Way to Go

The Temptations of Jesus

In the fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel we have the story of the Temptation of Jesus. It tells us that the whole experience lasted 40 days during which Jesus ate nothing.

This was the point at which Jesus got down to the final planning of his ministry. There were many ways in which Jesus could have tackled the task he had to complete. This story shows what lay beneath the way on which he decided. What the devil said to him during his wilderness period tells us what ways Jesus rejected. The narrative tells us also something about Jesus from the decisions he took. It starts to paint a true picture of the Messiah. It turned out to be a picture quite unlike what the Israelites imagined for their Messiah. Later in the narrative there would be further clues to reinforce what we find in Matthew Chapter 4.

These were the three temptations:

Turn stones into bread.
Jump from the parapet of the Temple and land safely.
Follow Satan or make a compromise.

The first is a temptation to deal with his great hunger after having nothing to eat for 40 days and nights. Because he was the Son of God and had great power he could have done a conjuring trick with the stones that littered the wilderness and had bread to eat. This Jesus turned down. He could have begun his ministry with conjuring tricks to amaze and amuse the crowds. They would have come from far and wide to see wonderful tricks such as he could do with his special power.

But tricks like he could, in truth, perform, would not have been the sort of thing which would have given true satisfaction to those who he had to influence. Very soon they would have been debating how he did the tricks, formulating their own theories and dismissing the whole thing as worthless. Such an approach would also devalue peoples’ perception of God. So he decided against such an approach. When he did he said, "Man is not to live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In other words humans were to remain listening out for what God wanted, not simply having plenty to eat. What God had to say would sustain the spirit whereas bread can only sustain the body.

The second way would have been to throw himself off the top of the Temple to be caught by the angels. Now that would impress the crowds, and no mistake. But here again it would have been only a temporary affair. They would flock to the Temple to see a death-defying leap but if he did this sort of thing all the time they would become bored and lose interest. We can be sure of this by remembering what happened following the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. At first it was fantastic. But later on we would hear "Been there, done that, worn the T Shirt." So circus stunts would not last long and the Gospel had to last for the whole of time.

He could have changed sponsors and done what Satan wanted him to do. It would have had power but would have been the wrong sort of power. Satan could offer nothing which could have led to the salvation of human beings. In other words, we discover the shallowness and evil side to Satan, to the powers of evil in the world. There is no power worth having there.

So Jesus rejected all three temptations in favour of the patient, persistent, way of love. Love would be able to conquer every obstacle eventually. It would be hard and sometimes almost impossible, but ultimately it would work and show itself to be the best way. Jesus had only three years available to him to set the whole new start for God moving. He had to choose a way that would be sustainable. The lesson of history has shown the worth of the way Jesus chose.

Jesus having decided on this effective way, it is now our turn to make a decision. Will we go for one of the temptations or will we follow Jesus in the same way he took? This is the only way that will work. It is the only way which leads ultimately to the throne of God. Remember how, in the Gospels, we hear that when Jesus died on the Cross the curtain in the Temple was torn in two? This was to show symbolically that the way to God was now wide open to all of us. The way leads through the crucified Jesus who gave up his life so that we could find the way to God.

With this in our heads it makes it more sensible to follow the way adopted by Jesus. Have you ever thought why Christians are called "followers of Jesus?" It is because we follow him along the same road in life. We opt for him and he leads the way into eternity. This is good news for us all. We have a Saviour and a guide to show us the only way worth following. We follow Jesus by behaving as we believe he would have us behave. Our lives are not easier because we are Christians. We face the same problems as others but some problems are solved in a different way. Instead of looking for quick temporary fixes we go for the longer way that is based on love and what we believe we are called to do by Jesus. We know, by faith, that it will work out and we shall arrive safely at the throne of God.

Faith, hope and love are great things to have but we bank everything we have on love because Jesus has showed us that it works every time. It requires the patience of Job to get through. It sometimes takes a sacrifice to get through. It can also involve taking a fearful route, but we have Jesus with us all the way. We may get frightened but we are never wiped out because he is with us always, even to the end of the world. Our faith as followers of Jesus tells us we shall get there.