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Matthew 4:1-11. The temptation of Jesus. Before beginning his mission, Jesus is "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." There's no sugar-coating going on here - the purpose was to have him be tempted! Just like exposing oneself to some toxins or allergens in greater and greater quantities can build up a resistance to them, so God allows his son to be tempted by progressively greater temptations. Jesus has been fasting for 40 days when the devil comes to him and points out that he has the power to turn stones into bread and eat. Jesus, although hungry, resists, quoting scripture that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

 

Next, the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and tells him to jump, quoting scripture right back at him - "He will give his angels charge of you," and "on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." Jesus resists again and reminds Satan that Scripture also says you shall not tempt God.

 

Finally, the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. He says "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus tells Satan at this point to begone - reminding him that God alone is to be worshiped. The devil leaves, and angels come and minister to Jesus.

 

So God puts Jesus in this position on purpose - he wants the human part of his son to learn to resist the devil's temptations. He also wants to show us how the devil works and how to resist him. First, the devil starts small - "You're hungry - eat!" Eating is a good thing - why not have a piece of bread or two? This happens to me all the time when I am fasting. I am so blessed, I have never been without food or the ability to procure it. So when I am fasting, I see food all around me and I often think "Oh, one cookie won't hurt." Unlike Jesus, I often give in, unfortunately. This scene is indicative of how the devil works. He does not start out tempting us to evil things, he starts with small tweaks to good things. He takes God's good creations (like eating and food) and twists them just a little bit to use them against us. When we have undertaken something for God, like fasting, we should see it through, and resist even the small temptations. This brings us closer to him and makes us more able to hear him, because we have cut out the distractions of the devil. It also teaches us to see through the devil's tricks and keeps us on the right path. If the devil gets us in a small things, he will gradually increase the level of wrongness with which he tempts us, if we don't wake up at some point and say "No," we will be truly lost. (Look at how abortion started by only being in the first trimester, it was just a "clump of cells," afterall, and we now have infanticide and maimed infants screaming themselves to death in linen closets of hospitals. That's how he does it. That's why we need to resist at Step 1.)

 

Second, Jesus is tempted to throw himself off the temple and let the angels catch him. As I have been saying, I realize now that everything depends on abandonment - surrender to Divine Providence. Jesus knows this, too, he knows God will always be with him. But, again, the devil is trying to twist that good thing, he is trying to get Jesus to make God prove himself. No! That is not how it works! We don't get to "force" God into showing his love, glory, or power. He shows us all of those things all the time, and we see it if our eyes are open (just go outside and really look at nature!). As Jesus says, Scripture tells us "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." We have no need for him to prove himself, every breath we take is a gift from him. Tempting him like this is trying to manipulate God. It's the sin of pride, thinking we can control him because he loves us.

 

Finally, and most tempting of all, I think, Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms in the world if he will bow down to the devil. Note that the kingdoms of the world are Satan's to give - this is how we know that the devil is in charge of earthly things! God has allowed that to him (for now). God warned the Israelites not to ask for a king for this very reason (although they did not listen). Earthly power is not of heaven. Jesus, though, being perfect, certainly knew that he could rule these kingdoms in all goodness - he, alone of all men, could be the perfect king! The temptation here is not power, he has all the power of the universe, the temptation is bringing goodness to all the people of the world. And that is a very strong temptation - of course Jesus wants his children not to suffer! Often earthly leaders are convinced of this in themselves - that they know what's good for the people and how to make it so. It leads to denial of individual freedom and all kinds of really bad things (like gulags), because no one but God knows what is truly good for individuals - no human, except Jesus, ever did, and every single one of us has to be free to make our own choices. That is the only way we will ever come to the only true source of good, by choosing it of our own free will. Still, though, this has to be very tempting to Jesus - he could, literally, solve all of the world's problems. But, even if he did, we would still all die, eternally! He would be giving up all of our eternal life for our comfort and happiness in this earthly life. How blessed are we that he chose humility, suffering, and death over earthly kingship?

 

At the end of all this, the angels do come, not because Jesus has tempted God to send them, but because he stayed true to God, and God sends them to show his love. What a wonderful example for all of us on the rewards of resisting the devil's temptations!