At his baptism
(3:21-22) Jesus is identified as Son by the voice from heaven and anointed by
the Spirit to empower his coming ministry (4:18). Now—before his ministry
begins—his filial obedience is tested in the wilderness, separated from all
human provision and support. Strengthened by the Spirit he faces the Satanic seductions.
Echoes of the testing of God’s son Adam (3:38) in the garden and of God’s son
Israel in the wilderness permeate the account. But it is with a greater Son
that we here deal. Luke reports three temptations at the climax of the forty-day
encounter with the Devil.
When Jesus is hungry
the Devil suggests that such hunger does not befit his dignity as Son, that
sonship should be treated as a privilege to be exploited. Jesus should see to
his own needs. He has the power to make stone into bread; he should not neglect
his opportunities. Jesus replies with words from Deut 8:36. The Israelites had
pined for the bread of Egypt (Exod 16:3), but the attention of an obedient son should
be on the kingdom (Luke 12:31), not on bread. God will provide, as he had with
the manna. The desire for bread should not determine the Son’s use of the possibilities
and privileges that are his.
The Devil takes Jesus
up and treats him to a dazzling display of his extensive influence in the
kingdoms of the world: the Devil is a power broker who sees to the disposition of
glory in the world. His influence is co-extensive with the influence of evil in
the fabric of human affairs, and he works through every form of the desire for
self-aggrandizement. The Devil entices Jesus to come over to his way: to gain
glory for himself in this world by compromise with the demonic forces that
control it. But Jesus had been appointed a kingdom as one who serves
(22:24-29). He seeks not for himself but only for his God. He will worship God alone
and not the idols of the nations.
The third place of
temptation is at the temple in Jerusalem, the central place of the divine presence
and protection (1 Kgs 9:3; 2 Chr 7;16; Ps 61:4-5; etc.). Here the Son of God is
to insist upon the protection of God by throwing himself down from a great
height. We must read this temptation in relation to the Lukan recognition of a divine
timetable for Jesus’ life (Luke 9:51; 13:32-33) which leads to a facing of
death in Jerusalem. Jesus is tempted to force the issue of divine protection,
to demand in this provocative way the divine protection of the godly man
promised in Ps 91. By the Devil’s logic there should be no martyrs. But the
divine purpose for Jesus, as for certain others, is that they should be
preserved through death, not from death (Luke 21:16 with vv. 18-19; 22:39-46
contrasted with the Petrine denials vv 54-62). Jesus will not put God to the
test (Deut 6:16). He will believe that the faithful God will do well by his
Son.
The Devil has tried every
kind of temptation, but he will be back. Jesus’ whole ministry is marked by
temptations (trials; Luke 22:28), but particularly the passion period will be a
time of special onslaught by Satan (22;3, 31, 53, 39-46) as Jesus’ ultimate act
of obedience (22:42) draws near. (John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20 [Word
Biblical Commentary 35A; Dallas: Word Books, 1989], 182-83)
