Scripture Reading: Luke 4:1-44, Deuteronomy 9:7-11, Hebrews 4:15-16
If you follow sports, even casually, you’re familiar with this scenario: An athlete does really well in college, is drafted and paid a lavish amount of money, and then plays their first game as a professional. There is a lot of publicity, because a of people are expecting them to do well on the next level. In the Gospel of Luke, we can see Jesus’s temptation in the desert like this, only more so. Instead of proving His athletic ability, He was proving His character. He was proving that He really is who His heavenly Father said He is.These three desert temptations are the types of temptations we also face. We don’t face them in the same way that Jesus faced them; our mission is not His mission. But we do face temptations to find security apart from God. We face temptations to take control and avoid suffering. And we face temptations to be spectacular or to expect God to be spectacular on demand.Jesus, in His resistance to temptation, shows us how we also can resist temptation. The first step is relying on the Holy Spirit to help us recognize what temptation looks like. Often, the things we may be tempted to do might seem good, but they draw us away from the heart of God. They might seem good but not be the best. This discernment is not easy, but it is possible through reliance on the Holy Spirit.Jesus also demonstrates how to resist temptation by trusting the wisdom and character of God revealed in Scripture. Sadly, we are often more like the Israelites grumbling in the desert than like Jesus trusting God in the desert. We may fall prey to temptation over and over. But Luke’s Gospel shows us that Jesus was faithful when the Israelites were not.Consider the parallels Luke points to in this passage: Israel was in the desert for forty years; Jesus was in the desert for forty days. Israel was in the desert after they passed through the Red Sea; Jesus was in the desert after He passed through the waters of baptism. And when Jesus responded to the devil, He even quoted verses from this part of Israel’s history.Jesus is being shown as the faithful Israel. And because Jesus is the faithful Israel, we know that when we fail, God will not abandon us. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself” (2Timothy 2:13).Resisting temptation is possible. The same Holy Spirit who led Jesus in the desert is the same Holy Spirit who lives in us if we are in Christ (John 14:26). But if we do fail, let’s be thankful along with the author of Hebrews that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15–16).
