Silly, but I couldn't resist.
Matthew 4:1-11 shows us the Temptations of Jesus that come between his baptism and the beginning of his ministry. Versions of this story also show up in Mark 1:12-14 and Luke 4:1-13. He is compelled by the Holy Spirit to go out into the desert wilderness for 40 days and nights. The number 40 shows up a lot in the Hebrew Scriptures, the two most famous examples being the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 years after being set free of slavery in Egypt, and Noah's flood, when the people and animals on the Ark had to endure 40 days and nights of rain.
Any time you see the number 40 in the Bible, it's a subtle reminder that the people in that story are going through a rough time. When you come out on the other side of the wilderness you can look back and see that God was there with you all along, but when you're in the middle of it, you feel alone and maybe even abandoned. You feel frightened, uncertain and vulnerable. If you have you press on, but it's not a cheerful, confident time and you're very aware of how close you are to disaster.
That's the way the Israelites felt in the wilderness--you can see it in their constant complaining--and it's the way all of us feel at times. Our wildernesses may be times of illness, unemployment, divorce, the death of a loved one, or any number of other things. They can be any situation where getting through is a hard and lonely job and we don't know if we're going to make it.
I've known people who say that Jesus cruised through his 40 days effortlessly, and that his resisting the temptations was a foregone conclusion. I've heard some of the same people tell me that, if I you enough faith, you can breeze past these situations without any struggle at all. I have to say, I think that's nonsense.
Struggling with doubt, temptation and despair is a part of human life that we all have to face. Faith doesn't mean we get to skip these things, only that we choose to trust God, even when we aren't sure that God is listening or that God cares.
This story shows us Jesus going through that same ordeal, and we can see it was an ordeal. Jesus didn't pretend to be tempted, he really was tempted. He didn't pretend to struggle, he really had to struggle. The story isn't trying to get us to admire him because he's doing something we couldn't do; it's giving us an example that can give us strength because we are going to have to struggle with temptations of our own.
The first temptation was bread. Jesus had been fasting and was weak and hungry so the Devil challenged him to turn stones to loaves of bread.Matthew wants to that remind us of the Israelites during their forty years in the wilderness. They complained of hunger and wanted to give up their newfound freedom so they could go back to Egypt. "Fleshpots" of Egypt" basically means that there was always stew to be had when you got hungry.
They didn't stop complaining even when God gave them manna--the mysterious "bread from heaven"--that kept them alive, they kept complaining. When the Devil tells Jesus he should conjure up his own miraculous bread he seems to want Jesus to have the same mindset. For the people, the attitude seemed to be "I'll e faithful, but only after I've taken care of my own needs."
Jesus' response, a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3, shows that his priorities are different. He's committed to God and committed to his mission. He refuses to participate in the "dog-eat-dog" attitude that is so prevalent in our world. He's going to do what's right, and trust in God to take care of him. In other words, he's not letting fear or practical considerations hold him back.
In the second temptation, the Devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the Temple and tells him to jump. At first it sounds like a really stupid idea, but the Devil has his own scripture. Quoting Psalms 91:12, he says that scripture promises God isn't going to let anything bad happen to Jesus. If he jumps, angels will catch him. It's a sure-fire way to prove to himself and to everyone watching, who he is with a really showy miracle.
I hear this sometimes… usually from televangelists. They say that the purpose of miracles in the Bible is to show that Jesus is not a normal human being. He has special supernatural powers, and can get God to do anything he wants. They say that, if you believe in Jesus, you can have miraculous answers to all your wants and needs too. You can get God to give you whatever you want or need, whether that's healing, money, fame, the perfect spouse, etc. this movement, called prosperity theology, effectively tries to make God into a genie in a bottle--a cosmic sugar daddy who can get us all the good things in life.
If that were the case then it would make perfect sense for Jesus to jump, but he refuses. He quotes his own scripture (Deuteronomy 6:16) saying that it's wrong to put God to a test. Trying to get God to give us what we want isn't faith, it's manipulation, and that's a messed foundation for any relationship. For Jesus, the relationship with God is the bottom line. We don't worship God because we're looking for nice fringe benefits, or because God has the most impressive special effects department. We worship God out of love.
Seeing that nothing else has worked, the Devil gives Jesus a panoramic view of the world and promises him power over the world, if he worships him. This is a biggie, because it's so easy to believe that, if we only had power, we could do so much good. And if you have to give up ideals and integrity to get power, so what? Once you have power you can do all the good you want to. But Jesus isn't willing to compromise his integrity, or the integrity of his relationship with God--not even for all the power in the world. He quotes a final scripture (Deuteronomy 10:20) and that ends the temptations.
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