Jesus' Temptation/Testing in Matthew 4:1-11

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him."

I. Introduction

I can never read the narratives of Jesus' testing without hearing the old hymn, set to the tune of St. Flavian, with words by Claudia Hernaman (1873), ringing in my ears:

"Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us didst fast and pray,
Teach us with Thee to mourn our sins
And close by Thee to stay.

As Thou with Satan didst contend,
And didst the victory win,
O give us strength in Thee to fight,
In Thee to conquer sin..."

The reason this hymn almost haunts me is the assumption in the words that Jesus' struggle and victory was not simply for himself but also, in some mysterious way, for us. He is both example and empowerer. Yet the text of Matthew adds an additional dimension--that Jesus faced his trials here as an integral part of his own discipleship. He went up into the wilderness to learn some of the contours of what his baptism meant. He was declared to be the Son of God. What, in fact, did that mean to him? He would discover that during the course of his life, to be sure, but also during his trials in Matt. 4:1-11.

The form in which Jesus' "education" took place were three tests from the Devil. Scholars differ in deciding whether these trials are more properly called "tests" or "temptations." The former carries with it the assumption that God is always in control, in the shadows to be sure, testing the instrument of the divine calling. The latter stresses the initiative and seemingly unfettered ability of the Devil to confront Jesus with life-changing alternatives. I think both approaches have textual support. I like to point to the verbs at the beginning of each test to show this. Before the first test we are told that Jesus is led by the Spirit to be tested/tempted by the Devil. Thus, from the outset, we see this as a "Spirit-led" endeavor. Yet, at the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd trials we are told that the Devil takes Jesus away (vv. 5,8) and seemingly sets the agenda for the trials that follow. Thus, I am not really interested in going to the mat on whether these are more properly called tests or temptations. Call them trials and no one will ask you!

But what I really want to go to the mat on, so to speak, is the way that Jesus uses Scripture to set the agenda of the entire encounter. Whereas the Devil will use a variety of methods, from appealing to Jesus' human needs and dignity, to the very text of the Psalms, Jesus will be most comfortable quoting the Torah. And it isn't just any passage of the Torah that is central for Jesus here. It is those three crucial chapters of Deuteronomy (6-8) where Moses addresses the people of Israel before they enter Canaan. RT France explores that context richly:

"It has been a time of preparation and of proving the faithfulness of their God. He has deliberately put them through a time of privation as an educative process. They have been learning, or should have been learning, what it means to live in trusting obedience to God. 'As a father disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you" (Deut. 8:5). Among the lessons they should have learned are not to depend on bread alone but rather on God's word (8:3), not to put God to the test (6:16), and to make God the exclusive object of their worship and obedience (6:13). Now another "Son of God" is in the wilderness, this time for forty days rather than forty years, as a preparation for entereing into his divine calling. There in the wilderness he, too, faces those same tests, and he has learned the lessons which Israel had so imperfectly grapsed. His Father is testing him in the school of privation, and his triumphant rebuttal of the devil's suggestions will ensure that the filial bond can survive in spite of the conflict that lies ahead," The Gospel of Matthew, 127-128.

The story of Jesus' trials in the wilderness is thus an elaborate presentation of Jesus as the new Israel, the true "Son of God" through whom the salvation of the world will be effected. What will be important for my exposition in the next essay is the way Jesus uses Scripture here. He will both be textually aware and contextually insightful. More on that below...

Each one of the trials emphasizes something different (notice the order of trials in Matthew and Luke differ; the first is the same in both, but Matthew's second is Luke's third and vice-versa). Suffice it to say that in Matthew's presentation the things "tested" are, respectively, Jesus' response to his own physical need; Jesus' desire for the kind of razzle-dazzle which would certainly be a shortcut to glory; and finally, Jesus' desire to be a kingly Son of God. The words of his baptism, immediately before our narrative, "This is my beloved Son..." were no doubt still ringing in his ears. His trial was whether he would seek a shortcut to the glory which would be part of his calling.

We are now ready to look at each one of the tests by itself. The next essay does that.

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