Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” ’
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you", and "On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Luke 4:1-13
Here we have the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness for forty days, the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Lent. Lent (the season of preparation for Easter) is an invitation for us to spend 40 days in an inner wilderness, reflecting on who we are and how we relate to God and to other people. What’s all this about wilderness? There are parallels here with what happened to Jesus in the passage above, and with the ancient Hebrews wandering in the desert for forty years on their way to the promised land. For in both of those, and in the more metaphorical “deserts” we sometimes experience, the wilderness is the place where – stripped of other distractions – we encounter God. We work out what’s really important – and that frequently involves a realisation that what’s most important is not us.
Jesus was tempted: “turn this stone into bread, worship me and you’ll get the glory and authority of all the kingdoms of the world, throw yourself down from the temple so God will save you.” It’s the tantalising prospect of summoning divine authority to get his own needs met, of getting power in the wrong way (by worshipping something other than God) and using it to receive glory and gratitude in return, of forcing God to demonstrate how special he is. These are all variations on one thing: the temptation to make his life all about him, forgetting who he was and what sort of Son of God he was called to be.
In each of his answers to the tempter Jesus reaches back into his backstory, the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the story of those ancient Hebrews in the desert. He looks back in order to look forwards, like the whakataukī “Titiro whakamuri, Kōkiri whakamua.” Here, just before his ministry really begins, he grounds himself in the truths of the past and in an understanding of who he is that is tied to who God is. Ultimately, it’s not about how God fits into our lives, it’s about how our lives fit into God.
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