Rhythms: Scripture
Luke 4: 1 - 13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 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.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 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. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 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. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
In this passage, we see Jesus sent into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit in order that he might be tempted by the devil. There’s loads to unpack just in that verse that we don’t have time to explore. The important thing is that Jesus finds himself in the desert being tempted by the devil. Now, as we think of the devil, stop for a moment and think about what comes to mind for you. Sometimes people think about devils as little red creatures with red horns. Some people think of paranormal activity or maybe being possessed by a demon. However, it’s interesting to note that this isn’t at all how the devil is portrayed in this passage. Instead, the devil is portrayed as that little small voice that throws into doubt what’s true or makes empty promises that sound good but won’t actually come true. Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus refers to the devil as the father of lies. So in this story, we see the devil doing what he does best which is to sow doubt or tell lies about who we are and what the world is like. So, the question is, when Jesus is faced with these lies or untruths, what does he do?
In response to the lies of the devil, Jesus quotes scripture. Now, as a good Jew, Jesus would have been born and raised to memorise and recite the scriptures. This wasn’t so he could win some kind of bible trivia test or to impress people with how much he knew. It was so that, when confronted with lies and things that aren’t true, he can repel them with the truth of God’s word. Jesus knew his bible so well that he could not only identify a lie when he’s being told one but he could also refute with the truth. There’s all sorts of things flying round in our news cycles at the moment about fake news and about how we can know what’s true. This story shows us the ground zero of that debate as we the lies of the devil come up against the truth of God’s word and, spoiler alert, it’s God’s word that wins.
On one level, this is a good story to observe and listen to. We can sit back and be really glad that Jesus withstood the attacks of the devil. We can all benefit because Jesus did that. However, there’s a also a sense in which we are to follow Jesus’ example. We are being fed all sorts of lies all the time. It could be the lies we’re told of what the good life looks like. It could be lies about our value or worth as people. It could be lies about what success looks like or how effective we are at what we do. There are all sorts of claims being made all of the time. People have all sorts of ways of understanding and evaluating those claims. As followers of Jesus, we are to follow his example and use scripture to hold off the lies of the enemy and instead rejoice in the truth of God’s word.
So, as I close, let me ask you, how well are you doing at getting stuck into God’s word? Are you someone who’s immersed in it or someone who reads it only they have to? Are you someone who finds life and joy in it or are you someone who puts up with it. This story clearly shows that scripture isn’t optional if we want to follow Jesus. It was Jesus’ go-to in times of temptation and it should be ours too.
Richard Barber
