temptation:bread

Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted there by the Devil. For forty days and forty nights he ate nothing and became very hungry. Then the [Tempter] came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of bread."

The tempter basically only has a few tricks up his sleeve. He is very repetitive, but it does not keep us from falling for it. You know, the same things he used in the Garden of Eden are still used to this day. One of those tricks is the thought in our minds and hearts that this life is made for just for us.

He comes to Jesus in Christ’s hunger and weakness and tells him to just turn the stones into bread and his request seems to make sense.  But Jesus did not enter the wilderness to meet his own needs.

How many of us have second guessed God’s will and God’s plan? Paul said that he had “learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” But as a rule, we are not very good at that. We all like to think if we had a perfect life, we would be content. But, even in the Garden of Eden we failed to be content. The serpent told Adam and Eve that they were missing something. He told them that what God had revealed was not what they needed. He convinced them they needed more. They found themselves outside of God’s will, and outside of his paradise.

Here in Matthew 4, Jesus (who is the second Adam) finds himself in the Wilderness. He has been led there by the Holy Spirit. God’s will is for Jesus to be hungry and in the wilderness.

The Tempter comes and tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread. The Tempter had once again found a relevant need for man. He had tempted many before with relevant needs – to eat of the tree, to build a tower to Heaven, to curse God and die. Now this Tempter offered the Son of Man an answer to his need.

Many of us have decided, in the midst of temptation, that God’s will doesn’t apply to us. Many of us have changed our course in the face of testing. But, Jesus remembered the reason he was there. He was there because it was the Father’s will that he be there and Hungry. Ultimately, relevance is not the goal of our Christianity, rather it is to “feed on every word of God” (v.4).

We have put our watering mouths on many loaves of bread. We have cursed God so often. We have built so many towers to Heaven. But, how often have we fed on the Word of God? How often have we traded revelation for relevance? How many times have we traded the Garden for the Desert? That is our pattern and our plight. We are the Children of Adam.

Yet, the Kingdom is the realm of Christ followers and following Jesus means being led into the wilderness. For, in the end, the wilderness leads to Hunger and weakness and death, but there is no other way for the Christ follower. We follow the Word of God and will of the Father. We do not follow our own wants and needs.

The first Adam ate from a tree in Paradise and found himself in the Wilderness. The second Adam refused the Wilderness bread and found himself in Paradise.

In the Garden, the temptation was to put aside what was best for the world, what was best for others, and instead pursue selfish temptations. Pursuing selfish temptations is killing us. This world is suffering. This community is suffering; our families are suffering; all because of our pursuit of our own desires instead of what is best to God, and others.

Jesus overcame the temptation where we could not, and he did it through sacrifice and following Jesus means doing the same.