. “If” is the important word here. It’s there to create doubt, to question the voice of God Jesus just heard at his baptism. It serves a similar role to the serpent’s question as he tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden: “Did God really say….?” Questioning God’s truth is a dangerous path.
Jesus responds, with God’s word. He has it in his head, it’s there exactly when he needs it. “Man does not live by bread alone…” (Deuteronomy 8.3).
But the devil is not discouraged. He knows scripture too. Taking Jesus up to the top of the Temple, he tempts him to throw himself off, after all Psalm 91.11-12 seems to promise angels will protect him. But Jesus is not taking the bait. Again, he responds with scripture, “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deuteronomy 6.16).
The devil’s final attempt doesn’t offer Jesus much that is new. We don’t know how much Jesus understood at this point in his ministry, but all the devil offers him will one day be his when he sits at the right hand of the Father. Maybe part of the temptation here is that he will not need to suffer to get it. That would certainly be attractive. But Jesus is not swayed. Again, he quotes scripture, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only him” (Deuteronomy 6.13).
Jesus is in the wilderness and is tempted three times, and three times he responds with scripture. But did you notice where those quotes came from? All three from the book of Deuteronomy, a book that deals exclusively with the Israelites time in the wilderness.
I’ve read through the Bible a few times, and I preach from it almost every week, but I have to confess Deuteronomy is not the book I would reach for if I had five minutes spare. But Jesus knew it inside out, he was able to quote it from memory, and each time he was tempted he pointed to the truth there to help withstand the temptation. Knowledge of scripture matters.
In the Anglican church we have a bunch of “Collects,” we say throughout the course of the year. Prayers that “collect” the prayers of the people. And this story reminds me of one of those, from the Second Sunday in Advent:
“Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
Hearing scripture in church is certainly good, but it’s not enough. We need to be hearing, reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting God’s word….because doing so can help us discern what God is saying, it can help us label the lies we may be told, and it will help us stand strong against temptation.
One final point, and this should not be forgotten. Matthew tells us this story of Jesus, to highlight Jesus’s success where Israel failed. They were in the wilderness, so was he, they were tempted, so was he. But at each opportunity he succeeds. He does what Israel cannot. He does what Adam and Eve cannot. He succeeds where they, and we, fail.
I think the Bible is important, and knowing your Bible is vital. But you, I, we, are not Jesus. We will make mistakes. But Jesus succeeds where we fail too. We strive to do what is right, but we do not trust in our own strength, only in his. That is the good news, that is the gospel.