How to Handle Temptation Effectively.

In Luke’s fourth chapter he takes his readers from Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan river out to the same Judean desert described in last week’s post as a blistering hot and rocky landscape.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry” (Luke 4:1-2).

The devil challenges Jesus with three tests, suggesting first that Jesus turn a stone into bread.

Second, he shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and claims he will give Jesus all the splendor of those kingdoms--but only if Jesus will worship the devil.

Next, taking Jesus to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem he challenges Jesus to jump so God can catch him and prevent any possible injury.

How did Jesus handle these temptations? For each one, Jesus quotes a single scripture.

“The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone’’ (Luke 4:3-4, with Jesus quoting Deut. 8:3).

After showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in an instant, the devil taunts Jesus.

“And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’” (Luke 4:6-8, with Jesus quoting from Deut. 6:13).

In the third instance, the devil confronts Jesus once more by provoking him with the same phrase with which he started this confrontation--“If you are the Son of God”.

“The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ “Jesus answered, It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Luke 4:9-12; the devil refers to Psalm 91:11-12, and Jesus replies with Deut. 6:16).

Laurence E. Porter summarizes: “What is important is to see how, when our Lord’s physical resources had been taxed to the full by His fasting and His spiritual wrestling, Satan suggested easier ways to win men’s hearts and to fulfill his mission than the way of the Cross that lay before Him” (The New International Bible Commentary, 1979, ZondervanPublishingHouse, Grand Rapids, MI, page 1193).

Jesus returns to Galilee to begin his teaching ministry in the synagogues “in the power of the Spirit, and the news about him spread through the whole countryside” (Luke 4:14).

During a regular Sabbath day service in a synagogue in Nazareth Jesus reads aloud from the scroll of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1-2).

In those days, the designated reader would stand to read scripture, then sit down to teach. Luke describes the scene in detail noting that after Jesus sat down “He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:31). What a breathtaking announcement! Imagine the impact on those present! But Jesus was already anticipating their unspoken question:

Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ Truly I tell you” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:23-27).

When Jesus first entered the synagogue on that day, everyone spoke well of him. But the mere mention of God blessing two Gentiles was enough to turn them into an angry murderous mob intent on killing him. But as they run him out of town and prepare to throw him off a cliff, Jesus “walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4:30).

Luke continues his story with another Sabbath teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. This time the people “were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority” (Luke 4:32). In Capernaum Jesus heals a demon-possessed man. He also heals Simon’s mother-in-law who was suffering with a high fever.

This action-packed chapter concludes with Jesus leaving town at daybreak--hoping to find some quiet time alone in a solitary place. But the crowds follow and try to encourage him to stay with them. “But he said, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.’ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea” (Luke 4:43-44).