Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,'

and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God."

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

- Matthew 4:1-11

 Yesterday, we read that Jesus  came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he allowed Him.  When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Once again, this reading is given many notes in my study bible.  Here, we read that "to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  As in Mark, the Spirit leads, or 'throws,' Jesus into the wilderness after His baptism to be tested by a struggle with the devil.  We who are baptized into Him need not be defeated when temptations come along because, like Jesus, we are aided by the Spirit.  The wilderness is a battleground, a picture of the world, at once the abode of demons and a source of divine tranquility and contemplation."

And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Of today's entire passage that follows, my study bible says, "Jesus reverses Israel's dallying with temptation in the wilderness.  The Israelites were tested 40 years in the wilderness, during which they were disloyal and disobedient.  So God humbled them by letting them go hungry, then feeding them with manna, all to help them realize their dependence upon Him (Deut. 8:2,3).  Jesus is tested with hunger 40 days, but He does not sin.  Jesus' answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy, and all of them call for loyalty to God:  we are to live by that which God commands.  Contrary to the opinions of His detractors, in His messiahship Jesus actually fulfills the Law.  He is the loyal and obedient Son who triumphs over temptations. . . .  Jesus fasted to overcome temptation, giving us an example of our own power and our limitations.  The hunger of His flesh does not control Him, rather, He controls His flesh.  Jesus' fasting forty days is the foundation of the Church's forty-day Lenten observance before Holy Week . . . It is a spiritual preparation for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ."

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  My study bible suggests that here the devil is challenging Jesus' relationship to the Father.  In this sense, it's a direct attack on His place, and His authority, by attempting to shake His confidence in the Father's love.  "If You are the Son of God calls into question the Father's declaration of Jesus' sonship at His baptism.  The devil wants Jesus to abuse His divine powers, to act independently, detaching His will from the will of the Father.  In His divine nature, the Son shares one will with the Father and the Spirit.  He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30); He has no operation that is distinct from His Father's.  But in His humanity He possesses 'free will' and at all times must choose to remain in communion with His Father, to be obedient to the divine will."

But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"   My study bible says that "by rejecting the first temptation, Jesus rejects a kingdom based on materialism, earthly well-being, the 'bread which perishes' (see John 6:1-40).  He teaches us not to love ease and comfort, to accept willingly the struggle necessary to purify us from evil.  While Adam and Eve disregarded the divine word given them, subordinating their souls to the passions of the body (Gen. 3), the New Adam conquers all temptations, that He might give our nature power to conquer the Adversary."

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,  'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God."  The holy city is Jerusalem.  My study bible says, "Satan puts God's power of protection to the test.  Will Jesus depend on spectacular signs and self-aggrandizement, or will He humbly submit to persecution, humiliation and death according to the Father's will?"  Of Jesus' quotation, it notes, "God's Kingdom is not one of earthly spectacle and fame.  Therefore we should never expose ourselves to danger just to test whether God is going to 'protect' us.  To do so is to tempt the LORD."

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.  Here, my study bible says, "God's Kingdom is not one of earthly power and possessions.  In the devil's offering of the kingdoms of the world, Jesus was being asked to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  The devil is 'the ruler of this world' (John 12:31, 16:11), 'the god of this age' (2 Cor. 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19). . . . But Jesus refused to take a road that would lead Him away from the path of suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  Jesus says simply, away with you, Satan -- a command rather than a rebuke."  That the angels came and ministered to Him is a reflection of this place of the wilderness:  where both good and evil battle; we should always remember the ministering angels present as well.  But perhaps He was left alone to battle temptation for an essential reason for His ministry, and for us.

In today's lectionary readings, we are also given the following passage from St. Paul:  "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints"  (Colossians 1:24-26).  It is generally considered that Paul wrote this particular Epistle (and some others) during his time in Roman imprisonment, where he also would die.  If I understand St. Paul's words, what he is saying here is that his particular suffering is good for the entire body of Christ, the Church, just as the afflictions of Christ, His suffering and the endurance of temptation, also built up the body of the Church.  This is very enlightening, because it tells us something about this time in the wilderness:  it wasn't just for Christ's achievements as Son, but it was also for us.  As my study bible put it, the New Adam conquers all temptations, that He might give our nature power to conquer the Adversary."   In other words, our own suffering, through the work of Christ and as we continue our faith in God, becomes, ironically, food for others, help for others, strength for the entire body of the Church, that was and is and is to come.  This is an amazing part of the good news, the Gospel.  And the other thing we note is how Books written many years later, such as the Book of John, and also the Epistles of Paul, support and are consistent with this earlier Book of Matthew.  The Gospel is consistent, the message is consistent, and this is another thing we must remember when we, too, go through our own struggles and meet them with faith.  It is entirely in keeping with this Gospel message; if our struggles contribute to the body of Christ, the Church, then they substantiate both a new contribution and also the consistent message which has been given from the beginning.  It is important to consider that while Christ showed us the way, our "work" of faith, too, can contribute and build, even "filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, the Church."  And that is, simply, awesome news -- extraordinary news about the essence and importance of our own lives, and what it means to Christ that nothing should be lost of those given to Him, in yet another quotation from John.  If we consider that our struggles also help others, and in fact, the entire body of the Church, perhaps we shall see them in quite a different light than we might assume, and our own faith takes on new dimensions and dynamics.  How do you turn to God when you struggle and are afflicted?  Let us consider the power and importance in such a way of life -- especially in the times we feel we are struggling with something alone.