Forty Days in the Wilderness

Hot wind over bare rock. No trees. No people. Just stones, scattered everywhere, small and round, like loaves of bread. And a man who has not eaten for forty days.

Jesus has just been baptised in the Jordan River. He has heard his Father's voice from heaven: this is my beloved Son. You might expect him to head straight for the crowds. Instead, Matthew says, the Spirit leads him up into the wilderness. The Judean desert is a hard, empty place of dry hills and steep ravines, baking by day and cold at night. There Jesus fasts for forty days and forty nights. And at the end of it, Matthew says simply, he was hungry. That is when the tempter comes.

The first temptation sounds almost kind. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Notice how it begins. If. God has just said, this is my Son. Now the devil invites Jesus to prove it, and to look after himself while he is at it. What would be wrong with a little bread? But Jesus will not use his power to serve himself, or step out of his Father's care. He answers with words from the book of Deuteronomy. “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Then the devil takes him to the holy city, Jerusalem, and stands him on the highest point of the temple. Far below, the courtyards and the crowds. This time the devil quotes Scripture too. “If you are the Son of God, 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.” Those words come from a psalm about trusting God. But the devil twists them into a stunt. Make God catch you. Jesus answers, “It is also written: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Trusting God is not the same as forcing his hand.

Last of all, the devil takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world in their splendour. Every throne, every palace, every treasure. “All these I will give you,” he says, “if you will bow down and worship me.” It is a shortcut. Power without the cross. A crown without suffering. And Jesus refuses it outright. “Away with you, Satan! For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

And the devil leaves him. Three times Jesus was tempted. Three times he answered, it is written. He did not argue cleverly or perform a miracle to win. He held on to his Father's word, and he stood firm. Then, Matthew says, angels came and took care of him. The hunger, the heat, the long, lonely testing are over. And Jesus, the beloved Son, faithful to his Father, is ready to begin his work.

All three of Jesus' answers come from the same part of the Bible: Deuteronomy chapters six to eight. Those chapters look back on Israel's forty years in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. Moses tells the people that God led them all that way to humble them and test them, and to teach them that people do not live on bread alone. In the desert, Israel often grumbled and doubted. Now Jesus, in a wilderness of his own, for forty days, stays faithful where they struggled.

Forty days in the wilderness. You'll find it in Matthew chapter four, verses one to eleven. Temptation came to Jesus when he was tired, hungry and alone, and he met it with God's word. So here is a question to carry with you. When temptation comes to you this week, which true words from God could you hold on to?