The bull of St Luke

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

The Testing of Jesus: Lk 4,1-13

Traditionally called the Temptation of Jesus, "testing" would be a better word for this episode - as also in the Lord's Prayer (11,4 cf.Mt 6,13). Jesus will now tested by the devil to see if he is the obedient Son of God. Look at 11,17-20, which gives us a background to this testing.

Read 4,1-13 and continue to verse 15. Hopefully you will spot the bracket around the episode. What are its implications?

Note how "Son of God" runs right through this part of the Gospel: 3,22; 3,38; 4,3; 4,9.

Both Luke and Matthew have expanded Mark's very brief account of Jesus being tempted by the devil (Mk 1,12-13). Quite possibly, Luke and Matthew drew on the same source and we will find a comparison of the two versions (Lk 4,1-13 and Mt 4,1-11) is instructive and interesting. What is the most obvious difference? Any ideas as to why? - the clue is in 4,9. Another clue is also in 3,28. Have a look at Genesis 3,6 or Psalm 106.

Another useful comparison is between 4,1-13 and 23,35-39

Then have a look at my response

Verse by verse

How does verse 1 differ from both Mk 1,12 and Mt 4,1?

For the significance of the forty days and as a background to this scene, look at Deuteronomy 8,2-3.

Jesus and the devil now quote scripture at each other. We need to follow the scripture path:
verses 3-4: Deuteronomy 8,3 (and note the change from Mt 4,4)
verses 6-7: see Jeremiah 27,5
verse 8: The quotation is from Dt 6,13 but see this in its setting of the whole of chapter 6 of Deuteronomy.
verses 10 and 11: see Ps 91,11-12
verse 12: Dt 6,16

Finally, the devil departed from Jesus "for a time": see 22,3 and 22,31-32.

Then have another look at my response

The Sunday Gospel

It is the ancient tradition of the Church that the Temptation of Jesus is read as the Gospel for the first Sunday of Lent and the account of his Transfiguration as the Gospel for the second Sunday. It is therefore Luke's version of the Temptation which is read at the beginning of Lent in cycle C, the cycle for 2019.

Jesus has now been tested and remained faithful to being the obedient Son of God. With that confidence, we can move on to discovering what happens when Jesus returns to Galilee (4,14) as we now read the rest of chapter 4.