Taking a Devilish Test—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 1C (Luke 4:1-13)
Luke 4:1-13 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ”
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’ ”9 Then the devil led him to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,’11 and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
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In the
Book of Hebrews, the author writes: “For we do not have a high priest who
is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every
respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Heb.
4:15). Jesus was tested, even as we are, but unlike us, Jesus didn’t sin.
Among the tests Jesus faced took place in the desert/wilderness shortly after
his baptism. The good news is that Jesus passed with flying colors. That’s good
news for us.
The
forty days of Lent reflect Jesus’ sojourn in the desert where he fasted for
forty days and nights. It is those forty days (Sundays not included in the
number) that give the Lenten season its boundaries. We start on Ash Wednesday
and end on Good Friday. It’s a time of reflection and even forms of fasting.
You get to decide what that means for you!
According to Luke the Holy Spirit,
who came upon Jesus at his baptism (Luke 3:21-22), led Jesus into the
wilderness (Mark suggests that the Holy Spirit “drove” Jesus into the
wilderness—Mark 1:12-13). James C. Howell offers a helpful description of this
place where the Spirit led him and where the devil tested him: “This wilderness is not a vast expanse of
sand with the occasional cactus or tumbleweed. Instead, we see a rocky,
daunting zone of cliffs and caves, the haunt of wild beasts. People avoided the
place, believing demons and evil spirits ranged there, knowing that predators
and brigands lurked there” [Connections: A Lectionary
Commentary for Preaching and Worship: 2 (Kindle p. 37)].
While Jesus fasted for forty days
and nights, the devil tempted/tested him. This is the story that begins each
Lenten Season, though we should not take this as an example story. While Jesus
faces this time of temptation, that does not mean we can do so, at least not on
our own. However, this time of fasting, prayer, and temptation is the reason
the season lasts forty days and nights. Luke’s account is fairly detailed,
especially when compared to Mark’s. Luke notes that when the time of fasting
had ended Jesus was famished. Luke also gives us the impression that the
testing didn’t really begin until the end of the period of fasting. In other
words, the devil appeared at a moment when Jesus would have been the most
vulnerable (that is unless you don’t affirm Jesus' true humanity). There would
be three tests/temptations.
Each of
the three tests invites Jesus to take a path to power contrary to the paths
envisioned by God. These are human forms of power that are designed to take
dominion over others. These are paths many Christians have embraced over the
years they represent the desires of many American Christians who embrace
Christian nationalism. As we ponder this passage, with the devil serving as the
tempter, we need to be careful not to embrace a dualism where God and Satan are
equivalent foes. The passage does, at the very least, suggest that the devil
believed that he/it was in control of the kingdoms of this world. Each of these
tests offered some form of shortcut to power. However, the offer of bread and
circuses suggested here, are not to be embraced, for the path ahead is a long
and winding road.
The
devil began by acknowledging Jesus’ hunger and attacking Jesus’ sense of
identity: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of
bread.” This temptation hearkens back to Jesus’ baptism and the affirmation
given to him by God, that he was God’s son. So, if you are indeed God’s son,
why not use some of that divinely rooted power to feed yourself? Jesus simply answers,
“One does not live by bread alone.” That doesn’t mean Jesus didn’t need to eat,
but he made it clear that he wouldn’t tap into something that would serve his
needs just to show the devil who he was or prove to himself who he was.
The
next test took place on a mountaintop where the devil showed Jesus all the
kingdoms of the earth in a moment of time. He offered it to Jesus, telling
Jesus that all the honor and glory of these kingdoms belonged to him or was
given to him, and since he had authority over these kingdoms, he was willing to
give them to Jesus, as was his prerogative. However, if Jesus wanted power and
dominion over these kingdoms, the devil required that Jesus bow down and worship
the devil. Does that sound familiar? Is this not a constant temptation to us as
Christians, as we are offered a seat at the table of power in exchange for offering
God’s blessings on the powers and principalities? Again, we see this happening
in the United States and elsewhere in the form of Christian or religious
nationalism. This form of Christianity has little to do with the ways of Jesus,
but power, authority, and glory are in the offing. Jesus responded to this
offer by letting the devil know what every good Jew would know: “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” There is something here that is
reflected in Revelation 13, which also seems pertinent at this time in history.
Miroslav Volf speaks of the thinning of religion, which occurs when a religion’s
moral vision is reduced to a “vague religiosity” that is shaped by forces other
than the faith tradition itself. This thinning occurs, Volf suggests that when religions
“identify too closely with a given community and the dynamics of power; and
such ‘thin’ religions are most susceptible to being used as merely a political
and cultural resource, and occasionally even as a weapon of war” (Volf, Flourishing, p.
189]. When we try to take shortcuts by letting the state determine our values,
and then impose them on the people, things are bound to go awry.
The
third test takes place in Jerusalem. The devil takes Jesus up to the pinnacle
of the Temple. Once again, the devil attacks Jesus' sense of identity. So, if you
are the Son of God, prove it by throwing yourself off this high point of the
Temple. After all, doesn’t Scripture say that God will command the angels to
protect you and that their hands will lift you “so that you will not dash your
foot against a stone.” In other words, how about creating a spectacle? Surely
God will protect you, so what do you have to lose? Won’t the people be
impressed? Again, Jesus is offered a shortcut to power and glory. People do
like spectacles. Roman emperors knew this quite well, which is why they turned
to bread and circuses to keep the people distracted while they expanded their
power. It is interesting that in this case, the devil turned to scripture, twisting
it to his own advantage. But Jesus wasn’t impressed. He offered a simple rebuttal:
“It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
After
Jesus rebutted the last of the temptations, Luke says the devil “departed from
him until an opportune time.” In other words, the devil lost that day but wasn’t
ready to give in. So, the temptations and tests continued and still continue.
The good news is that Jesus has already defeated the devil, we just need to
stay connected to him through the Spirit. The way to do this is to stay
connected to others who seek to be in communion with Jesus.
Image Attribution: Koenig, Peter. Temptation of Christ, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58516 [retrieved February 27, 2025]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/. |
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