Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil

 

 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"

 

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."   And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

 

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:   

'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,'

"and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"   

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

- Luke 4:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John the Baptist, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

  Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  My study Bible comments that this exodus of Jesus into the wilderness after His baptism has a dual symbolism.  First, this fulfills the Old Testament type in which Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty years after "baptism" in the Red Sea.  Second, it's a prefiguration of our own journey through the fallen world after baptism as we struggle towards the Kingdom.  

 

And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.   Jesus fasted to overcome temptation, my study Bible says, giving us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  The hunger of His flesh doesn't control Him; He controls His flesh.  This forty-day fast is the foundation of the practice of the Christian Lenten fast.  Christ's forty day fast reverses Israel's falling into temptation in the wilderness.  My study Bible comments that the Israelites were tested forty years in the wilderness, and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them by first letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn dependence upon God (Deuteronomy 8:2-5). Christ is tested but does not sin; His answers to Satan are all from Deuteronomy, and they all call for loyalty to God.

 

 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Note how the devil is challenging Christ's relationship to God the Father.  If You are the Son of God is playing upon the Father's declaration at Jesus' Baptism (see yesterday's reading, above, in which the Father's voice says to Christ, "You are My beloved Son").  The devil wants to break Christ's relationship to the Father, so that He will detach Himself from the Father's will.  In Christ's divine nature, my study Bible explains, He shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  As Christ declared, He can do nothing of Himself apart from the Father (John 5:30).  But in Christ's humanity, He possesses free will, and therefore must at all times choose to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father.  Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3.  Each time Jesus rebukes the devil, it's with the truth and power of Scripture.  My study Bible notes that this teaches us faithful to become immersed in Scripture in order to resist and to drive away every temptation (see Psalm 119:11).  My study Bible further asks us to note that by rejecting this temptation, Jesus rejects an earthly kingdom and shows us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).  While Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), Christ is the New Adam, who conquers all temptation by the divine word, and gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.

 

 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."   And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  My study Bible comments that God's Kingdom isn't one of earthly power and possessions.  Here the devil tests Jesus by asking Him to choose worldly power over the Kingdom of God.  The devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  Jesus refuses this road of earthly glory, my study Bible says, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  See Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20.

 

 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:   'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  As Christ had defeated the devil by the power of the Scriptures in the first two temptations here, Satan tries to use the Scriptures to put god's power of protection to the test (see also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  The devil quotes from Psalm 91:11-12.

 

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations come on their own.  It adds that we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger to test or to prove God's protection.  To do that is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

 

 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  Regarding an opportune time, see Luke 22:40-46, 23:35; Matthew 16:21-23.

The concept of time is an interesting one, and somehow related to today's reading.  That is, time plays a role in all of our lives because our capacity for repentance -- for growth -- is dependent upon us being time-bound creatures.  But we find in the Gospels that Christ is a master of time.  When it is His time to come to the Cross is determined by no one except Himself, for example.  Turning water into wine seems to have something to do with the capacity to bypass time in some sense, as well.  Christ's use of time is yet another sort of "sign" of His divinity.  But in today's reading, there's another being who also seems to be able to use time in ways that human beings cannot, and that is the devil.  It's quite intriguing that the devil has the capacity to show to Christ "all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time."  This seems to tell us more than one thing about the devil.  First of all the devil could do this in a moment of time, and also that the devil is capable of presenting ideas, even visions, to people.  So, when we speak about temptations of the devil (or possibly other demonic beings), we should remember that we are speaking of beings which were created as angels.  According to at least one Orthodox theologian, these demonic beings are those created as angelic, but what they lack is the Holy Spirit.  Therefore they have some capacities that angelic creatures do, including a great intelligence, but they lack the goodness of creativity that Holy Spirit gives, and the other blessings and gifts of the Spirit, because they are in opposition to Christ.  We also note that today's reading tells us that the devil had the ability even to take Christ to a high mountain, and also to set Him on the pinnacle of the temple.  So, in terms of space, the devil would also seem to have some extraordinary abilities.  But what this seems to imply for us is that Christ paves the way for us human beings to do something truly extraordinary.  As noted above, my study Bible names several things we learn about resisting temptation from Christ's time in the wilderness during these forty days of temptation and fasting.  First, we may seek to become immersed in Scripture in order to resist and to drive away every temptation.  Jesus also teaches us that, as He rejects an earthy kingdom, so we may resist passionate pursuit of "food which perishes."  While Adam disregarded God's word to pursue bodily passions, Christ is the New Adam who gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.  So Christ paves the way for us to be "like Him," to derive help from our Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to gain the capacity through putting on Christ via our own baptism, and to resist the devil.  Note that the devil also acts as trickster, even quoting Scripture to mislead.  But Christ rebukes the devil with appropriate Scripture, and the Spirit is our Helper to give us discernment.  Can one imagine what a comedown it must be for a being created as an angel, with all of these abilities to use to tempt, and yet we far more simple, and time-bound, human beings have the capacity to resist?  This is the great victory of Christ for us, and our liberation and deliverance, for we don't have to be slaves to temptations, and we can abide in Him.  Let us note once again the activity of the Holy Spirit, also revealed to us in today's Gospel reading.  For it is the Holy Spirit who leads Christ into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and the same Spirit who helps to give us the power, made firm in Christ, to beat the devil at his game.  Let us be aware and prepared, for as with Christ, the devil awaits "an opportune time."  

