Printable Handout

1. What is happening here? Is Jesus being tempted to sin? Or is His Sonship being tested?

2. Why would it have been bad for Jesus to turn stones into bread?

3. What’s the issue with Jesus leaping from the temple? Shouldn’t He trust God?

4. What makes the last temptation unique?

5. What do each of these temptations say about Jesus?

6. Why would God send the devil to mess with Jesus?

7. Considering how Jesus responds to the devil here: how ought we live our own lives?

This week you will be going over Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. This is a passage that feels very Sunday school on the surface but has some pretty good theological depth when you dig into it.

As per usual, your agenda should be to fellowship, then pray, then read Matthew 4:1-11, then get into the discussion and see where it takes you. It is okay to skip over or even add questions, these questions are just a guideline. As always I have provided you some answers for these questions if people seem a bit stumped.

1. What is happening here? Is Jesus being tempted to sin? Or is His Sonship being tested?

   • It’s Jesus’ nature as Son of God and as Messiah that are being tested here. All but the last temptation are not outright sins. Jesus does miraculously make food a few times elsewhere like turning water into wine or feeding multitudes. And Satan even quotes scripture about Angels coming to save Jesus if He fell, which is true. The issue is that both of these would be for selfish reasons, the second being downright prideful and trying to force God to do Jesus’ bidding. 

2. Why would it have been bad for Jesus to turn stones into bread?

   • This is a selfish claiming of Jesus’ power. His role as the Son is to trust His Father. Unlike later miracles which benefited others, this would be to solely benefit himself. This would be essentially for Jesus to trust his own power instead of the Father.

3. What’s the issue with Jesus leaping from the temple? Shouldn’t He trust God?

   • This isn’t about trust, it’s about pride. If Jesus leaps He forces the Father to act in a way that Jesus sees fit. Jesus wouldn’t be calling to the Father out of desperation, but rather out of pride.

4. What makes the last temptation unique?

   • This is a temptation to avoid the cross. Jesus came to wrest control of the world back from Satan, and the road to that is through the cross. Through the defeat of sin and death, Satan’s most powerful tools, Jesus regains control of the world. Yet here Satan is offering up the world while maintaining sin and death.

5. What do each of these temptations say about Jesus?

   • Each of these shows a humility and a trust in the Father. Jesus sees the bigger picture and trusts in it, even if it leads to the cross.

6. Why would God send the devil to mess with Jesus?

   • This is truly similar to the questions that arise in the opening of Job. It seems that Satan is acting here as an accuser, as one who tests just how faithful one is. In this testing there are two true outcomes, either proven faithfulness or proven corruption.

   • Additionally there is something symbolic here as well, think Adam and Eve. Satan came to them and they fell, yet when He comes to Jesus, Jesus remains faithful. He is the new Adam to which we belong.

7. Considering how Jesus responds to the devil here: how ought we live our own lives?

Introduction

Hello everyone, welcome to session 5. This session is the last preparatory bit before Jesus starts his ministry. Last session we read through Jesus’ baptism and the ministry of John the baptist. This session we will be reading through Jesus going out into the wilderness for 40 days and being besieged by Satan. In this we get some inner look at just what kind of a messiah Jesus really intends to be, and is. 

I’ve split this guide up into the three temptations in the order which Matthew gives. As a side not of commentary: Luke also records the same temptations but gives them in a different order (France, 102; Turner, 67). This may seem like a big deal, but is really just a minor detail among many that differ between the accounts here, in Luke, and in Mark. For example Luke is the only one to specifically mention that Satan didn’t just go away, but went away waiting for a more opportune time (likely the Garden of Gethsemane) (Turner, 67). The order is really quite irrelevant because the content is the same and were likely ordered slightly differently to fit the intentions of each gospel writer.

The Wilderness (4:1-2)

Jesus finds himself in the midst of a very long fast. Apart of this fast seems to be an intentionally testing by Satan: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Mt. 4:1 NASB). The nature of this wandering in the wilderness is rather intentional. Much like how Jesus’ story up to this point was representative of Israel’s story, so is this wilderness. 

