Above painting: The Temptation of Christ, Titian (1490-1576)
In this brilliant depiction of the temptation story, Titian paints the devil as an innocent child, appealing to Jesus to turn the stone he is holding into bread. He is illustrating the fact that temptations can appear to be very innocent, as it says in II Corinthians 11:14 “Satan can even disguise himself as an angel of light.”
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Luke 4:1-13 — Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
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Jesus is suffering. First of all, he is in the desert wilderness—a barren, desolate, hot, and dangerous place to be. Second, there is no one with him. He has been alone out there for forty days. And third, he has not eaten for that entire time and is hungry. In that weakened and vulnerable state, the devil comes to him.
But before we look at the temptation, we should ask why Jesus is in such a terrible predicament. Did he take a wrong turn and get lost unintentionally? Did bad people take him out there to die? Why must Jesus suffer so much, or to use the title of an old book, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Jesus was the best person who ever lived; perfect and sinless in every way. Why all the suffering, both here at the beginning of his ministry, and then even so much more at the end of his life, dying that terrible death on the cross?
The answer is in the first verse of the text. It says there that Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Spirit, by God Himself. God was making him suffer. God will do that, you know, if that suffering will, in the end, serve some greater purpose. The devil also causes suffering, and some suffering we bring on ourselves, and other people can cause us to suffer. There are many possible sources of our suffering, so we should not ask every time something bad happens to us, “Why are you doing this to me, God?” But neither do we want to decide ahead of time that God is never involved in our trials and tribulations. God is always involved in everything, and if he doesn’t directly cause the trouble, he certainly chooses to allow it, and can help us learn from it.
When he was a young man, early American preacher Jonathan Edwards wrote out several resolutions to guide his conduct in life. One of these resolutions was: “Resolved: after all afflictions to ask myself how I am the better by them, and to see what good I might have gained by the troubles I have endured.” That is a good way to approach, endure, rise above, and learn from our suffering. Instead of blaming God for our troubles, we can ask how we may use them to grow closer to God. (continued…)
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