 

 

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time

 

 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,'

"and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up, 

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

- Luke 4:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John the Baptist, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. But Herod the tetrarch,  being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

  Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  My study Bible comments that this exodus of Jesus into the wilderness immediately following His baptism (and being filled with the Holy Spirit) has a dual symbolism.  First, it fulfills the Old Testament type, in which Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty year after its "baptism" in the Red Sea; and second, it's a prefiguring of our own journey throgh the fallen world after baptism, as we also struggle toward the Kingdom.  

 

And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"   This first temptation is seemingly about hunger, but Christ's human hunger is really just a lever, for testing Him about His relationship to God the Father.  The real temptation is the question, "If You are the Son of God. . ." seeking to tempt Christ away from His faith in the Father and the identity given of the Father.  Keep in mind that at His baptism by John, the Father declared, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."  This is a challenge to that declaration.  My study Bible points out that in His humanity, Christ must choose to obey that divine will, even if in His divinity His will is one with the Father's.  Just as Israel was tempted through hunger to disobey God when following Moses in the wilderness, Christ responds with Scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3.

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Here is the next temptation, and once again, it's a challenge to Christ's relationship to God the Father.  The devil tempts Jesus with a worldly sense of power, authority, and glory, if only Jesus will worship before him.  But as Jesus has already indicated with the first temptation, it's not the things of the world that make life, but the things of God.  My study Bible comments that the devil is the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31), "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), because the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).   Christ will so memorably teach, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).  "Get behind Me, Satan!" is a phrase He will use again (Matthew 15:33; Mark 8:33), and in the similar sense that, as my study Bible puts it, He refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.   Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13.

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.':  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  My study Bible comments that here, seeing as how Christ had defeated him through the power of the Scriptures, Satan tries in vain to use the Scriptures to put God's power of protection to the test.  (See also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  It further notes that trials and temptations come on their own; we should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  The devil still works to wait until an opportune time (see Luke 22:40-46, 23:35; Matthew 16:21-23).  

We note that the devil departed from Him until an opportune time.  My study Bible comments on the temptation of hunger after forty days of fasting, that, while Adam disregarded God's divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- who is Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word; in effect, Christ gives human nature the power to conquer Satan.  So this devil who waits until an opportune time is something we should take seriously, because we ourselves struggle against similar temptations and in the same world in which the devil remains the "god of this age" or "the ruler of this world."  That's not to say that the devil has utterly usurped the place of God or even that Christ hasn't power against the devil.  What it does say is that this struggle in which Christ engages Himself as human being, while He is yet also the Son of God, is our struggle.  In effect, Jesus engages in this struggle and even begins His ministry with it, because it is our struggle.  Everything about Christ's life, and especially His ministry, is to engage fully in human life in order to transfigure that life through His divinity, so that we also may follow, even drawing on the strength that He gives us to do so, as my study Bible explained.  Note that today's passage begins by telling us that Jesus, when embarking on this forty day fasting period, was filled with the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to do so.  This is a forceful statement, it's the Holy Spirit, essentially bringing or carrying Him here.  Moreover, if we look closely at Mark's Gospel, we'll see that St. Mark writes (in Greek) that the Spirit "threw" Him into the wilderness.  So this powerful period, which sets us up for understanding how we are to meet temptation in the world, is the first order of business of Christ's public ministry, and it's fully begun and set into motion through the actions of the Spirit.  So this public ministry in which Christ is now immersed, prepared through temptation, but also working in order to harness the power of redemption and resistance to the devil for us human beings, starts off with this selfless act guaranteed to transfigure what it is to be a human being following Christ in faith.  We're here not just to follow Him but to also be engaged in the same work we see Him doing.  Our faith is in some sense about being born into this battleground, where, in the words of St. Peter, "your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).   We still face the same kinds of temptations that Jesus did:  questions that shake up our faith in God and God's love for us, temptations that look good -- like all the splendid goods of the world and its power and glory -- but really aren't very good for us after all.  We're born into a world where there might be all kinds of seemingly new "forms" of such things, but they're not really new at all.  We still hunger for things that nominally seem good, but given at the wrong time or gone after for the wrong reasons are all about defying what God wants for us, and falling into the hands of the one who wants to oppose God's plan.  The one thing the modern world, especially in its more "developed" environments may excel at is bombarding us with temptations of all sorts, and this is particularly so for those of us immersed in technological communications and their modern capacities over the internet.  We'll be feasted and tempted with a huge host of images to follow:  what we should look like, what we should pursue, what we should be collecting or consuming, who our friends should be, etc. in an endless parade that doesn't stop.  What we need to do amid this host of temptations is stop and pray, take the time for God, seek to set our feet upon the right path, asking for Christ's light to guide us the way through the darkness that still dwells in ignorance of what God has in mind for us.  Just ask anyone who's struggled with an addiction, engaged in self-destructive activities, worked their way into a fever pitch of chasing all the dreams that paid back very little in terms of meaning, and nothing in terms of love and goodness and mercy.  Let us be mindful of our faith amidst it all.  For it's Christ who'll teach us who we really are, and what we really need to be that person.

