1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit
Luke has just concluded his infancy narrative, Jesus’ baptism and ending on the Genealogy of Jesus. He is “full of the Holy Spirit”. This phrasing alludes back to Old Testament prophetic designation. Examples like Bezalel in Exodus and Moses along with the Elders in Numbers.
“And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.” (Exodus 31:3)
“I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you and put it upon them.” (Numbers 11:17)
Jesus has been anointed (baptised by John) and is filled with the spirit, he leaves the location of his anointing and is “led by the spirit”. Although we acknowledge the Trinity as a relationship of persons we rarely notice particular elements of this relational communion except between The Father and The Son. Here we see the Spirit utilise its guiding role and leads The Son out to the wilderness.
2 for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry.
Jesus following his anointing as a prophet will endure 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. This reflects Moses’ fasting on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34:28 and Elijah’s journey in 1 Kings 19:8. Jesus is marked out as the fulfilment of Moses and Elijah.
He is tempted by “the devil” diabolou in Greek, which is singular, indicating a personal adversary. When referring to unclean spirits Luke uses plurals like daimonia. This informs the reader that this entity is the singular Evil One and not just a lesser evil spirit.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
The Evil One says to Jesus that if he is the Son of God he should simply command the stones around him to turn into food. Jesus has been fasting, denying physical nourishment as a component of his preparation for his mission, the devil does not understand this and seeks to tempt him using both his divine identity and hunger. Basically if you have power, use it. This temptation to usurp divine authority in order to eat something should cause echoes of The Fall in Eden.
4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”
Jesus responds by quoting scripture, specifically Deuteronomy 8:3 where Moses reminds Israel that their sustenance is rooted in God, not the bread itself. God is the source of it all, the thing itself is not its own source of nourishment.
5 And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
7 If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.”
Not being able to win Jesus over with food, the Evil One now tempts Jesus with power. He takes him “up” we should probably interpret this as to one of the “Heavens” like what is found in the Pseudoepigraphical work The Ascension of Isaiah as what the Devil shows Jesus is “all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time”. He’s showing Jesus the height of empires that didn’t co-exist, this is a vision. The Devil also acknowledges that he, as of right now, has the legitimate authority of the earthly kingdoms. This is true but incomplete. Yahweh disinherited the nations at Babel, putting them under the control of lesser elohim, the Devil props himself up as the leader of these lesser elohim but this disinheritance was only temporary and Yahweh was always above those other gods.
Just like the previous temptation this also follows the Edenic blueprint, except where man failed, the God-man prevails. The Serpent in Genesis promises our first parents that if they eat of the Tree of Knowledge they would “be like God”, therefore have glory and power but that would require disobeying God and obeying the temptation of the serpent a type of worship. Here we see that same old evil entity promise a God-like power, dominion over all Kingdoms, if Jesus worships him.
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Once again, Jesus responds with scripture, quoting Deuteronomy 6:13. It is a part of the Shema which is essentially the Hebrew Creed and it was recited daily. Jesus rejects the shortcut to earthly kingship, remaining obedient to God The Father.
9 And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;
10 for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,’
11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Not convincing Jesus with having a lesser kingship over all the nations, the Devil takes Jesus to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem. Telling him that if he is the Son of God he should throw himself off because God will save him. The Devil, noticing that Jesus uses scripture as his rebukes, uses scripture to justify the action, he quotes from Psalm 91:11-12. This shows that Sacred Scripture can be abused with false interpretation, purposefully ignoring the context of Sacred Tradition.
This also finds it’s allusion back to the Fall in Genesis where the Serpent distorts God’s command about the Tree of Knowledge.
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)
He then tempts our first parents with divine status, in the Gospel reading the Devil switches the order, If you are of divine status you can do my interpretation of scripture (God’s Command).
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
Again Jesus succeeds where our first parents failed, this time hearkening back to something elusive to many man-made churches. There is more than just Sacred Scripture, there is Sacred Tradition that instils a framework of correct interpretation of said scripture. “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ “
In the previous cases, the rebukes from Jesus have been quotes of Scripture but now the Devil seeks to use scripture against him, Jesus refers to the Tradition of said scripture. “It is said”. Without a divinely instituted framework of Tradition hand-in-hand with Scripture we could abuse it like the Devil does here. Jesus specifically refutes the Devils sola scriptura with sacred tradition.
13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
After all of the failures of the old Adam are fixed by the New Adam, Jesus, the Devil gives up, temporarily. Luke tells us it is “until and opportune time” this is likely when goes into Judas, in order to betray Jesus and cause our Lord’s Passion but he is unaware that this event will be his undoing.
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