Israel, after the exodus, wandered the wilderness for 40 years, similarly Jesus wanders the wilderness for 40 days. Israel was lead by the Spirit of God, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Jesus is specifically “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness” here. The parallels that Matthew is trying to suggest couldn’t be clearer. This becomes even more so when you consider Jesus’ responses to Satan in the upcoming verses. He exclusively quotes from Deuteronomy. Jesus is at the end of his wilderness wanderings when Satan comes. Deuteronomy was Moses’ farewell address at the end of Israel’s wanderings. Thus this connection is being pointed out by Matthew but is most likely intended by Jesus himself as He identifies with Israel’s wanderings. 

The first temptation (4:3-4)

Thus Satan rears his ugly head to come attack Jesus. Jesus has just fasted for 40 days, so naturally He has grown quite hungry. Satan comes by and says ‘you’re God incarnate, just miraculously make yourself some food.’ This is something we do indeed see Jesus later do twice in the feeding of the four and then five thousand (France, 103). So the question is what would be so wrong about doing what Satan said beyond just ‘it’s wrong simply because Satan said it.’ 

The reality is revealed in Jesus’ response and where it comes from. Jesus quotes Deut 8:3, which is a chapter all about Israel being humbled by God. In this we get clued into the real temptation here. The issue isn’t Jesus turning bread into stones, but by taking advantage of His power and sonship merely to satisfy personal needs. Satan wants Jesus to rely on Himself rather than rely on the Father. 

The Second Temptation (4:5-7)

Next Satan brings Jesus to the top of the temple in Jerusalem and tells Him to jump. Satan even quotes Ps 9:11-12 to suggest that Jesus will be saved by angels if He jumps. Jesus then responds with Deut 6:16 which in turn is Moses reminding Israel of Ex 17 when they complained that God had just brought them into the wilderness to die and demand that God provides them water. 

This is a temptation of authority. By jumping Jesus is forcing the Father to act. This wouldn’t be the Father protecting His Son. Rather it would be the Son forcing His Father to do His bidding for the sole reason of ‘why not?’ That’s what it means to test God, to try and demand of Him good works. This is not someone in a desperate situation pleading with God, rather this is someone creating an artificial situation and demanding God to show up.

The Third Temptation (4:8-11)

In the last temptation here Jesus is offered a pretty great deal. If He bows to Satan, Satan will give Him the world. Jesus’ response is Deut 6:13, and is probably the easiest response to understand. Satan says worship me and Jesus says we are to only worship God. But there is a greater depth to this temptation which extends all the way to calvary.

Jesus’ mission on earth was the conquer the world, to wrestle control away from Satan through way of the cross, effectively killing sin and death and destroying Satan’s ultimate plan of destroying the thing which God loves most. Jesus being God Incarnate likely already knows what’s coming even at this point, and so does Satan. So as a last ditch effort Satan looks to give up advantage for the sake of his long term strategy. He offers Jesus the surface level of why He came, an easy road around the cross because it’s the cross that Satan (and likely Jesus) want to avoid. On Satan’s end that cross is the end of the road, and for Jesus it will serve as a horrific experience but a necessary one to achieve victory. In essence Satan is trying to suggest that their goals may align here in subverting the cross. If Jesus agrees, He accomplishes his mission of wrestling control of the world back from Satan, and does so without having to suffer torture and death. Yet Jesus remains faithful to the Father, unlike the kings of Israel and deliverers of old, Jesus resists the easy road of corruption and maintains faithfulness even in death.

Conclusion

Ultimately these temptations show us just who Jesus is and what kind of Son He is. Jesus is not going to take advantage of his messianic nature, nor will He pridefully try to force God to bend to His will. Jesus has decided here to embrace humility and faithful trust in the Father. We see this emphasized all the more in the final temptation, where Jesus submits to a future death on the cross.

This is the very thing we are supposed to be imitators of as Christians. We need to see the big picture like Christ did. We need to not seek miracles for the miracle’s sake. We need to surrender our pride over to God and learn humility. We need to learn unwavering trust and faith, even when a gruesome and painful death is in sight. This is why we see all but one of the apostles later on willingly give their lives for the gospel, because that’s what they saw in Christ. 

Bibliography

France, R. T. Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985.

Turner, David, and Darrell L. Bock. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 11: Matthew and Mark. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005.