It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God"

 

 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,'

"and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

- Luke 4:1-13 

 

In yesterday's reading, the Gospel tells us that as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness . . .   Luke opens chapter 4 with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  The lectionary has skipped over the genealogy of Jesus, given in Luke 3:23-38, in which we're told that Jesus began His ministry "at about thirty years of age."  This account of Christ's time in the wilderness, therefore, happens at the beginning of ministry.  Note that it is the Spirit who led Christ into the wilderness.  My study Bible comments that this exodus of Jesus into the wilderness following His baptism has a dual symbolism.  First, it fulfills the Old Testament type, in which Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty years after its "baptism" in the Red Sea (Exodus 14); and second, it prefigures out own journey through the fallen world after baptism as we struggle towards the Kingdom ourselves.  

. . . being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  My study Bible remarks that to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  Christ is tested by a struggle with the devil.  Just as it is the Spirit who leads Christ to this place of testing, we who are baptized in Christ need not be defeated by temptations as we also have the Holy Spirit to help.  My study Bible says that the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world, both the dwelling place of demons and also a source of divine tranquility and victory.  Christ fasted in order to overcome temptation.  My study Bible says that this gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  The hunger of His flesh doesn't control Him -- instead, He controls His flesh.  His fast of forty days is the foundation of the Church's forty-day Lenten fast before Holy Week, and a lesser known but also traditional fast before Christmas. 

And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  Here is the fundamental area of testing for Christ:  the devil begins his challenge with, "If You are the Son of God."  It calls into question the Father's declaration at Christ's Baptism (see yesterday's reading, above).  Everything about Christ's ministry, His signs, His preaching, His word, His authority, His identity, is bound up in His relationship to the Father.  This was particularly emphasized in the readings in John's Gospel, which was our more recent material in the lectionary.  My study Bible comments that in His divine nature, Christ shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), apart from the Father.  But in Christ's humanity, He has free will and at all times must make the choice to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father. 

But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" Jesus rebukes the devil with the truth and power of Scripture, each time He's tempted.  My study Bible comments that it teaches us, the faithful, to become immersed in Scripture in order to resist and drive away every temptation (see Psalm 119:11).  Here Christ rejects an earthly kingdom, showing us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).  My study Bible comments that while Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word, giving human nature the power to conquer Satan.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3.  My study Bible reminds us that the Israelites were tempted for forty years in the wilderness and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them first by letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn to be dependent upon Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  Here Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, but does not sin.  Each rebuke from Christ to the devil comes from the book of Deuteronomy.

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"   Here the devil seeks to tempt Christ away from the authority given in His relationship to the Father with the devil's worldly authority and glory.  The devil is called "the ruler of this world" (John 12:31), and the "god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), as the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  He seeks to turn Christ away from the Father and toward himself.  Each time Christ is tempted, He rebukes the devil with Scripture.  This is the same phrase He will use to rebuke Peter when He is tempted not to go to His Passion (and therefore the glory given by the Father; see John 12:16, 23, 28).   My study Bible comments that Christ refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  Here Christ quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13.

  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Here the devil tries to win Christ over by quoting Scripture himself (Psalm 91:11-12).  In so doing, he tries vainly to use the Scriptures in order to put God's power of protection to the test (see also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations will come on their own.  We should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  See Luke 22:40-46; 23:35; Matthew 16:21-23.

