The Gospel of Luke
The Testing of Jesus: Lk 4,1-13
We will be seeing how on a number of occasions Luke describes a healing as an exorcism. The devil is a powerful force in this Gospel, perhaps as a counter to the other powerful force of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit. Lk 11,17-20 gives us a useful background because there Jesus speaks of a kingdom divided against itself being unable to stand (11,18).
The episode has the Holy Spirit as a bracket, named in in 4,1 and 4,14. Despite his testing by the devil, Jesus continues to be full of the Holy Spirit and able to act in the power of the Spirit.
The most obvious difference between the versions of Matthew and Luke is that the 2nd and 3rd testings are in reverse order. Luke places the Jerusalem temptation last and not second.
Jerusalem is the centre of this Gospel so the change gives a special importance to the location of the third quotation in Jerusalem.
More interesting is to pick up the link with Adam at the end of the previous chapter, 3,38. Just as Jesus was tempted by the devil so too was Eve and Adam (Gen 3,6). Both temptations begin with food. There are signs here of a parallel between Adam and Jesus, the second Adam. Adam fails, Jesus succeeds.
As the testing takes place in the desert, there is a connection with the tempting of Israel as recorded by Psalm 106: food (Ps 106,14); worship (Ps 106,19); putting the Lord to the test (Ps 106,25).
We can also note how just as Jesus is tested three times here, he is also tested three times whilst on the cross (23,35-39).
We can now return to the main page for our verse by verse reading of the account.
Verse by Verse
verse 1 begins with Jesus "full of the Holy Spirit" as we have seen and it is the Holy Spirit who leads Jesus into the desert. This is quite different to Mark where the Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert (Mk 1,12. Matthew is less forceful than Mark and simply says Jesus was "led by the Holy Spirit" (Mt 4,1).
Deuteronomy 8,2-3 begins with the word "Remember". Memory for us is a reminder that past events are present and effective here and now. These two verses of Deuteronomy give the Temptation of Jesus a memory, a clear echo of events of the past. What happened to the people then now finds its particular focus in the one person, Jesus.
In verses 3-4, Luke omits the second line of the quotation "every word that comes from the mouth of God" which is included by Matthew. It's not clear why Luke omitted this line because the word of God is an important theme for him.
The second temptation, verses 6-7, depends on Jeremiah 27,5 and its reminder that power belongs to God, not to earthly powers. Nor can it be usurped by the devil.
In verse 8, Jesus therefore counter quotes with Deuteronomy. Dt 6,13 may be the specific verse but we can note that this chapter begins with the daily prayer of all Jews even today: Shema Israel, "Listen Israel..." (Dt 6,4-9). Note too the comment about testing in Dt 6,16, to which verse 12 refers. (To fear God in the Biblical sense is not about being frightened of God but rather to have due awe, reverence and respect for God who is almighty.)
For the third temptation, verses 10-11, Psalm 91 is one of the great psalms of confidence in God. By quoting Ps 91,11 and 12, the devil is undermining the true meaning of scripture. Trust in God does not mean jumping off the parapet.
Finally, Jesus' reply in verse 12 brings us back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, as I have mentioned.
Verse 13 then rounds off the testing with the reminder that the devil will be back again at the time of the Passion of Jesus.
We return now to our main page