Text: Luke 4:1-13

“Tempting” Luke 4:1-13

It was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit who led Him there, out into the desert (“wilderness” is not such a great translation of the Greek. An erhmw is literally a deserted, abandoned place). Why would Jesus go to the desert, and more why would it be the Spirit to lead Him there? I’ve always wondered why. It seems odd after His Baptism to be led there.

It’s not His own idea to go there. He’s led there. By the Spirit, same Spirit as “Christed” Him, rested on Him in the form of a dove at His Baptism. We aren’t told why the Spirit led Him there. To be tempted? Or did that just happen? The desert presents lots of difficulties.

So why does the Spirit lead Jesus into the desert? Why does He lead us into our own deserts, the abandoned places in which we often find ourselves? No answers are given in the text. But rather, a picture of how the ultimate temptations are faced by Jesus. That’s all we get. Yet, it is enough.

After forty days alone in the desert with nothing to eat, we are told Jesus was hungry. Duh! I guess He was hungry! Nice bit of understatement. My own impression of the text is that the devil was constantly tempting Jesus during the forty days. I don’t think it was a restful or quiet time at all for Him. I think the devil is a stalker and was wearing Jesus down. When it seems the test is over—that’s when the devil actually steps up his game, throws his best pitches at us, when we’ve perhaps let our guard down just a little.

There are three temptations he hurls at Jesus. Bread, power, security, as I read it. Bread was first and most immediate after forty days fasting. The approach is subtle though. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Why not? You’re hungry. You’ve fasted forty days. You’ve met every temptation thrown at You and passed all the tests. You deserve a reward. Why not impress me just a little more by making this stone into bread? It would prove who You are, how much Your Father cares. He does care doesn’t He? I mean it hasn’t looked like He cares much the last 40 days, leaving You all alone in this desert, now does it?

It’s a strong first pitch. Fastball, high and tight. If we could find the way to turn ordinary rocks to bread, we wouldn’t have to depend on God every day. If our bodily needs were all provided by some little trick we could do easily, then we could spend our time worrying about something other than putting food on the table. We wouldn’t have to depend on God for the most basic of our needs every day. We wouldn’t even have to build barns to store up a supply. We could whip up food whenever we felt like it. We would be our own masters.

Jesus responds to the temptation not with a reasoned argument or with morals principles. He responds with the Word of God: “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’.” With that answer, Jesus exposes the evil at the heart of this temptation. We need daily bread. Our lives depend on it. But it isn’t really the bread that gives life. It is the Father who gives life, and that life is rooted in His Word. When we live by His Word, His promise, come in the flesh in His Son Jesus, we have gotten to the heart of life.

Our bodies don’t depend on bread and water as much as on the Spirit of God Who comes to us through His Word. This connects us to God. It makes us children who receive all from our heavenly Father. While it seems stronger to provide our bodily needs by our devices and desires, God wants to provide for us Himself by His Word, wants us to be in that relationship of trust in Him, asking Him daily for the bread we need to support this body and life. In other words, we live by faith in the Word, not by our works or cleverness or tricks. Just so, the devil’s first temptation is repulsed.

But the adversary comes right back with a nasty curve ball that looks like a fat hanger right over the middle, and then drops off the table into the dirt. He whisks Jesus up to the top of a high mountain, shows Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Must have been quite something to see. The devil has some skills, you see?

And he says “all this power [again, the Greek exousian has a better translation than the “authority” given in our text. “Power” is actually the simplest root meaning of the Greek, and the real temptation]. The devil says “all this power and all this glory I will give You. It has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I wish. Therefore if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

The devil always lies. In a way, the power and glory of the kingdoms of this world have been put under his sway. But not willingly or by right, but by our rebellion against the Father and through the devil’s cunning. Still, it’s a tempting offer. Jesus’ redemption of a sinful world is going to be tough, going to involve blood, sweat, tears, death on a cross. Here’s a tempting shortcut: the devil is willing to concede the game right at the beginning for just a little act of worship before him (the ESV omits the Greek word “before” which is important!)… Jesus can chose the liturgy, direct it to whom He wishes, as long as He does it “for the unchurched”. The temptation of self devised, “relevant” and “contemporary” worship right there!

Jesus shoots back “Get behind Me Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’.” Power and glory always turn our heads. Appealing to the world’s natural desires for power and glory and serving it up in worship we design and desire catches many today, even many who would follow Jesus. But He isn’t biting. Real worship is always directed by the Triune God, always for and from Him, not our devising but His giving, passed on by the holy, catholic church.

So the devil quotes a little Scripture, Ps. 91, about God always taking care of us. “Throw Yourself off the temple pinnacle and make God save You.” The hard slider after the curve, low and away. We want some tangible proof God will really take care of us, secure our well being now and always. But Jesus nails it: “It has been said: ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’.” God doesn’t provide security for us by giving us a visible safety net. There is no guarantee we won’t get hurt in this game. He promises, instead, that even the hurts and cross will serve to bring us closer to Him.

These are the temptations we face in the deserts, the lonely, abandoned places where so much of modern life is lived. We strike out on the devil’s three pitches all the time, fail the test, swing and miss. But Jesus did not. He endured—faithful, true.

This is the wonder of the Gospel: where we fail, Jesus succeeds. And the hard won righteousness He gained in the desert, on the cross, on Easter Sunday, He shares with you—not by your eager efforts and striving but by His free Gifts. This is how you live in the desert: by faith in the Word made flesh. Such faith He grants to you, by His Gospel and Sacraments, today. So that in every temptation, He is your answer, your Peace, surpassing all understanding, ever guarding your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

Pastor Kevin W. Martin