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How Would You Fare?
From Matthew 4: 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 But he answered, "It is written, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you,' and "On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.' " 7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is 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 and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 10 Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.' " 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
We're tempted everyday and in every way. And starting this Wednesday with Ash Wednesday, we will enter into a period of fasting for forty days that we call Lent. It is based on Jesus' own example of fasting for the same amount of time in the wilderness. This passage says that Jesus was "led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." The writer already knew the story and its outcome so he could call it that. For forty days and forty nights, Jesus fasted from food. As is the intent of fasting, we give up physical nourishment for spiritual nourishment. We lose physical strength but gain spiritual strength. Our fasting will not be like Jesus, and I don't recommend one go that long a period of time without eating because of the harm it might potentially do to your body; our fasting is to give up something meaningful and nourishing to us as a fast. It is to show ourselves that through God and God's strength we can live without that which we have given up. Some give up chocolate, others give up sodas, some give up meat, some give up meat on Fridays, and the list varies from person to person, but the intent is the same, during Lent we seek closeness to God and strength in our spirits to better understand Jesus' journey to the cross and His resurrection.
Jesus' journey led him to an encounter with "the tempter," the one Jesus would later call "the thief" and "the father of lies." This tempter challenged Jesus on several levels starting with Jesus' physical need. The devil knew that Jesus was famished after having eaten nothing for forty days and so the challenge was to prove He was the Son of God by changing the stones around Him into bread. The stones in that area look like the loaves of bread common to that time. Jesus responds with scripture, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Challenge over, and then comes the second. The tempter takes Jesus to Jerusalem, the holy city and places Him on the highest point of the Temple and challenges Jesus on a emotional level; "Throw yourself down if you trust God and are indeed God's Son!" And this time the tempter used scripture, "For it is written, 'He will command His angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus again uses God's Word to reply, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Second challenge over. The third and final challenge is the devil taking Jesus to a very high mountain "and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor," and said, "All these I will give You, if you will fall down and worship me." This one is on the spiritual level; worship me instead of God and I will give you the world. Jesus replies, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.'" And Satan went away. Luke's version has a clever ending for he adds, "until a more opportune time." This passage ends with angels coming to serve Jesus.
What are your temptations, and how do you respond? In other words, what is it worth to you to leave the way and presence of God to receive what you believe the temptation is offering you? The answer is honestly nothing is worth leaving God. In God we have all we need and more, yet the tempter brings to us something we believe is the answer or solution to our needs and worries. We rationalize and believe that getting out of debt justifies an action that is illegal, immoral, or hurtful to others. Don't you know we're great rationalizers? But in the end it comes to our humbling ourselves before God and asking God to be the One who gives us strength to resist and to stay strong. That is the purpose of the Lenten Journey that begins this week.
Stay strong. Two words. Two sometimes difficult words, but worth the continuing journey with God.
PRAYER: LOVING GOD, bless me with wisdom, courage, and strength. Help me know that in Jesus is the model of submission and strength. Grand me the mind of Christ to know how to approach and resist all the temptations that come my way. This I pray in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