What does temptation mean to you?  For some people, life is about sticking to their goals, like staying on a diet, for example.  For others, goal-setting becomes something more than a simple desire to have a particular job or a particular appearance to the rest of the world.  Sobriety, for example, is a long-term goal for those who struggle with addiction of all kinds.   To truly struggle with the difficulties that life can put before us becomes a kind of reckoning that addiction-related behavior covers up.  It dulls the pain to some extent, but then creates huge problems of its own.  To try to hide from this struggle often brings more pain and intolerable circumstances.  Ask those who've gone from the frying pain of trauma or difficulty into the fire of addiction and a life that is out of control.  It seems that avoiding the conflict that asks us to separate ourselves from the evil we know only gets us further into problems, for the thing we avoid is still there under the surface, and still remains for us to confront.  Christ's temptation in the wilderness is an example to us all in the sense that it teaches us to face our temptations and make the tough choices.  It teaches us to make the sacrifices in the light of the real end goal, which is the kingdom of God.  Our true stumbling block lies right there:  in the choice to make between serving God and serving something that might sound good but is in truth deceptive in its seductive appeal to our worldly senses.  Let's take a look at the temptations that confront Jesus.  As one who is clearly capable of great leadership, great authority, and the use of power, He's tempted by the devil first of all to use His power to make Himself food, as He's been fasting in preparation for His ministry.  Jesus counters with the understanding that it is only the commands of God that are worth following, and if His commitment to this fast is really His commitment to following the Father's will -- especially for His ministry which is just at its inception -- then His hunger has to come second.  He won't use His power for a lesser or a contradictory goal, even if it sounds good or somehow appropriate.  The next temptation is about authority.  Jesus' authority is not worldly, but is from God the Father for what He is to do in His life.  But the devil's sense of authority is worldly:  if Jesus would only switch His allegiance, love, loyalty, and worship to him (as opposed to God the Father), then Jesus could have all the compelling, dictating, authoritative worldly power He wanted.  We have to think in this context of the worldly power of Caesar, who ruled absolutely and which included worship by his subjects.  But Jesus wields an authority that comes from God, not this worldly sense of the ability to force or to compel.  God's authority must work differently, and it calls people to their own response of loyalty, love, worship, that must be freely given.  Jesus' rejection of the devil's promise of easy ways to find followers and subjects becomes an assertion of the right to worship and the need to serve God alone, nothing less.  Finally the devil offers a temptation to test the power of God, and God's protection and loyalty to Christ Himself.  We know that the Cross will come to Christ, and the way the Father will desire for Him to come to His glory.  But Jesus affirms absolutely His choice of allegiance to the Father.  One should not tempt or test the Lord; there is only communion and relationship -- and that means trust.  For faith, above all in Christ's example, means trust:  Trust to the Father, trust to the Holy Spirit, trust in choosing His disciples and evolving His ministry, trust even in drinking the cup of Crucifixion (John 18:11).  In the end, Jesus remains loyal, facing and meeting every temptation with an affirmation of His first priority, which is to God the Father.  Although none of us has Christ's role as Savior, He sets the example nonetheless for each of us.  For while He will make sacrifices for these choices, so He calls upon us each to take up our own crosses.  He does not promise a simple life full of worldly benefits, but one in which our choices matter -- and in which we are to understand that the hard choices are there to help us grow in His light, to become stronger human beings, to understand that sacrifice will not kill us, but will instead bring us something better for us than the temptation we refuse.  He asks us to feed our souls with the good bread that sustains more deeply than temporal nourishment, and all else will be added (Matthew 6:33).  In modern psychology, it is understood that the avoidance of such choices -- especially through addiction to substances such as alcohol or drugs -- actually becomes an avoidance of growth and maturity.  What we don't seek to cope with in a healthy way, which may always involve a sacrifice of one kind or another, becomes our loss.  We miss out on what is actually better for us.  I would suggest that faith is the best way of coping, of finding compassion for our pain, One who listens and hears prayers, and the support one finds through a great cloud of witnesses.  Like Christ, we may seem to be alone at times by worldly standards, but the truth is that we are never alone (John 16:32).  Some people believe, falsely, that faith can be a crutch or a drug of some sort.  But faith becomes strength.  The truth is that the faith of Christ asks us to face the world and see it as it truly is, to make our choices, and to find the best way to grow and to cope, even in an imperfect world full of temptations and tests.  Let us learn from Him and follow His example.  Don't be fooled by false promises; Christ is the real deal.   For He is here for the life of the world (John 6:33)