From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered him,
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” [Deuteronomy 8:3]
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
“I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve.” [Deuteronomy 6:13]
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.” [Psalm 91:11-12]
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” [Deuteronomy 6:16]
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.
By the time Luke is writing his Gospel and Acts, the mission to the non-Jews throughout the Roman Empire is well-established. In his re-telling of Jesus’ life, mission, and teaching, Luke keeps this pagan, people-of-the-Empire audience clearly in mind. For instance, he carefully words some of Jesus’ ethical teachings in ways that are likely to evoke echoes of the ethical observations of significant Roman and Greek philosophers. He is likely doing something similar in this dialogue with Satan in our Gospel.
In Satan’s first challenge (a kind of challenge Jesus got from both Jewish and pagan observers) Jesus is asked to do a “wonder” of some sort. Here, commanding a stone to become bread. Luke trims the focus of Jesus’ reply when Jesus responds only with “one does not live on bread alone.” He omits the additional part of the verse in Deuteronomy “but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” that Matthew includes. Luke will go on to show how Jesus miraculously provides bread from compassion, not manipulation, when other people are in need. Here, one subtle effect of Luke’s tightening this quote is to underline the word “bread.” His non-Jewish audience well knows the strategy of the Empire—“give the people bread and circuses and they will never revolt.” That is not the divine strategy.
Satan’s second challenge is much more obvious and focuses directly on the Empire:
“I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
In short, Satan rules the Empire through his chosen instruments. Jesus flatly replies that those instruments and their master are not to be worshiped, but only God. By implication, the Empire is not a great and honorable thing in God’s eyes.
Third challenge: in Satan’s experience many “kingly” personalities have destroyed themselves through vainglory, comparing themselves to gods and demanding worship from peoples. We have many examples of this in history—various Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzar, Nero, and so on into our present day. Satan believes he can get Jesus to “test” God by having Jesus fall for this grab for glory. But Jesus’ response, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test, is delightfully ironic. Satan thinks he is testing Jesus. Jesus’ reply to Satan might be a faithful man’s response to that challenge, but it is also a challenge turned back against Satan: “You, Satan, shall not put me, the Lord your God, to the test.” In his pride and his scorn for mankind, Satan does not grasp the deadly danger he is in.
Of course, Luke wants us to get the personal message aimed at each of us, too. There is a correct way to ask God for bread, “daily bread,” rather than asking Him to “Presto! change stones into a loaf.” There is also a warning against evaluating kingdoms and countries so highly they become the lodestars of our brief stay in this world. In the longer run, none of them last, whereas children of God live forever. Finally, we must keep clearly in mind the difference between “testing” God and “trusting” God. Only the second has us reaching beyond what we see in front of our noses.
For further reflection:
“My country” yes, but not before my Creator and Redeemer. “My country” yes, but an imperfect country, always subject to the judgement of God. And Satan claims that he may turn countries and empires over to whomever he wishes. No wonder judgement has been visited upon all peoples, countries, and empires at various times.