DYNAMITE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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Opening Prayer
Lord God, in your Word is everything I need for life, for joy, and for peace. Thank you for the wisdom, hope, and strength it offers me.
Read MATTHEW 4:1—11
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Matthew
Matthew 4
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Reflect
In what ways do you deal with temptation that would lead you to sin?
This event is crucial for understanding who Jesus is. Only Jesus could tell this story, for it is intimately personal and tellingly reveals his humanity. As the incarnate Son of God, Jesus is uniquely both 100% divine and, at the same time, 100% human. That sounds impossible, yet that is the wonder of incarnation. It raises the important question: Could Jesus really have failed these tests? Yes! He who identified with the crowds in the Jordan can be tempted in all ways, just as we are.1 Immediately after his baptism, he is deliberately thrust into the desert by the Spirit (where the people of Israel had had their faith tested) for this first big fight to do God’s will.
For Jesus, this testing is critical. Each temptation offers an escape from his mission, inviting him to enjoy shortcuts to instant status and success rather than endure the journey of service ahead to the cross: first, by misusing his power to make bread for himself; second, by demonstrating his invincibility; third, by nakedly worshipping worldly power. Each time, Jesus rebukes Satan straight from Scripture, from the very section in Deuteronomy where Moses challenges the people in the desert not to test God.
We recognize that this relates to temptations in our lives. Storkey sums these up as self-interest, self-importance, and sheer idolatry.2 Jesus wins by quoting Scripture, which remains the key principle means by which we, too, rebut the devil. However, to understand who Jesus is, we must see that when he was tempted, he didn’t fail. How much of a fight he had, we cannot guess, but fight it was—for our sake. Of course, it’s not the end of conflict for Jesus, but it highlights the wonder of the Word becoming flesh for us.
Apply
Can you identify some of the ongoing temptations that Jesus had to endure in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Closing prayer
Father in Heaven, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. Help me hold fast to the commission that is mine in Christ.
1 Heb 4:15 2 Elaine Storkey, Meeting God in Matthew (SPCK, 2022), 34—42.
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